KUSC Classical Californians: Sameer Patel
Our Classical Californian this week is Sameer Patel, Music Director and Orchestra Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. He’s also the Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, and was named by Musical America “New Artist of the Month” this past April. He’s chosen a selection of pieces including a late Beethoven String Quartet, a choral work of empowerment by Caroline Shaw, an anguished song by Osvaldo Golijov. and more. There’s even a solo piano cover of a song by David Bowie.
KUSC
Our Classical Californian this week is Sameer Patel, Music Director and Orchestra Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. He’s also the Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, and was named by Musical America “New Artist of the Month” this past April. He’s chosen a selection of pieces including a late Beethoven String Quartet, a choral work of empowerment by Caroline Shaw, an anguished song by Osvaldo Golijov. and more. There’s even a solo piano cover of a song by David Bowie.
Listen to highlights here.
KUSC: Classical Californians: Anne Akiko Meyers
This week, our Classical Californian will be violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who will share some of her favorite pieces of music. The playlist includes two composers who have written concertos for her, some selections from the world of movie music, as well as works by a pair of composers best known for their writing for choral voices. The Southern California native has most recently released a recording of Fandango by Arturo Márquez, with Gustavo Dudamel leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She’s worked with a who’s who of contemporary composers, and since making her first national TV appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when she was 11, she’s been performing to admiring audiences around the world. The instrument that she plays, the “Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù” dates from 1741, and belonged to the Belgian violinist Henri Vieuxtemps in the 1800s.
KUSC
This week, our Classical Californian will be violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who will share some of her favorite pieces of music. The playlist includes two composers who have written concertos for her, some selections from the world of movie music, as well as works by a pair of composers best known for their writing for choral voices. The Southern California native has most recently released a recording of Fandango by Arturo Márquez, with Gustavo Dudamel leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She’s worked with a who’s who of contemporary composers, and since making her first national TV appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson when she was 11, she’s been performing to admiring audiences around the world. The instrument that she plays, the “Ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù” dates from 1741, and belonged to the Belgian violinist Henri Vieuxtemps in the 1800s.
Read more here.
Photo Credit: Dina Douglass
KUSC: Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers on Respecting the Old and Welcoming the New
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers believes in respecting the old and welcoming the new. In this recent conversation with Jim Svejda, they discuss several of her recent commissions.
KUSC
Jim Svejda
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers believes in respecting the old and welcoming the new. In this recent conversation with Jim Svejda, they discuss several of her recent commissions.
Listen below or here.
KUSC: Pianist Olga Kern Lights Up Southern California Concert Halls
Renowned Russian-American pianist Olga Kern, 2001 winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, is coming to Southern California for a series of concerts starting with Friday at SOKA Performing Arts Centre, Broad Stage in Santa Monica this Saturday, and two performances on Saturday, February 16 with the Pasadena Symphony. Recently John Van Driel had a chance to talk to Ms. Kern about her busy performing and teaching schedule.
KUSC
John Van Driel
Renowned Russian-American pianist Olga Kern, 2001 winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, is coming to Southern California for a series of concerts starting with Friday at SOKA Performing Arts Centre, Broad Stage in Santa Monica this Saturday, and two performances on Saturday, February 16 with the Pasadena Symphony. Recently John Van Driel had a chance to talk to Ms. Kern about her busy performing and teaching schedule. Listen below or click here for more.
KUSC: Championing American Music with Conductor Gerard Schwarz
Gerard Schwarz was the second-ever conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra before spending 26 years on the podium with the Seattle Symphony. KUSC’s Alan Chapman caught up with him while Schwarz was in town to help celebrate LACO’s 50th anniversary. Here’s their conversation about the unique logistics of Schwarz’s first concert with LACO and how he (secretly) became a champion of American music in Seattle.
KUSC
Alan Chapman
Gerard Schwarz was the second-ever conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra before spending 26 years on the podium with the Seattle Symphony. KUSC’s Alan Chapman caught up with him while Schwarz was in town to help celebrate LACO’s 50th anniversary. Here’s their conversation about the unique logistics of Schwarz’s first concert with LACO and how he (secretly) became a champion of American music in Seattle.
KUSC: Behind the Festival Uniting Classical and Electronic Music
The worlds of classical and electronic music come together this weekend in Little Tokyo. It’s all part of a concert and community arts festival hosted by the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Chamber Orchestra and dreamed up by YMF music director Yuga Cohler and composer Stefan Cwik. The event will combine the music of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, and LA-based DJ and electronic musician Flying Lotus in a unique concert experience.
KUSC
Brian Lauritzen
The worlds of classical and electronic music come together this weekend in Little Tokyo. It’s all part of a concert and community arts festival hosted by the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Chamber Orchestra and dreamed up by YMF music director Yuga Cohler and composer Stefan Cwik. The event will combine the music of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, and LA-based DJ and electronic musician Flying Lotus in a unique concert experience. Yuga Cohler tells me it’s an outgrowth of how young people consume music today.
Yuga Cohler: I grew up studying and playing classical music. But I also grew up with the internet: I had Napster when it came out and I’ve been exposed to a lot of different types of music just because it’s so available. My thought is that any art form sort of has to have both value and relevance to the current age. It’s important that people who consume the art are able to derive something of value from it. So for me, what that means in a classical music context is two things: first of all, I do believe that classical music has a lot to offer in terms of depth of emotion, complexity of structure, the subtleties involved with it, the amount of passion and commitment that it demands. I also believe that there’s a lot that all sorts of other types of music have to offer in those areas and also in terms of relevance, in terms of reflecting our current society’s thoughts and values. I think it provides a useful mirror into what our society is today. So, finding the intersection point between those two—of the values that classical music has to offer and the values that other types of music have to offer seems to me a very natural thing to do.
Read the full interview here.