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Paul Stein is soloist at Crown City Symphony concerts Nov. 16

Crown City Symphony, conducted by Marvin Neumann, presents two free concert: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2 PM at the Pasadena Christian Church, 789 N. Altadena Dr.;  and 2 PM, Sunday, Nov. 17, at the First Baptist Church, 75 N. Marengo, Pasadena.

Paul Stein, L.A. Philharmonic violinist, is soloist.  Selections are:

Egmont Overture

Beethoven Violin Concerto in C,

Haydn Symphony #31,

Mozart, The Paris

A 30 year member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Paul Stein has brought his musical experience into many educational and chamber music venues.  He created the Chamber Music Express ensemble in 1985 to introduce classical music to audiences at schools and libraries.  His stories for those programs include Galileo’s Metronome, The Magical, Musical Mini-Mall, and The Voyage of the Viola.  Mr. Stein is the Artistic Director of the Classical Kaleidoscope chamber music series at the Arcadia Library, which will start its seventh season in January.  It has presented music from many lands, including China and Africa.  He was also the director of the chamber music series for five years at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center.

He has been a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Glendale and Pasadena Community Orchestras, and the Rio Hondo Symphony.  He teaches violin and viola at his home studio, Pasadena City College and Glendale College. He has also been on the faculty at the University of La Verne.  His articles about the relationship between music and the mind have been featured in Strings Magazine, the American String Teacher and the California Music Journal.   His hobbies include bridge, bird watching and aquarium viewing, and he lives with his wife in Monrovia.  Visit his web site at www.chambermusicexpress.com.

 

Tickets available for Pasadena Master Chorale's "The Glory of Christmas" Dec. 14

by TImothy Rutt

The Pasadena Master Chorale, conducted by Altadena's Jeffrey Bernstein, is selling tickets for its next concert, "The Glory of Christmas"

The Chorale, along with the Orchestra Camerata, will perform Vivaldi's "Gloria" and Bach's "Magnificat" at the First Congregational Church, 464 E. Walnut Street, Pasadena, on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 PM.  

General admission is $25, seniors $20, and students $15.  Order tickets at the website here.

Folly Bowl ends the season with Tesserae

If there's sackbut involved, what's not to like?: Suzanne Dadd, empress of the Folly Bowl, writes:

We are pleased to announce our last concert of 2013.  The wonderful ensemble Tesserae will present a program featuring some of the most bizarre and quirky pieces of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, from the slightly obsessive compulsive canzoni by Vierdanck to the flamboyant and fantastic instrumental sonatas by Castello.  Please bring a picnic to enjoy as the sun sets.  All trash should be packed out. 

Corporal Simon and My Neighbor Roland

Sunday, September 22    6 PM

1601 East Loma Alta Drive, Altadena, CA 91001

Alexandra Opsahl - recorder & cornetto

Susan Feldman - baroque violin

Noah Gladstone - sackbut

Nicholas Daley - sackbut

Ken Kugler - bass sackbut

Ian Pritchard - virginals

Free admission - suggested donation $15

www.tesserae-la.com

"Unpopable Quartet" at the Folly Bowl Saturday

The Unpopable Quartet will perform next Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Folly Bowl, 1601 E. Loma Alra Drive.  The quartet is distinguished by Addi Samkeh, who plays a bass made from a balloon (yes, it's true).

Dontation $10, bring your own snacks and please pack them out when done (bears). Outdoor amphitheater, so dress appropriately.  

 

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Louis Van Taylor brings jazz sounds to Farnsworth Park Saturday

The Sheriff Support Group of Altadena's Summer Concert Series at Farnsworth Park presents Louis Van Taylor and his quintet.PP The Altadena resident started young, playing with the Ray Charles Orchestra in 1981.  Van Taylor has backed up a Who's Who of modern music, including The Temptations, the Four Tops, Little Anthony and hte Imperials, the Chi-lites, Mary Wison, Shiela E., BIg Joe Turner, Billy Vera, Johnny Otis, Mariah Carey, and many, many others.  He has also played in sessions for TV and film scores.

A woodwind specialist, Van Taylor plays all ranges of saxophones as well as flute, bass clarinet, and oboe. The Sheriff Support Group of Altadena's summer concert series starts at 7 PM on Saturday, July 27,  at Farnsworth Park Amphitheater, corner of Lake Avenue and Mt. Curve Drive.  Get a box lunch from the Park Bench Grill ahead of time.  Beer and wine sales by the Altadena Rotary Club, with consultation from the Altadena Ale & Wine House.  Green room refreshments provided by Webster's Fine Stationers.

