Around Town Archives - Page 3 of 15

Ingmar Bergman’s AUTUMN SONATA on Tuesday, May 15 in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

May 10, 2018 by Lamb L.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Abroad series presents the 40th anniversary of AUTUMN SONATA (1978), as part of the centennial retrospective of the birth of Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish auteur who has entered the cinematic pantheon. Autumn Sonata represents the last theatrical film for Bergman, whose subsequent work was made for television, and then re-tailored for theatrical release.

For the occasion, Bergman enticed his namesake, legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, to return to her native language and star as a self-centered concert pianist who had favored her career over her children. In the drama of “fraught interpersonal relationships,” (a trademark of the director, as recently noted by Kenneth Turan), Ingrid Bergman’s character of Charlotte is invited by her daughter, Eva (Liv Ullmann) to visit her and her parson husband in their country home. When Eva also brings her handicapped sister, Helena (Lena Nyman) into the reunion, the past erupts on the present with repressed familial furor.

Bergman’s memorable movies of the 1950s and 1960s had been photographed in luminous black and white. In the 1970s he was working in color, and, as noted by Leonard Maltin, the cinematography by long-time Bergman collaborator Sven Nykvist is “peerless,” giving the film visual warmth and intensity.

As to the only collaboration of the two Bergmans, Gary Arnold of the Washington Post said, “Bergman’s casting coup lives up to expectations. Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann invest their roles with undeniable emotional impact.” It was also Ingrid Bergman’s last film role. The three-time Academy Award winner (Gaslight, Anastasia, Murder on the Orient Express) delivers a searing performance that brought her a best actress nomination in 1978, her seventh and final nod overall. Ingmar Bergman’s original screenplay was also nominated, one of his nine career total as writer, producer, and director. Additionally, the movie was named best foreign film by the Hollywood Foreign Press that year.

Autumn Sonata is a story of intense mother-daughter relations, and as part of the Anniversary Abroad series will play two days after Mother’s Day on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:00 PM at three Laemmle locations: Royal, West Los Angeles; Town Center, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

Part of the city-wide, two month retrospective, “Ingmar Berman’s Cinema,” at various locations.

For the Anniversary Classics Abroad next attraction, we present another master filmmaker enjoying a retrospective, Milos Forman, with a 50th anniversary screening June 20 of his 1968 Academy Award nominee, The Fireman’s Ball.

LAEMMLE LIVE presents ACADEMY PHILHARMONIC May 6

April 13, 2018 by Lamb L.

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LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents the Academy Philharmonic, Sunday, May 6, 2018. Middle school students from the woodwind and brass sections of Elemental Music perform chamber music from different genres. Sunday’s program will include Fire Dance by David Shaffer, March (from Second Suite in F) by Gustav Holst, arr. Scott Stanton, Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor, arr. James Curnow, and additional selections announced from the stage.

Academy Philharmonic is a program of Elemental Music, created to inspire, train, and nurture young musicians in Santa Monica. The organization began in 2004 by a SMMUSD music teacher who wanted to create an opportunity for elementary students to play in an orchestra throughout the school year, make new friends, and get excited about music. Since then, more than 1,000 students have participated in Elemental Music. Initially serving only 25 elementary school students, programs now serve nearly 300 elementary and middle school students in seven different programs this season.

Academy Philharmonic is one of Elemental Music’s newest programs. Comprised of six, seventh, and eighth graders, Academy Philharmonic provides new opportunities for middle schoolers in Santa Monica to experience the thrill of playing in a full orchestra, learning how to listen and blend with new instrument groups, and rehearsing and performing exciting new repertoire selections – all while being coached by some of the best teachers on the westside! Our students work with expert teaching artists to polish their technical skills and dig into the joys of music-making, all in a social setting. We offer many opportunities for student performances throughout the year at three different Elemental Music concerts plus various public events in the Santa Monica community. Elemental Music’s young musicians blossom in their own ways, both socially and musically. This vibrant program inspires a love of music in the hearts of some of the westside’s youngest artists.

Event Details
Sunday, May 6, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
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LAEMMLE LIVE presents LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC MUSICIANS: UP CLOSE April 8

March 19, 2018 by Lamb L.

LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents Los Angeles Philharmonic Musicians: Up Close. An ensemble from the Philharmonic performs Mozart Quintet in A major for Clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello K. 581. Guest Host: KUSC Announcer Rich Capparela. David Howard, clarinet, Mitchell Newman and Rebecca Reale, violins, Ingrid Hutman, viola, Timothy Loo, cello.

Violinist Mitchell Newman is a native of Los Angeles and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1987. After studies with Philharmonic violist David Stockhammer, he attended the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with David Cerone, Yumi Ninomya and Aaron Rosand. Newman is a regular participant in the LA Phil’s Chamber Music Society and Green Umbrella series and has had the opportunity to play the Mendelssohn Octet with Joshua Bell, and Thomas Ades’ Piano Quintet with the composer playing piano. He has also recorded the music of Eric Zeisl for Harmonia Mundi, and Stories from My Favorite Planet by Los Angeles composer Russell Steinberg. Currently, Newman teaches privately and coaches orchestra repertoire at the Colburn School. Each year he produces, performs, and narrates a concert in English and Spanish for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at St. Thomas Church. Also yearly, he produces and plays a fundraising chamber music concert for Mental Health America Long Beach and was recognized as a Mental Health Hero by the California State Senate. In the summer of 2010, Newman opened Hilltop Boot Camp: Orchestra Audition Preparation for Strings (playdonjuan.com). He also travels to Ensenada, Mexico to work with the students of the Benning Academy, a program that provides instruments and lessons to children of all economic backgrounds. Newman is President of the Board of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.

Rebecca Reale born in upstate New York, began studying the violin when she was just two and a half years old. Her passion for music led her to Boston at an early age to attend boarding school for the arts. While she was there, she studied with Muir Quartet member and Boston University professor Peter Zazofsky. She received her Bachelors Degree from Rice University as a full scholarship student, where she studied with Kathleen Winkler. Ms. Reale was a fellow with the New World Symphony for their 2015-2016 season. During her time there, she won the concerto competition and performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major with the orchestra on a subscription concert. Rebecca was the associate principal second violin of the Houston Symphony, and served as acting principal second for the 2016-2017 season.

Violist Ingrid Hutman was born in Los Angeles and earned her Bachelor of Music degree at California State University Northridge, where she studied with Louis Kievman and Heiichiro Ohyama, the Philharmonic’s former Principal Violist. Hutman continued her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Principal Violist, Robert Vernon; she also participated in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute during the 1987 and 1988 seasons.Since she joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1991, Hutman has performed regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music Society and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. She joined the faculty of the Colburn School of Performing Arts in 1997.

Clarinetist David Howard has been a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1981, when, at age 25, he was hired by then Music Director Carlo Maria Giulini. Over the last few seasons, he has performed and given master classes at international festivals in Tel Aviv, Vancouver, Helsinki, Beijing, London, Stockholm, and Caracas. With the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Howard performed as soloist in John Harbison’s Concerto for Oboe, Clarinet, and Strings under the direction of the composer; he was also the bass clarinet soloist in Iannis Xenakis’ Échange, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In February 2015 Howard was featured as soloist in the role of the Caterpillar in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland. Previously, Howard was principal clarinetist with the New Jersey Symphony and the New Haven Symphony. A Los Angeles native, Howard received a B.A. in Russian Literature from Yale University, graduating magna cum laude. Since 1986, he has served on the faculty of the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

Cellist Timothy Loo joined the Lyris Quartet in 2008. A passionate chamber musician, he founded his first quartet, the Denali Quartet, in 1999 while pursuing his Advanced Studies in Cello with Ronald Leonard at the University of Southern California. As a member of the Denali quartet, he participated in masterclasses with the Julliard, Vermeer, and Takacs Quartets. In 1999, Mr. Loo co-founded Mladi, Los Angeles’ conductorless chamber orchestra. He performed with this group until 2008. Mr. Loo has performed in the masterclasses for Yo-Yo Ma, Ronald Leonard, David Geringas, Natalia Gutman, Franz Helmerson, and Bernhard Greenhouse. Mr. Loo has won positions in both Philharmonie der Nationen in Hamburg, Germany, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and New West Symphony. He has also performed with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, New West Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale and is currently the principal cellist of the Long Beach Opera Orchestra, and filled in for cellist Robert de Maine and soloed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in early 2018.

