Happy Birthday, leap year baby Gioachino Rossini
“
Give me a laundry list
and I’ll set it to music”-
Gioachino Rossini
read moreHappy Cultural Valentine!
HAPPY’S VALENTINE’S DAY to my readers!
Wishing you a day filled with love, art, and music!
All Photography© 2016 Leticia Marie Sanchez
Cultural escapade at the Getty Center
Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered Trademark
Sculptures taking Selfies?
When even the sculptures take selfies, you know that we are in trouble!
What would Michelangelo say?
by Leticia Marie Sanchez
Kudos to these artists for providing a snapshot into today’s culture. Lines of tourists crowd Florence’s esteemed Uffizi Gallery, not necessarily to take the time to observe the art, but rather to take a quick selfie with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus before rushing onto the next Instagrammable moment. Today many individuals walk by masterpieces because they are too busy staring at their cellphones or getting ready for a closeup.
Based on Bertel Thorvaldsen’s “Eve Holding an Apple,” “The Immortalization of Self” by Jana Cruder and Matthew La Penta captures today’s self-obsessed culture with cheeky precision.
CCH selects this work as the most timely at LA Art Show this week.
Narcissistic statue seen at LA Art Show 2016
“Immortalization of Self” by Jana Cruder and Matthew La Penta, based on Bertal Thorvaldsen’s “Eve Holding an Apple”
Axiom Gallery
Bertel Thorvaldsen, Venus, 1813-16 (Copenhagen, Denmark, Thorvaldsens Museum)
Pictures at an Exhibition- LA Art Show 2016
by
Leticia Marie Sanchez
Seeing Chagall’s “Magic Flute“ was like running into an old friend.
Chagall and Klimt galore, plus a quite a few undiscovered surprises made LA Art Show a visual treat!
CCH End-of-January Highlights
Cultural Cocktail Hour End-of-January Highlights
The end-of-January’s LA Cultural recipe includes: an Explosion of art, an Infusion of Impressionism, and a Shot of Verdi- Enjoy!
Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered Trademark
LA Art Show
January 27 – 31
http://www.laartshow.com
The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement
Jan 23 – May 09
Huntington Library. 1151 Oxford Road. San Marino, CA 91108. http://www.huntington.org
Philip Leslie Hale (1865-1931), The Crimson Rambler, ca. 1908, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 30 3/16 in. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Joseph E. Temple Fund.
Verdi Requiem: Los Angeles Master Chorale
Sat. Jan. 30th, 2 pm; Sun. Jan. 31, 7 pm
Grant Gershon, conductor; Amber Wagner, soprano Michelle DeYoung, mezzo soprano; Issachah Savage, tenor Morris Robinson, bass; Walt Disney Concert Hall.. 111 S. Grand Avenue LA, CA 90012. www.lamc.org
Photo credit: Jamie Pham
read moreWise Man: Goethe
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Annunciation, Tate Gallery, London
read moreReview: “Made in L.A” by the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Passport to the Human Soul:
LA Master Chorale’s Made in LA
By
Leticia Marie Sanchez
LA Master Chorale’s Made in LA provided audiences with a passport to the human soul. The diverse program not only allowed concertgoers to experience distinct cultures, but also transported them on a journey to understand the human condition in all its complexity: solitude, pain, love and redemption. Prior to the concert, LA Master Chorale’s Artistic Director, Grant Gershon announced that in light of the recent tragic current events, the concert was a “response to nihilism;” the evening’s program was dedicated to “victims of hate around the world.”
Made in LA opened with Morten Lauridsen’s Ave Maria, an uplifting antidote to violence, a work of art that brings us closer to celestial realm. The piece invokes the Virgin Mary, a figure who symbolizes one who has transcended human suffering. The singers of LA’s Master Chorale seamlessly expressed the rich resplendent harmonies; on stage, singers of a multitude of ages and races came together in unity, making it the perfect piece to open the concert.
