Telephone conversation with the Met Opera box office in Jan. 2007
Me I’d like to get a ticket to Traviata in April.
MET Yes, which section would you like?
Me I would like to be in the orchestra.
MET Excellent, Ms. Walling, and how many seats will you need?
Me Just the one, thanks.
MET Very good. We have an excellent seat for you in row M. The ticket will be available for you at will call. Enjoy the performance.
Telephone conversation with the Lobero box office in Feb. 2008
Me Hello, I’d like to get a ticket for Jordi Savall on the 14th?
LOB Yes, we still have tickets for that. Where would you like to sit?
Me I would like to be on a left side aisle. Do you have any tickets there?
LOB How many tickets will you need?
Me Just the one, thanks.
LOB Only One!??
Me Yes, it will be just me.
Me (to self) I’m not hideous.
LOB Okay, yes, Ms. Walling, we can seat you there. I will hold your single ticket for you at the box office.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Arlington
CAMA is winding down its long tenancy at the Arlington this season. While most everyone is apparently thrilled, I will miss the un-self-consciously fake Wild West border town facades and the peeling paint. CAMA performances for the 2008-09 season will be in the Granada Theater.
I’ve been in the newly renovated Granada. I had seats in the third row of the balcony (there’s only one) to see a taping of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me…. I felt like I was going to be sick the entire time. It’s like looking down a mine shaft, and I can’t imagine what the music is going to sound like (although I don’t know a thing about acoustics). I’ll find out on May 3 when the L.A. Philharmonic comes to town.
Moreover, the Granada is a wedding cake, homage to the Spanish Renaissance. It’s encrusted with every geometric shape you’ve tried not to imagine simultaneously. Now, don’t get me wrong. The Spanish Renaissance was a wonderful and often neglected flowering of culture. Just listen to a master play the vihuela. But, really, Santa Barbara has about as much connection to the Spanish Renaissance as I have to the establishment of common law in England, a phenomenon that was occurring while my ancestors were fighting over who was going to get to eat the offal for dinner.
In short, the Granada is self-consciously grand, and I’m going to try not to look at it.
Yuja Wang in Santa Barbara and Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles
I intend to aim high in the coming musical season and, at least, make my editorial comments in a timely manner. For now, I’ll sum up.
On March 26, Sir Neville Mariner conducted the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. The Academy of SMIF put on a terrific show, and its performance of Haydn’s London Symphony was full of feeling (despite what the Haydn haters say).
The highlight of the evening though was Yuja Wang. Female virtuosos are often praised for their “commanding stage presences,” which essentially means “she’s hot,” but Ms. Wang had the mother of all stage presences. Ms. Wang entered the stage in a strapless, royal blue ball gown with a full skirt of stiff, shimmering taffeta, which seemed to hold up the delicately small, 20 year-old pianist, rather than the other way around. Her jet black hair was cut in long, adolescent layers that hung loose and shook marvelously when she played. She looked as if she were ready to go to the prom, which gave her a girl-next-door allure and made the audience heave a parental sigh. She received a standing ovation for her Mozart Concerto in C minor with a sheepish, hair-bobbing pleasure as she handed the enormous flower arrangement to Sir Neville. She then played Mozart’s Turkish March for an encore with the energy of a Superball on steroids so that when it was only half over, we were all in stitches. It was the musical equivalent of a spanking.
More youth was in evidence at the L.A. Philharmonic on March 30 when Gustavo Dudamel conducted Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. What more can one say about him? He looks like a hair commercial; he’s musically amazing (which deserves repeating)—he’s a blast.
On March 26, Sir Neville Mariner conducted the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara. The Academy of SMIF put on a terrific show, and its performance of Haydn’s London Symphony was full of feeling (despite what the Haydn haters say).
The highlight of the evening though was Yuja Wang. Female virtuosos are often praised for their “commanding stage presences,” which essentially means “she’s hot,” but Ms. Wang had the mother of all stage presences. Ms. Wang entered the stage in a strapless, royal blue ball gown with a full skirt of stiff, shimmering taffeta, which seemed to hold up the delicately small, 20 year-old pianist, rather than the other way around. Her jet black hair was cut in long, adolescent layers that hung loose and shook marvelously when she played. She looked as if she were ready to go to the prom, which gave her a girl-next-door allure and made the audience heave a parental sigh. She received a standing ovation for her Mozart Concerto in C minor with a sheepish, hair-bobbing pleasure as she handed the enormous flower arrangement to Sir Neville. She then played Mozart’s Turkish March for an encore with the energy of a Superball on steroids so that when it was only half over, we were all in stitches. It was the musical equivalent of a spanking.
More youth was in evidence at the L.A. Philharmonic on March 30 when Gustavo Dudamel conducted Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. What more can one say about him? He looks like a hair commercial; he’s musically amazing (which deserves repeating)—he’s a blast.
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