Efforts by mainstream media and Hollywood to use a Saint Bernard to replace Beethoven in our hearts and minds have failed, despite numerous attempts. As part of the Colburn Celebrity Series, Andras Schiff is halfway complete on his journey to perform all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. 16 were performed last year in four concerts and he starts again this Wednesday for our classical pick of the week. This week includes some of Beethoven's greatest......

The LA Times just published a story on Esa-Pekka Salonen. An interesting anecdote from the article revealed that People had selected him to be on their 50 sexiest people list, and that he had declined(!). This is all tied together somehow because this is Salonen's 17th and last year as Music director for the LA Phil. After this year, he begins his tenure at the London Philharmonia and Gustavo Dudamel takes over as the next......

LAist was able to check out a couple of concerts last weekend, in two completely different venues. The program included some very patriotic affair, with the California Phil providing all of the fireworks. These concerts were mentioned as last week's classical pick, and did not disappoint. Although the program was exactly the same, the orchestra was able to adjust accordingly to the acoustics at each venue and offered a different interpretation but the same unbridled......

part 1 of "Rhapsody in Blue" from Fantasia 2000 The California Phil is one of the many great orchestras in the Los Angeles area that offers varied and exciting programming in the Ambassador and the Walt Disney Concert Hall throughout the year. They open up their summer season with a concert at the Arboretum, a beautiful botanic garden located in the heart of Arcadia. The Arboretum is a 127-acre park which includes the famous......

As the seasons for many reputable music groups come to an end, there are fewer options to choose from every week, so feel free to spare yourself of any extra stress and check LAist for any news on upcoming concerts. Hope you are all managing to keep yourselves busy and not counting down the days until the Hollywood Bowl season begins. We are revisiting the Disney Hall once more, which has been prone to several......

the Kronos Quartet performing "Lux Aeterna" The Kronos Quartet is a highly regarded avant-garde string quartet, recognized outside of classical music circles for their collaborations with artists including David Bowie, Allen Ginsberg, Dave Matthews, Nelly Furtado, and playing on soundtracks of the popular Aronofsky films The Fountain and Requiem For a Dream ("Lux Aeterna" is the popular composition used regularly outside of the film). This weekend KCRW presents a concert of the Kronos Quartet......

This week’s classical pick comes a little earlier in the day since one of the events is in the early afternoon. The picks showcase two well-recognized Germans, one of whom is making a rare visit to LA and one who has made his presence known in Los Angeles as the “Poet Laureate of Skid Row”. The Goethe-Institut of Los Angeles is collaborating with Monday Evening Concerts to celebrate the life and works of Helmut......

This week's classical pick takes us to the Westside (believe it or not) with the Seattle Symphony making their debut at Royce Hall. The Seattle Symphony is headed by Gerard Schwarz, who has turned this once struggling group into a top notch orchestra that is recognized internationally with the help of frequent recordings and its support of American composers. Although they are often known for their performances of later 20th century repertoire, the symphony......

The Green Umbrella series is a distinctive program of the LA Phil that features cutting edge programming rarely seen in a major concert hall.. New works are commissioned and performed along with works that have become staples in classical music repertory over the last 50 years or so. This weeks classical pick takes us to the Disney Hall this Tuesday and includes two WORLD premieres and works by Elliot Carter and Ginastera. The works......

Thanks to $100 million in money from a royal family of Dubai, the Frank Gehry residential and retail project along Grand Avenue is finally getting its go-ahead, months after delay due to worries of the economy, downtown's real estate market, project details and plan approvals. The first phase of the plan takes place directly across the street from Disney Hall where starting next month, crews will begin to dismantle the parking garage and lot, making......

Since the recent opening of LACMA's Broad Contemporary (BCAM) a flurry of international eyes have been on Los Angeles, and an ensuing flurry of words have issued forth in review. It seems irresistible to review the Broad without also reviewing the city that houses it, which was precisely the tact taken by Chris Haslam in London's Sunday Times today. It takes Haslam seven paragraphs into his article to even mention the precise reason he......

photo courtesy of the artist This Thursday through Saturday, award winning Argentine choreographer Diana Szeinblum is bringing four performers to REDCAT to present "Alaska" in its theater below Disney Hall. In her promotional material, Buenos Aires-based Szeinblum calls the work a "container of memories where everything that has not been said regarding a personal experience is kept." With original music by Ulises Conti for piano and viola and a physical language Szeinblum calls "extreme,"......

Eli Broad and Antonio Villaraigosa at the Grand Avenue announcement Almost two years ago, Frank Gehry, Eli Broad and the big developer folks from Related Companies announced the Grand Avenue Project. A blocklong development of housing, a hotel, retail & greenspace -- all designed by Gehry -- would complement Disney Hall. Getting the development together was tremendously complicated, and it probably wouldn't have happened without Broad's power and support. Since the exciting, fancy unveiling......

The LA Phil's richly-curated Concrete Frequency festival is capping two weeks of events with a special show featuring Cornelius and Plaid tomorrow night at Walt Disney Concert Hall. What defines a city and how does urban living influence art? Tokyo's artsy electro-indie-pop producer-musician Cornelius (born Keigo Oyamada) and UK electro-ambient duo Plaid will offer up their unique sonic (and visual) interpretations tomorrow night. Limited tickets were still available online at the time of this......

Dudes, it's become clear to me that just by walking about whatever fine neighborhood you happen to reside in (NoHo, WeHo, SilLake, DnTn, SanMo, KTown, HanPark, CulCity, etc), you're bound to happen upon a great little bar with great happy hour deals. Fer instance: this week I was walking around Downtown and ran into some friends, who happily guided me to the Redwood Bar & Grill, a fun and surprisingly classy little pirate bar......

We comb through tons of event listings so you don't have to. LA events have come back from its winter doldrums tonight. Big time. Here's what's happening around town tonight -- there's lots of learning mixed in between all the great entertainment stuff. CLASSICAL The LA Phil's Concrete Frequency series -- combining music, film and symposia -- begins tonight. It's a Casual Friday, which means shorter programs with no intermission. On tap tonight is......

Mariachi USA Fiesta 2007 Rocket, The Satisfaction @ Safari Sam's David Garza @ Largo The Republic Tigers, The Hugs @ Spaceland Mariachi USA Christmas @ Disney Hall Social Distortion, The Johns @ House of Blues (WeHo) Amon Amarth @ Avalon The Binges, Dirty Kings, Jessie Deluxe, Roses on her Grave @ The Troubadour Faraway Places, Fools Golds, Sunset @ The Echo Rose Rossi, B.R.A.M., Learning Music @ Silverlake Lounge Cory Phillips & the Band......

Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Concert, Belly Up Tavern 12/19/06 Great Northern, Happy Hollows @ Viper Room Blind Boys of Alabama Xmas Show @ Disney Hall Guns in Hands, Deadly Sins, Lost Remorse @ Cobalt Cafe Hit Record @ The Troubadour The Lamps, Exit Music, In Waves @ Bordello Metal Skool, Weapon of Choice @ Key Club The Binges, The Ringers, Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip @ Spaceland The White Coffin, Terror @......

Could you imagine Los Angeles without the Getty Museum? If that serene white chunk of Italian marble nestled above the 405 suddenly removed its bulk to some other parts, would you notice? Would you care? An article in yesterday morning's LA Times reconsiders the Richard Meier-designed edifice in the light of its 10th anniversary, and in doing so, asks some important questions about the nature and integrity of architecture in Los Angeles. "there is......

B-52's @ The Roxy Neko Case @ Disney Hall Lyrics Born @ El Rey Puffy Amiyumi @ Key Club Mutaytor @ Safari Sam's The Dickies, Orange, Civet @ Knitting Factory Six Organs of Admittance @ Amoeba Tiger Army, Street Dogs, Imperative Reaction @ The Wiltern Army Navy, Mellodrone @ The Echo Eliza Gilkyson @ McCabe's......

Joanna Newsom - "Monkey and Bear" Joanna Newsom @ Disney Hall ZZ Top @ The Greek Of Montreal, Grand Buffet, MGMT @ Avalon Loudon Wainwright III, Joe Henry @ El Rey M.I.A., The Cool Kids @ The Wiltern Ben Harper, Piers Faccini @ Orpheum Rhino Bucket @ Knitting Factory Dave Mason @ House of Blues, Anaheim Eek-A-Mouse @ Galaxy Theatre Jesu, These Arms Are Snakes @ Echoplex She Wants Revenge, Kenna, theSTART @ Henry......

