Bienvenido, Gustavo!

Classical music needs to change with the times.

And the LA Phil is doing just that in the hiring of Venezuelan superkid Gustavo Dudamel. Tonight, in a spirited performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, along with performances by Youth Orchestra LA and various other student groups throughout the city, the LA Phil demonstrated its commitment to investing in the future of classical music through reaching a broader demographic of audiences than ever before. At a free concert at the Hollywood Bowl sponsored by none other than my favorite superstore, Tar-jay, 18,000 Angelinos gathered to hear the new young maestro lead the city's finest.

Sitting around me, I gazed at the various snippets of the population that were enjoying the sound of the Philharmonic in the cool evening air. To our left, a Latino family of four, with two small children huddled in blankets. To our right, a group of young professionals, UCLA grads based on my skilled eavesdropping of their conversation, kind enough to let us borrow their bottle opener for our four-buck chuck. Two rows in front of us, some older Caucasian ladies bouncing their heads along to Beethoven's every beat. On the stage some thousands of rows in front of us, some of the world's best musicians in their summer garb white-jacket attire. Above the stage in the hills, the iconic Hollywood sign; to its right, a cross planted on the hillside and brightly lit, and directly above us all, a full moon.

Dudamel's conducting was shown on four large screens directly on both sides of the stage, which was a good thing considering how far back we were. I took note of some of the more unusual forms of his conducting, all of which had a tinge of mischieveousness and flair about them- a shoulder roll here, an extended fist pump there, a sidelong glance and surprise cue to the brass section. Mouthing the words of "Ode to Joy" to the choir, never was a cue out of place or without a burst of energy that radiated throughout the entire Bowl. Always a steady beat, his left hand full of expressive gestures, and his curly hair dancing on the podium.

There was an excessive amount of hype leading up to Dudamel's arrival in Los Angeles. The city has been plastered with posters of his face everywhere, on buses and benches, always with an open-mouthed expression, his hair flying and "Pasión!" or "Vibrante!" in big capital letters next to him. So far was the reach of his PR that I even found myself reading an interview with Dudamel in my September Vogue magazine. (Yes, there are articles in Vogue- good ones too, once you get past all the ads.) New York music critics lamented not having a hip, young conductor of their own at the time of his hiring. But was all this hype just a marketing ploy? Was Dudamel being used by the forces that be as a poster boy for the Philharmonic, a mere tool to bolster ticket sales? Because it's cool to be young, artsy, passionate, and, dare we say- ethnic?

But tonight's performance was no let down, nor was the young maestro's ease with the orchestra and impeccable execution of a masterful work. The excitement was palpable. After a three curtain-call standing ovation, Dudamel tried to say a few words to the public. Stumbling through his English, he eventually transitioned into Spanish, with cheers erupting through the audience. "Today I am proud to be Latino. I am proud to be South American, and I am proud to be Venezuelan. But most of all, I am proud to be American!" More cheers, more curtain calls, more unifying language - "No North America, South America, but one America!" His words feels appropriate for the age of Obama, an age built on a vision of America without red states and blue states. As Adam Green says so poignantly, if Bernstein was a symbol for the Kennedy years, then surely Dudamel is a symbol of the Obama era.

I thought about the words from the Spanish subtitles of Schiller's poetry on the big screens: "Abrazos, abrazos, el millon!" A fitting message for the arrival of a conductor bringing new energy to classical music, one that is not only fresh and hip, but fueled by the enduring message of great composers like Beethoven. Vibrante indeed.


Encore! The final movement of Beethoven 9 played again with a chorus of fireworks.

The Soloist on NPR

I've become somewhat of an NPR junkie. Yesterday on Fresh Air, the most amazing story was featured. I was so touched by it that I sat in my car and listened for half an hour.

