LA Phil – A Guide To The Best Concerts Of Season 2015/16

My dad is visiting from Chile, and we are going to watch the 9 symphonies of Beethoven this week, from Thursday to Sunday. I can’t wait, and my dad neither. He is a fan of classical music and he always made us listen to it while growing up, every single day. He used to help organizing concerts himself, and we always attended the shows. It wasn’t always fun or easy. Going to classical music concerts every weekend required bribery in the taste of ice cream, lots and lots of ice cream, but it was worth it.

This tormented past led me to the need of watching the LA Phil a couple of times a Season. When choosing concerts to watch, I am not very elaborate. I like easy melodies that usually come in the shape of Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, or Verdi, very safe choices. The LA Phil has a discount when someone buys 4 or more tickets at a time, so it is good to choose all the concerts you want to go to at the beginning of the season.

If you haven’t been to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, I would really recommend going at least once in your lifetime. It is a gorgeous building by the architect Frank Gehry. The acoustics inside the music chamber were done by Yasuhisa Toyota, and have been praised as one of the best ones in the world. Even if you don’t like classical music, you MUST visit this building.

Early in the season, some of the concerts do not have their repertoire finalized. Most of the Colburn Celebrity Series concerts, for example, do not have an official program yet. This series showcases famous musicians, so, if you like one of them, buy the tickets now and hope they will play something you like the day of.

About the seating chart, I like buying Orchestra View and Terrace View tickets, located behind the Orchestra. They are cheaper and you get a great view of the players, even if some of them have their back towards you. Also, you can feel Dudamel’s (the conductor) passion first hand.

Here is the list of the LA Phil concerts I would like to watch this season (aside from the Immortal Beethoven Series that we are going to this week):

jestcae.com - bolivar-950_1

  • Tuesday, October 13, 8pm.

Chamber Music: All Beethoven

BEETHOVEN: Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 (c. 41 minutes)

BEETHOVEN: Grosse Fuge, Op. 133 (c. 16 minutes)

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, (“Harp”) (c. 30 minutes)

jestcafe.com - hahnhilary-950

  • Thursday, December 10, 8pm; Friday, December 11, 8pm; and, Saturday, December 12, 8pm.

Hilary Hahn

WEINBERG: Suite from The Golden Key (c. 16 minutes)

VIEUXTEMPS: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor (c. 23 minutes)

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4 (c. 44 minutes)

jestcafe.com -holidaysingalong-950

  • Saturday, December 19, 11:30 am; Saturday, December 19, 2:30pm

Holiday Sing-Along

jestcafe .com -chamber-950_3

  • Tuesday, January 26, 8 pm.

Chamber Music: All Brahms

BRAHMS: Horn Trio, Op. 40

BRAHMS: String Quintet No. 1, Op. 88

BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60

jestcafe.com -bronfman-950

  • Friday, January 29, 8pm; Saturday, January 30, 8pm; Sunday, January 31, 2:00 pm

Beethoven and Mahler

BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1 (c. 36 minutes)

MAHLER: Symphony No. 1 (c. 53 minutes)

jestcafe.com -perlman-950

  • Thursday, January 14, 8pm; Friday, January 15, 11am; Saturday, January 16, 8pm; Sunday, January 17, 2pm.

Itzhak Perlman

MOZART: Adagio for violin and orchestra, K. 261 (c. 5 minutes)

MOZART: Rondo for violin and orchestra, K. 373 (c. 8 minutes)

MOZART: Symphony No. 27 (c. 15 minutes)

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 (c. 50 minutes)

jestcafe.com -mcgregan-950

  • Thursday, March 31, 8pm; Saturday, April 02, 2pm

From Back to Schubert

BACH: Orchestral Suite No. 3 (c. 20 minutes)

BACH: Concerto for Two Violins (c. 17 minutes)

BACH: Sinfonia in D major, BWV 1045

HAYDN: Sinfonia concertante in B-flat (c. 22 minutes)

SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 3 (c. 26 minutes)

jestcafe.com-yoyomastott-950

  • Sunday, May 15, 7:30 pm

 YO-YO MA AND KATHRYN STOTT – Repertoire not finalized. Colburn Series.

jestcafe.com -lucycrowe-950

  • Thursday, May 19, 8pm; Friday, May 20, 8pm; Saturday, May 21, 8pm; Sunday, May 22, 2pm.

MOZART & PÄRT: REQUIEM & MISERERE

PÄRT: Miserere (c. 35 minutes)

MOZART: Requiem (c. 50 minutes)

 

Let Us Connect:
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *