Long Beach Opera
Bye Bye Butterfly at Long Beach Opera
Long Beach Opera is presenting two performances this weekend of the first-ever live staging of a work by Pauline Oliveros called Bye Bye Butterfly. It’s a collaboration with the Latino Theater Company and East LA Creative. The piece dates from 1965, and began as an eight-minute-long tape: “the piece served as Oliveros’ own critical engagement with Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, in which she deconstructed and transformed the idea of a traditional opera to create an ethereal, disorienting soundscape.” The program will also include five other of her experimental operatic works. Oliveros was a champion of “deep listening”in her works, and a pioneer in many musical traditions from the second half of the twentieth century through her death in 2016. The performances are Saturday at 7:30, and Sunday at 2:30pm at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.
Ray Chen Plays Tchaikovsky
Violinist Ray Chen will be the soloist with the LA Phil for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto this Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl. David Afkham will be the conductor for the concert, which also features Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony No. 3. Chen was the first prize winner of both the Yehudi Menuhin (2008) and Queen Elizabeth (2009) competitions – he was born in Taiwan and raised in Australia before being accepted to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at the age of 15. In March, he gave a “Colburn Celebrity Recital” in LA with pianist Julio Elizalde. Chen plays a Stradivarius once owned by the violinist Joseph Joachim. Gates open at 6pm, and the concert is at 8 on Tuesday night.
FREE: Colburn School Open House
The Colburn School holds its Open House this Saturday from 10 to 4, with all sorts of family-friendly activities, free trial classes (registration required), instrument petting zoo, and free music and dance performances at the Colburn School Campus. Also on hand will be our own “Glissando Listening Experience” at Zipper Concert Hall – with Classical California host Suraj Partha, the host of our newest stream that’s aimed at younger listeners. Just as with the stream, the kids will have a chance to be introduced to some of the great classical repertoire as they take musical journeys of imagination. Saturday at the Colburn School Campus from 10 until 4.