It was an interview with an LA Times journalist name Steve Lopez who befriended a street musician in downtown Los Angeles. It turns out that this man, Nathaniel Ayers, was once a student at Juilliard, and battled schizophrenia for a number of years and was homeless, living on Skid Row in downtown LA. Lopez saw his talent when he spotted him playing a two-string violin and decided to see if there was a way he could help the man. After writing a few columns about him in the LA Times, people started hearing about his story and donating instruments for Lopez to give to the man. Through playing music again (violin and cello), Ayers slowly decided to get help and reengage with the world. Lopez helped him in several other ways- finding him an apartment, getting him psychiatric help, and introducing him to musicians from the LA Philharmonic. Ayers is now taking lessons with musicians from the Philharmonic, and has goals to become a music therapist.

I'm not doing the story justice- you've got to listen to it for yourself on the NPR website here. The interview was featuring Lopez's book which came out yesterday entitled The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Power of Music. And, there's a movie in the making- starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx! I don't know how to feel about that- but I like the fact that his story is being told. I know that it's shown me how much I've taken my mental health and musical training for granted.

The Metropolitan Opera in theaters near you!

I'm fortunate to be married to someone who loves opera as much (or perhaps even more) than I do. In fact, our first date back when we were 19 was to the New York City Opera. Paul was trying to finish a Music Humanities paper at the time and conveniently asked me to go see La Traviata with him for the assignment. Of course, I couldn't resist the opera or the date, and the rest is history. Very convenient indeed!

Well, for our one-year wedding anniversary, he did a little research and discovered that The Metropolitan Opera has been pioneering a new way of disseminating their performances to the public. Today was the first production of the Met that was recorded live in HD and shown at 600 movie theaters all around the world. I often complain that Paul goes over the top with presents or nice gestures for me- so when he told me that for our anniversary we would be seeing the Met live, I almost began scolding him about spending too much money on plane tickets and opera tickets- until he explained to me that we would be watching the Met from the AMC movie theater down the street from our apartment here in SD! Yes, living down the street from a major strip mall has its perks. Although I don't count CPK as one of them. The movies ain't bad though.

The day finally came today, and we joined a nearly full house in the theater for a production of Romeo et Juliette by Gounod. It was a pretty rowdy crowd, which was amusing considering that nearly everyone there seemed to be of the older concert-going public that frequents the La Jolla classical music scene. We were by far the youngest people there. Everyone yelped and hollered when they showed Hollywood action movie previews while we were waiting for the HD broadcast to load. About 20 minutes after the scheduled starting time (10am PST/1pm EST), the opera came on the big screen and we were watching the fabulous Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna live from Lincoln Center in HD.

We've been to the Met Opera several times over the years and usually we were only able to afford the nosebleed seats, so the opera viewing experience wasn't exactly optimal even though it still sounded great from up there. Every visit to the Met was always a privilege and we knew it was one of the things we would really miss about New York when we moved. But I have to say that being able to see an opera from so close up and so many different angles was a completely different experience, and almost topped physically being there if we were to get our usual third tier balcony seats. There was also funny backstage shots of the singers chugging water, joking around, warming up, waving at the camera, and live interviews with Placido Domingo, who was conducting, and the two leads. The performance was absolutely phenomenal and what really got me was being able to see the facial expression of the characters so clearly, which helped conveyed all the tragic emotion of the characters and story. By the end of it, I was bawling my eyes out- and I have honestly never done before while watching opera! I felt pretty silly feeling all of the dark tragedy of Shakespeare and trying to collect myself as we walked out to the smell of buttery popcorn and cheesy movie posters.

This idea has given me a lot of hope for the future of opera and classical music. Though it wasn't reaching a new demographic in La Jolla today, public schools students all over NYC were watching the broadcast in their school cafeterias for free. (An official blog about the broadcast is here.) If kids in the Bronx and Queens can be captivated by opera for three-hours on a Saturday afternoon, I think there is hope that opera can be made accessible to all demographics of the population. There is no reason that a work of art with universal themes like love, betrayal, and rivalry needs to remain beloved only by the upper class, despite the high-brow stigma opera has as an art form. I'm so glad that the minds behind the Met are taking advantage of technology and bringing all of their hard work to the masses in and outside of New York. Being the first broadcast of its kind, it wasn't well advertised around here unless you were looking for it- but I hope in the future that the audience in our theater will become a little more diverse. Plus, everything looks good when its in HD!