The summer concert series is sponsored by Warner Bros.; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Michael D. Antonovich; MonteCedro; Rotary Club of Altadena; Athens Services; Georgia Rutherford in memory of Don Rutherford;  Toyota of Pasadena; The Printworks; All American Audio Visual; the Altadena Sheriff's Station; El Patron Mexican Restaurant; and Altadenablog.  

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Go PSYCO in free concert at Levitt Pavilion July 30

 

Some people are waiting with bated breath to bring their mothers to the PSYCO concert.

The Pasadena Summer Youth Chamber Orchestra (PSYCO) will present a free concert at Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena on Tuesday, July 30, at 6 PM. Marvin Neumann & Chad Prado, conductors

 

Program includes: 

Prelude to “Psycho”----Bernard Hermann

Bassoon Concerto—Mozart (Nathan Kirchoff, soloist)

Capriol Suite---Warlock

“Porgy & Bess” by Gershwin

“HoeDown” from Rodeo Suite ---Copland

The concert is sponsored by the Pasadena Senior Center.  Also supported in part with funds received from The Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, and funds received from Pasadena Tournament of Roses® Foundation

The concert will be held at Levitt Pavilion at Memorial Park, Raymond and Walnut, Pasadena.  There is 90 minutes free parking at the Holly Street or Mariott parking structures.

HB3 at Folly Bowl June 22

by Timothy Rutt

Hugh Bonar, aka HB3, will perform on Saturday, June 22, at the Folly Bowl, 1601 E. Loma Alta Drive.

Piccolo bassist Bonar will play "a representative sampling of music from his recent albums" in the garden amphitheater.

Tickets are $5, and the concert starts at 7 PM.  Bring blankets, a  picnic, and prepare to pack it out again (bears!)

 

"Arohi" raga jazz at the Folly Bowl May 25

The Folly Bowl opens up its concert season with the Arohi Ensemble on Saturday, May 25, at 7 PM.

Arohi describes itself as "Raga Jazz Chamber Music," with Paul Livingstone (sitar), Pedro Eustache (bansuri and flute), Leonice Shinnerman (tabla & percussion), Dave Lewis (drums) and Peter Jacobson (cello).

Tickets are $15 suggested donation or $10 for students at the door.

The Folly Bowl is at 1601 E. Loma Alta Drive.  Please bring a blanket for warmth, and pack out any food you bring in.

Masjid Al-Taqwa invites the community to May 19 festival at Farnsworth Park

by Timothy Rutt

Masjid Al-Taqwa Mosque invites the Altadena community to an afternoon of food, family, music and friends at the Straight P.A.T.H. (Positive Actions Through Harmony) Festival and Concert on Sunday, May 19, from 12 - 5 PM.  The festival takes place in the Davies Building at Farnsworth Park, 568 E. Mt. Curve Avenue.

This year is the sixth annual Invited Guest Series, featuring Joshua Salaam of the Muslim hip-hop group Native Deen.

Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets, but pre-sale tickets are now available at the discounted price of $20 each. To get your discounted tickets, email Kameelah Wilkerson atkamelina@yahoo.com. Free shipping is available, and supplies are limited.

Pasadena Master Chorale: What makes music sound American?

The Pasadena Master Chorale (PMC) will explore the answer to the question, "What makes music sound American?", when it presents “The Voice of America” on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 PM. at First Congregational Church in Pasadena. Under the direction of PMC founder and artistic director Jeffrey Bernstein, the renowned ensemble will present such works as Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, a setting of seven poems by Robert Frost, The Promise of Living from Aaron Copland’s opera The Tender Land; and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, an affirmation of the composer’s Jewish identity set in Hebrew.

 PMC will also perform Jeffrey Bernstein’s own tribute to the composer with whom he shares a surname, Elegy on the Death of Leonard Bernstein.

 “I remember vividly the day Leonard Bernstein died - October 15, 1990 – and it hit me hard,” Bernstein recalls. “He had written so much music I loved and had championed precisely those ideals which I find so dear in music that I felt a connection with him even though we never met.”

 Additionally, the Chorale will replace the traditional preconcert lecture – a staple at classical music performances worldwide – with an open rehearsal on Wednesday, May 15, at First Congregational Church at 7:30 PM. Those who attend will not only get a glimpse inside the rehearsal process but will also have an opportunity to speak with Bernstein about the music.