The Pogues @ The Wiltern - Tonight ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead, Dethklok @ UCLA - Tonight Redd Kross @ Echoplex - Tomorrow The Polyphonic Spree, Rooney @ Henry Fonda - Tomorrow Yo La Tengo @ The Ivar - Tomorrow Low Versus Diamond @ Viper Room - Tomorrow The Bronx, The Mercy Killers @ Safari Sam's - Tomorrow Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ Henry Fonda, 11/3 Yo La Tengo......

David Byrne w/ Richard Thompson Richard Thompson @ Amoeba Suzanne Vega @ The Hotel Cafe Morrissey @ Ventura Theatre Burt Bacharach @ Disney Hall Black Summer Crush, Jets Overhead, Jinnrail @ Viper Room The Randies, Teaneck, Girl in a Coma, Conquistador @ Key Club The Cliks, Brothers & Sisters, Phoenix Foundation @ The Echo Cosmonaut, Her Alibye, The Oohlas, The Coco B's, Narwhal @ The Troubadour......

Pravada: music by Amon Tobin, Cut Chemist, DJ Spooky, Peanut Butter Wolf, J-Rocc, Dublab Soundsystem and others including a ten-piece theremin orchestra, visuals from classic Russian cinema @ Disney Hall Topanga Days: Veruca Salt, Chevy Metal, Minibar, Carina Round, Nutty Nut Nerds, The Tender Box, Spindrift @ Topanga Community House The Love Festival: Swedish Egil, Ladytron, Donald Glaude, DJ Irene, Kid Krazzy, Starkillers, DJ Reza, DJ Sneak, Tony C, Dieselboy, Dara, Aki200 @ LA......

Compare the way people dress at the LA Phil (not including Hollywood Bowl) to the New York Philharmonic and you'll find some New Yorkers shocked at our fine evening wear for classical music. That is to say, we prefer our California lackadaisical manner of dress. Go to the LA Phil and you'll see the occasional couple with style, but mostly you'll see lots in jeans and other street-wear. It seems Casual Fridays at the......

We saw how excited you were over concerts at Disney Hall last month; we're giving away another pair of tickets. This time to Russian Chanson, the Thursday, May 24 concert of the Shadow of Stalin festival: Join indie-gypsy-rock group DeVotchka and special guests as they explore the compelling and controversial underground musical movement known as the Russian Chanson. With roots in pre-revolutionary, anti-establishment Russia, chanson has evolved as "the soundtrack of contemporary Russia," reflecting......

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, Ditty Bops (above), Woody Harrelson, others @ Henry Fonda Willie Nelson, George Strait, Lucinda Williams, many more @ Stagecoach Cypress Hill @ Vault 350 The Jerry Garcia Band @ Fais Do-Do Manic Hispanic @ Galaxy Theatre Rosanne Cash @ Disney Hall One+One (James Zabiela & Nic Fanciulli) @ Vanguard David Grier @ Boulevard Music Victor Wooten @ El Rey Suzanne Somers @ La Mirada Theater for Performance Arts......

- Did you go to the Anti War Demonstration this weekend? Tony did - Tony Forberg - Life is so weird, when Gene Simmons was young he wore all that crazy Kiss makeup, now that he's old and hideous and in need of several layers of makeup he tries to keep it real - TMZ - A 9-year-old Novato boy is a hero after saving a drowning toddler from a swimming pool - CBS2......

There are a lot of people out there who are not familiar with Bright Eyes. Equally as tragic, if not greater, a larger amount of locals have never been to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Eeek! Luckily, the new architectural icon of Los Angeles will be hosting Bright Eyes on May 6th in support of their April 10th release of Cassadaga. Disney Hall is actually quite a fun place to have non-classical concerts. Tickets go......

Headlines still focus on the temperature and how Posh Spice has arrived to shop for the maybe next Scientology castle for David Beckham and family. Investigations over the plane crash in Van Nuys continue while the book is closed on the latest E.coli cases -- California is once again to blame for Midwest and beyond sicknesses. Tonight Hollywood (not the neighborhood) comes back big for 2007 with 24, Rome and Extras. Choices, choices. It's......