Check out the upcoming Met HD broadcasts coming up in your city!

North Korea or bust

A nation whose citizens are starved for artistic expression (not to mention food and other basic human rights) will soon hear America's finest. The New York Philharmonic is planning a trip to North Korea in February at the country's invitation. An amazing decision considering that there has been almost no connection to the West inside its borders. The fact that a symphony orchestra is being invited, with the concert being broadcast on government controlled radio, is going to make a huge impact on American relations with North Korea. Not only that, but once people hear the music over the radio, after years of only being subjected to Communist marches, I do believe they are going to be hungry for more.

This reminded me a lot of one of the best movies I saw this year- The Lives of Others, a German film about the role of art in East Berlin during the early 80's. In one particular scene, the main character, a Stasi officer, hears piano music being played over the wire tap that he is listening in on and tears begin to flow down his face. It's almost like a physical starvation. And although I have never lived through a serious time of war or crisis in my own country, I can imagine what it must feel like to be starved for art and music, that it could be this very physical sensation that nearly moves your insides when you finally do hear something beautiful after being surrounded by the cold decay of war.

What is it about the arts that can touch us so deeply? Experiencing art makes us dream. It can take you to a place where you have absolute freedom to be, to express, to create. Kim Jong Il may believe that this will be a harmless little trip that will bring increased glory to his reign, but I think this will be a move that could endanger his power in the long run. I believe that hearing the NY Phil can do this for the people of North Korea and I know they will want more. This could be an amazing way for the figurative and physical walls of North Korea to begin to come down and for messengers of good news and beauty to come in. Not only that, but although classical music can seem like nice, relaxing, background music, the composers that wrote the much of the canon played by symphony orchestras today all live(d) in free societies where democracy and ideas about power to the individual existed, and these messages come out in many great works of classical music. For now, these messengers will be under the baton of Lorin Maazel, and I will be praying that their impact in North Korea is a monumental one.

Beethoven 9: A true masterpiece

Last night, Paul and I went to see the San Diego Symphony perform Beethoven's 9th. It was a really excellent performance by the symphony and the SD Chorale. Despite the pouring rain, I was happy to see a nearly sold-out house that evening, which ended with a standing ovation. Jahja Ling is a true master at bringing out the heroism, subtlety, and drama of the piece. San Diego is truly lucky to have him, and it was, of course, absolutely fitting for the symphony to perform the piece as its tribute to the holiday season and the spirit of eternal brotherhood.

There was a moment in the last movement where I was floored by how ethereal the choir sounded. I started thinking about what it is about human voices singing together when pitch and intonation and harmonization are all aligned that has such an amazing effect. Breathing together is also something that makes a choir sound like a sort of machine, but with human qualities- making it a living, breathing collective thing that is communally producing this gargantuan sound. And the usage of Schiller's text is always thrilling to hear again. This is the line that gets me (of course I'm sure that the English translation barely does it justice):

"Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, beyond the star-canopy
must a loving Father dwell.

Do you bow down, you millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him beyond the star-canopy!
Beyond the stars must He dwell."

Put that on the lips of a 100 person chorus and a full orchestra, the power of Beethoven's composition and there is surely something spiritual about the experience. Just the agreement between conductors, musicians, and singers to continually perform the piece for nearly 200 years shows how deeply this message has resonated with people through the years. The belief that joy and beauty exists, the harmony of mankind, the thought that even beyond this idyllic, utopian dream of universal brotherhood that there may be a higher being that can be sensed with the help of a little bit of perspective from the stars- that, to me, represents the true meaning of Christmas. I'm glad so many San Diegans got to experience that this weekend.