Continuing the musical journey was the work of Dale Trumbore’s The Whole Sea In Motion, a composition that explored what it means to feel solitude in nature. Pianist Lisa Edwards evoked the waves that flowed in the lyrical prose of Anne Bronte, on which Trumbore’s composition was based. Water proved one of several themes running through Made in LA. For instance, Moira Smiley’s charming In The Desert With You, filled with onomatopoeia, provided a vivid and witty reflection on LA’s drought crisis.
In addition to water, the connection between poetry and music proved another consistent theme of the evening. In Matthew Brown’s Another Lullaby for Insomniacs, the hauntingly beautiful lyrics were reminiscent of Romantic poetry, centering on unrequited love with sleep personified as the elusive mistress. The tragic poetry of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis was powerfully amplified in Jeff Beal’s The Salvage Men, a complex work that explores the human condition. The Master Chorale delved into the nuances of the poetry of both Wilde and poet Kay Ryan in a way that was profoundly moving and healing.
A third theme of Made in LA was the Ave Maria, which also provided inspiration for two of the composers in the latter half of the program, Shawn Kirchner and Paul Chihara. Chihara’s Ave Maria/Scarborough Fair juxtaposed sacred text with folk song. The female oboist represented the earthly emissary, as she subtly heralded the music of Simon and Garfunkle. This overlay of modern and classic also occurred during the Renaissance, when composers would insert popular music into sacred texts, so Chihara is in good company.
The program concluded with the world premiere of Nilo Alcala’s Manga Pakalagian an exuberant and at times hypnotic choral suite. The piece, which marked the first time that the LA Master Chorale sang in Tagalog, contained traditional music from the Southern Philippines, Kulintag, which dates back over a thousand years.
Made in LA’s ambitious program ultimately provided its audience with respite and relief, a sacred space to reflect on humanity and emerge with a sense of healing and hope.
Photo Credit: © Steve Cohn
read moreNovember Top Picks
The latest Cultural Cocktail recipe includes the music of the incomparable Morten Lauridsen and a splash of dance inspired by the color blue!
Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered Trademark
Los Angeles Master Chorale: “Made in L.A.”
Sunday, November 15th 7 pm
Grant Gershon, conductor; Subla, featuring Guru Danny Kalanduyan; Lisa Edwards, piano; 62 Singers.
Morten Lauridsen, Ave Maria; Jeff Beal, The Salvage Men (U.S. Premiere) Nilo Alcala Mangá Pakalagián (World Premiere) with Subla, featuring Guru Danny Kalanduyan; Paul Chihara Ave Maria/Scarborough Fair (World Premiere);Dale Trumbore, The Whole Sea in Motion; Matthew Brown, Another Lullaby for Insomniacs; Moira Smiley, In the Desert With You (World Premiere);Shawn Kirchner Memorare; Walt Disney Concert Hall. 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.lamc.org
Photo Source: Ken Hively
Out of the Blue
Sat. November 21
6:00 pm
Dance Performance
Free with admission
Norton Simon. 411 W. Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91105 626.449.6840
http://www.nortonsimon.org/
Photo by Whitney Browne
read moreA little intermezzo for your weekend
Beyond Exquisite:
Riccardo Muti conducting the “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria Rusticana ♫
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October Top Picks
The latest Cultural Cocktail recipe includes a Mozart-Marimba mixer, a dash of the Renaissance, and a splash of free art in Pasadena- Enjoy!
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: Mozart to Marimba
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor; Richard Goode, piano; Wade Culbreath, marimba; TIMO ANDRES Word of Mouth (West Coast premiere); MOZART Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major; EMMANUEL SÉJOURNÉ Concerto for Marimba and String; HAYDN Symphony No. 88 in G major, Hob. I:88; Saturday, October 17, 2015, 8 pm Alex Theatre, Glendale Sunday, October 18, 2015, 7 pm, Royce Hall, UCLA
Eat, Drink, & Be Merry: Food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
October 13, 2015 –January 3, 2016
Getty Center 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90049 www.getty.edu/
Art Night Pasadena: Friday Oct. 9th
6-9p.m. More than a dozen participating venues include: Boston Court, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena Museum of History, and Kidpsace
http://www.artnightpasadena.org
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