Event Details
Sunday, April 8, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

WE ARE SOLD OUT
Email sheryl@laemmle.com
For wait-list information

This is a Free Event
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LAEMMLE LIVE presents Lincoln Middle School Ensembles March 18

February 25, 2018 by Lamb L.

LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents Lincoln Middle School Madrigal Singers, Vanessa Counte, Director and Theatre Program, Chad Scheppner, Artistic Director. Theatre 31 provides fun, non-competitive, all-inclusive theatre arts classes and camps that give students an opportunity to strengthen their abilities to perform and collaborate, enhance their skills of interpersonal awareness, and build self-confidence. This program features a selection of songs from Lincoln Middle School’s recent production of Once on This Island. Set on an island in the Caribbean, Once on This Island is a colorful musical adventure where The Little Mermaid meets Romeo and Juliet. It is the journey of a young woman who, with her love, unites two different social classes, making the world a brighter and more inclusive place. Photo: Milan Sigal Ashley http://milan.photography

The Madrigals program will include a variety of classical and popular music, folk songs. The Madrigal Singers are an audition-based a cappella ensemble at Santa Monica’s Lincoln Middle School. The young singers meet once a week to rehearse and focus on Renaissance through contemporary a cappella choral literature. Recipients of top ratings in Southern California Festivals, they have been guest performers at local elementary schools, cub scout holiday meetings, and the Aga Khan Foundation Walk.

Event Details
Sunday, March 18, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
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LAEMMLE LIVE presents Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra February 4

January 17, 2018 by Lamb L.

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LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents Kaleidoscope, Los Angeles’ award-winning conductorless chamber orchestra. Benjamin Hoffman, Chiai Tajima, Alex Granger, and Clement Chow will perform the Bartok String Quartet 5 and Mozart Dissonance Quartet. Dedicated to enriching lives through concert experiences and artistic excellence, the orchestra makes profound connections with diverse communities of Los Angeles, performing music that speaks profoundly, whether written today or centuries ago.

About Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra

We stretch the boundaries for what is thought possible without a conductor, both by musicians and audiences, to allow us all to grow through the process. We regularly collaborate with living composers because their music represents our time. We design programs that explore less conventional concert experiences and allow audiences to feel more personally connected to music and the musicians who perform it. Kaleidoscope is committed to music education for all ages and is happy to offer a ‘pay what you can’ model to eliminate the barrier of a set ticket price. We want everyone in Los Angeles to have the opportunity to experience great classical music in person by a professional orchestra, think about what that experience means, and pay what makes them happy. We also perform many additional free concerts in schools, hospitals, shelters, and other underserved parts of our community. We recently started a music education program at a Title I elementary school in Culver City, providing music instruction to 100 first grade students each week. With additional funding, we are planning to expand this program to other grades and other schools in the future. Not only do we want every child in Los Angeles to love listening to music, we want every child to have the opportunity to read, play, and write music, too.

Event Details
Sunday, February 4, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
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LAEMMLE LIVE celebrates Season Two with Samohi Chamber Orchestra and KUSC’s Rich Capparela January 21

January 2, 2018 by Lamb L.

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Come celebrate with LAEMMLE LIVE! It’s our first anniversary and we are launching season two with an encore performance by Santa Monica High School’s Chamber orchestra performing Bartök Divertimento and solo works. Joni Swenson and Jason Aiello, Music Directors. Guest host KUSC Announcer Rich Capparela, who opened our series last year, shares his musical wit and wisdom.

Samohi has a long tradition of musical excellence. Several factors contribute to the strength of the music program including strong elementary and middle school programs, a supportive community, and an outstanding music faculty. Courses offered are Beginning Orchestra, String Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. Students receive one hour per week of sectional small group instruction taught by paid coaches funded by the Samohi Orchestra Parents Association. Join us January 21. Come for the music, stay for the cake!

EVENT DETAILS

Sunday, January 21, 2018
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

~~This is a Free Event~~
We are Sold Out!
Will accept walk-ins space permitting!

RSVP on Eventbrite

LA Opera Presents a Provocative Adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA at REDCAT November 9 – 12

November 7, 2017 by Lamb L.

On November 9, Persona makes its West Coast premiere at the The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts (REDCAT) Theater, through LA Opera’s Off-Grand series.

