Recommended Festivals and Series

The 2013 Ojai Music Festival will feature the Mark Morris dancers — and the director of the Festival will be Mark Morris himself.

FESTIVALS AND SERIES
DURING THE REGULAR SEASON

A discerning selection of the finest theatre, classical music, and dance festivals, series, and special events coming to the greater Los Angeles area.

Le Salon de Musiques,  Monthly series of exquisite chamber music performed in an intimate, French salon-like setting (champagne and cuisine included!), upstairs at the L.A. Music Center. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. See also our discussion of one of these concerts.

Green Umbrella, a project of the L.A. Phil,  is a without a doubt the most important New Music series at the L.A. area. NO RECOMMENDATION

LACO à la Carte, a series of intimate concerts in local consulates, with superb cuisine will raise funds for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, runs October through November. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Sundays Live, Free chamber music at the Bing Theatre at LACMA, one hour concerts beginning at 6 pm on Sundays. A steller lineup each year. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Music in the Mansion, one Sunday a month at 2  pm. Relocated temporarily to the  Beverly Hills Municipal Gallery. Fine chamber recitals. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

“The Previews,” in Palos Verdes, often related to the Music in the Mansion series. Monthly Saturdays at 2 p.m. Fine chamber recitals. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Sundays at Two, a fine monthly series of classical concerts at the Rolling Hills United Methodist Church, through the 2011-2012 season, admission free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Classical Encounters, an intimate chamber music series in Tarzana. NO RECOMMENDATION

The Dilijan Chamber Music Series  in Downtown Los Angeles. This six-concerts season encompasses masterpieces of Western classical chamber music, pearls from the treasury of Armenian chamber works, and world premieres of chamber music commissioned from contemporary Armenian composers. In the acoustically excellent Zipper Hall of the Colburn Music School. WORTH THE RISK.

The Ojai Music Festival. June 6-9, 2013. The area’s most important classical festival features a gathering of some of the world’s finest musicians just 1.5 hours from L.A. The 67^th Festival will celebrate collaborations with the Mark Morris Dance Group, The Bad Plus, Emanuel Ax, Yoko Nozaki, and the American String Quartet, and will feature music by Lou Harrison with additional performances of works by John Luther Adams, Samuel Barber, John Cage, Henry Cowell, Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen, Igor Stravinsky, and Sir William Walton. The music director for the 2013 Ojai Music Festival is noted American choreographer Mark Morris, who will present a focus on American artistic colleagues and American music. Mr. Morris – the first dancer/choreographer to serve as Music Director of the Festival. NOT TO BE MISSED

The Maestro Foundation A private philanthropical group that supports young artists, while inviting world-class musicians to play chamber music in an elegant Santa Monica home. Membership is expensive, but the lineup is amazing. If you can afford to really support the Arts, these concerts are  NOT TO BE MISSED