 Tickets for “The Voice of America” – made possible in part by grants from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts – are available for $25 general admission, $20 for seniors, and $15 for students. Admission is FREE at the door, however, to students at Pasadena Unified School District and their parents. Tickets may be purchased by visiting the Pasadena Master Chorale website, www.pasadenamasterchorale.org, through any Chorale member, or at the door.

 

Kirsten Edkins headlines Caltech Jazz Festival Saturday

The Caltech Jazz Bands, directed by William Bing, presents their 13^th Annual Jazz Festival featuring soloist Kirsten Edkins. This event will take place on Saturday, April 13 from 1-5 PM at Gates Annex Patio on the Caltech campus.

Featured soloist will be saxophonist Kirsten Edkins, who graduated from the prestigious Eastman School of Music. An inspired improvising jazz musician, Ms. Edkins has performed with Arturo Sandoval, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Geoffrey Keezer, Gary Foster, Joe LaBarbara, Larry Koonse, New York Voices, and Wycliffe Gordon among others.

In addition to her jazz performances, Ms. Edkins has performed with such diverse popular artists as Carrie Underwood, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, Anita Ward, Gloria Gaynor and a host of others. She has appeared on the television in American Idol, Duets, The Voice, Knight Rider, Glee, Bones and the Tonight Show with vocalist Katherine McPhee. Ms. Edkins is also in demand as a highly motivating music educator, including associations with the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Occidental College, Cal State Fullerton, Saddleback College, Golden West College and her own private studio, which has encouraged young musicians for over 14 years. Kirsten is the Director of Community Outreach for the American Jazz Institute. Her album is coming out later this year, with all original material featuring Larry Goldings, Mark Ferber, Bob Sheppard, and Ryan Dragon.  Further details can be found on her website atkirstenedkins.com.

Other featured musicians at the Caltech Jazz Festival include guitarist Glenn Hair, the Nick Broten Band, Chris Rolontz, Zucky Zeidner, and the Caltech Jazz Band.

Admission is free and no tickets are required. Some seating will be provided and audience members are welcome to bring food and blankets for a picnic on the lawn.  For further information, please call Caltech Performing and Visual Arts at (626) 395-3295 or visit the Caltech Jazz Bands online at bands.caltech.edu.

It's Joseph Shuldiner's world -- we just live in it

by Timothy Rutt

 

Altadena Farmer's Market manager Joseph Shuldiner is the man of the hour this week.

There's been a slew of good stuff out today, and it all seems to be orbiting around Altadena's own Joseph Shuldiner.

 

First, a website called Lifestyle Mirror says that Altadena will be the next big thing in food (but you knew that!).  It credits Shuldiner, lord of the Altadena Farmers' Market and Institute of Domestic Technology, and we can't deny it.  It's a short web-post, but read it!

Second, the Institute has announced its spring course of classes, which will be held both in Altadena's Zane Grey Estate and the historic Greystone Mansion (which offers a vintage speakeasy for cocktail crafting classes). It will also be marked by a field trip on May 3-5 through Santa Ynez, looking through organic farms and a "biodynamic winery" (check the latest offerings here).

Third: the Altadena Farmer's Market is today from 4-7 PM at Loma Alta Park, and it welcomes Grill Masters chicken aficianados.  The LA Weekly called them "the best," and you can read a fawning review here.

Fourth: Don't forget that Pasadena Magazine is holding its "Fete at the Farmer's Market" next week in Altadena from 5-7 PM.  A celebration of the release of the March/April "Luxe Living" issue, guests will be treated to cooking demonstrations from the expert chefs of La Grande Orange Café, and learn how to create signature cocktails from the skillful mixologists of 1886 Bar at The Raymond. This event will also feature jam-making and coffee-roasting demos from the Domestic Institute of Technology, live music, raffles, and more! To attend, RSVP at rsvp@pasadenarose.com.

 

 

Poncho Sanchez, Candi Sosa headline Caltech Latin Jazz concert Feb. 9

by Timothy Rutt 

Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Band and Candi Sosa headline the Caltech Latin Jazz Concert Feb. 9.

The Caltech Jazz Band (directed by Altadena's own William Bing) presents its fourth annual Latin Jazz Concert on Saturday, February 9 at Beckman Auditorium.

 

Special guests include Poncho Sanchez and his Latin band, along with vocalist Candi Sosa and percussionists Richardo "Tiki" Pasillas and Robertito Melendez.

TIckets are $5 for students and seniors, $10 for general admission.  Concert starts at 8 (but get there early). For ticket information, call 626-395-4652 Mon.-Fri. between noon and 5 PM.