Based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 film of the same name, Persona explores humanity at its most fragile. The piece made its world premiere in Brooklyn, NY, commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects and National Sawdust in 2015, opening to great acclaim. Singer-songwriter Björk called Persona “a brilliant new opera.”

The opera’s creators, composer Keeril Makan and director-librettist Jay Scheib, spent ample time creating a piece that would highlight the raw, fervid nature of the film, both musically and dramatically.

Amanda Crider as Alma and Lacey Dorn as Elisabet in a scene from “Persona” (photo: Noah Stern Weber / Beth Morrison Projects)

Scheib studied the film “zealously,” adding: “What I learned about storytelling, physical gesture and conflict remain central to my thinking about film, theater and opera. More than any other work, Persona spoke to me in a very direct visceral language. With this opera, I am adapting both cinematic innovations and dramatic intensity to the operatic form.”

While composing the opera’s music, Makan paid equal attention to the film’s elevated emotional content. This precise awareness to the psyche was a new technique employed by Makan at the time.

“What is new in Persona is a lyricism that is wide-ranging in its emotional content. Sometimes direct, sometimes ambiguous, the emotional subtleties of the opera mirror the sonic subtleties found in my music,” says Makan. “The scope and ambition of the work exceeds anything I have attempted in the past.”

In addition, Scheib and Makan played off of each other’s creative energies to produce a cohesive story.

“I am interested in creating the perfect synthesis of Keeril Makan’s gorgeous composition—his sounds and his silences—with a mise-en-scène that finds its analogue in Bergman’s own remarkable use of film as a physical medium,” Scheib states.

Joshua Jeremiah as “The Man” and Amanda Crider as Alma in a scene from “Persona” (photo: Noah Stern Weber / Beth Morrison Projects)

Makan continues: “The process of composition benefitted from my close collaboration with [Scheib], who also directs the work. As a producer, Beth Morrison excelled at guiding the project to completion, both on the small-scale, because of her vocal expertise, and the large scale, thanks to her producing work.”

As the years draw on, opera and film seem to marry in a myriad of other ways. With recent advances in HD live-streaming, which brings opera from the stage to screen, opera has been more accessible than ever. Additionally, with works such as Persona subsequently labelled as “live cinema,” the cameras play an integral part of the story that is just as important as the music. The combination of these two artistic mediums solidifies the relationship between cinematography and live theater.

Persona runs from November 9th through November 12th at REDCAT. Each performance will be followed by a post-performance talkback with the creative team behind the Opera.

Click here to purchase tickets.

All Friday November 10th ticketholders 21 years and over are free to join us for an after party featuring lite bites, drinks and a live DJ hosted by LA Weekly.

LAEMMLE LIVE presents: SOL-LA Music Academy and Saint Anne School Nov 5 at the Royal

October 18, 2017 by Lamb L.

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LAEMMLE LIVE IS ON THE MOVE for November only. We proudly present SOL-LA Music Academy and Saint Anne School in a collaborative musical concert on Sunday, November 5, 2017, at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles. SOL-LA Music Academy is a nonprofit music school in Santa Monica that provides high quality performing arts education to students from all backgrounds and economic circumstances in an engaging and encouraging environment fostering achievement and community. Their comprehensive program reflects the belief that vibrant cultural education nurtures all areas of learning, connects diverse societies and enhances the enjoyment of life.

Saint Anne School is Santa Monica’s only nonpublic Title I school, with at least 40% of families qualifying as low income according to federal standards. The school serves a diverse population of families from 66 zip codes. Without SOL-LA, most of these students would not have access to the myriad benefits that a comprehensive music education can offer. The SOL-LA at Saint Anne School program, now in its seventh year, was born out of a desire to see music included as a core curriculum subject.

As a parochial school, Saint Anne has the flexibility to include music as a priority rather than as an elective. Saint Anne partners with SOL-LA to bring high-quality music instruction to its students on-site, with an option for the students to further participate in after school instruction at SOL-LA’s campus. SOL-LA at Saint Anne School is a sequential music education program, providing free music instruction and instruments to 270 K–8th Grade students during regular school hours at Saint Anne.

SOL-LA’s program at Saint Anne is thoroughly integrated into the curriculum; all students in all classrooms participate in the program. Additionally, SOL-LA provides instruments to students during the school year at no cost.