Classical Music

Critics, as a breed, tend to shy away from the spotlight as a general rule. The story is the artistry they’re criticizing. Still, despite his self-effacing demeanor, New Yorker music critic and now bestselling author Alex Ross, who talked to a small but devout audience at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach on Friday night, can’t help but absorb the limelight. Reading the opening pages of his 2007 book on the evolution of contemporary classical music, “The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century,” it’s not hard to see why Ross, just older than 40, has attracted so much attention not just from connoisseurs of classical music but from a general public eager to understand how modern classical repertoire can even be called music.

When I was 4, my mother started taking my brother and me to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Grant Park in Chicago, where we lived. My brother and I spent almost the entire time running around the park, playing around Buckingham Fountain and probably annoying many of the concertgoers. If I heard any music at all, I don't remember it. What I do remember was that this music was important to my mother, even though the music didn't have any words, a concept I could not understand.

Danette Goulet NEWPORT BEACH -- Students are learning to appreciate the finer things in life at Newport Elementary School through the Pacific Symphony Orchestra's Class Act program. Parents and students will attend a special performance by a woodwind quintet Thursday night as one in a string of events intended to expose children to classical music. "They are learning about the instruments and about the music. They are learning words," said Annette Kerr, the parent liaison for the program.

An interactive piano concert hosted by the Newport Beach Public Library is aimed at teaching children about classical music. Pianist Robert Estrin will perform his show titled ?Living Piano: Journey Through Time? 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 16 in the Friends Room at the Newport Beach Central Library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Dressed in period costumes, Estrin will perform selections from Mozart, Liszt and other well-known composers on a variety of keyboard instruments from the harpsichord to the modern piano.

Newport Beach saxophonist Freddy Martin was a major figure of the Big Band era, commanding his own band at Manhattan's Hotel Roosevelt and other venues across America. Martin combined a popular sensibility with a thorough familiarity of classical music -- a blend that led to his 1941 No. 1 hit, a dance version of Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto in B Minor." Along the musical road, Martin performed with more than a few performers who went on to fame. Merv Griffin sang and played piano for Martin's band for five years.

The two strangers leafed through the scrapbook, their memories of a man in common flowing like the airy music that earlier filled the hall. There they were, backstage at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall after Tuesday night's Philharmonic Society of Orange County concert, my grandmother and the New York Philharmonic musician reminiscing over the late Saul Goodman. Goodman was my 96-year-old grandmother's "Uncle Solly," but in the world of classical music, he was a giant among timpanists and played with the New York Phil for 46 years.

TONY DODERO I made a vow some time ago to become more attuned with classical music. My parents listened to it, sure, but I avoided it for most of my life. My musical heroes were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Neil Young. It was rock 'n' roll all the way for me. When I got older, I expanded my horizons and added jazz to the mix and spent many a night in my early days at the Studio Cafe, both in Balboa and later at the second version in Corona del Mar at what is now Bandera Restaurant.

The 20th anniversary Golden Baton Award given by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County was presented to broadcaster Saul Levine at a recent Sunday evening dinner and reception. Levine, president and general manager of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, was lauded at the gala patron reception and dinner held at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. The recipient of the Golden Baton Award is chosen each year based on his or her commitment to and support of the arts in Orange County.

COSTA MESA — As recently as last week, Beethoven sightings have been reported throughout Orange County. At least a dozen people have spotted the infamously temperamental 239-year-old German composer. Photographs show a diminutive Ludwig inside planters, next to a hungry dog, petting a black cat, socializing with Aflac ducks and enjoying Belvedere vodka. His ongoing sojourn even includes attending a performance of his Ninth Symphony at Irvine's Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

Alex Coolman The dirty secret of classical music concerts, Dean Corey says, is that beneath all the bow ties and little black dresses, behind all the urbane chatter and the professionally styled hair, the audience members are actually quaking with terror. They're scared to death, says Corey, the executive director of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County's Eclectic Orange Festival, because the music they encounter in concert halls is such complex stuff, and a simple conversation about an evening's program poses the threat of exposing their ignorance.

The two strangers leafed through the scrapbook, their memories of a man in common flowing like the airy music that earlier filled the hall. There they were, backstage at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall after Tuesday night's Philharmonic Society of Orange County concert, my grandmother and the New York Philharmonic musician reminiscing over the late Saul Goodman. Goodman was my 96-year-old grandmother's "Uncle Solly," but in the world of classical music, he was a giant among timpanists and played with the New York Phil for 46 years.

In the coming days, there is something for everyone in Costa Mesa's classical scene: a youth ensemble, an organist, a visiting orchestra and a classic film score. At 2 p.m. Sunday, the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble, an educational group under the auspices of the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Symphony, will be having a concert titled "Music for Prague. " The afternoon event inside the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall features "Music for Prague 1968," by Czech-American composer Karel Husa.

Sitting criss-cross on the floor, four kindergartners each placed a hand on the double bass towering over them to feel the vibrations as it was played. "Wow! How does that feel?" asked Pacific Symphony bassist Doug Basye. "Does it tickle?" Basye gave a lesson Thursday morning to a class of kindergartners at Victoria Elementary School on how the double bass works, the different sections of the orchestra and the works of American composer Aaron Copland. It was all part of Class Act, a partnership between the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Symphony and schools, to connect students with musicians and introduce them to a composer.

It's the season to be musical in the form of singing, dancing, violin bowing and brass instrument buzzing. Newport-Mesa is the hub of the county's musical activity, so it's no surprise that many holiday-themed events are happening right here. The John Alexander Singers will be having two performances this week of their third annual Christmas-themed concert. The 24-voice group is the professional core of the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Chorale, whose conductor, John Alexander, celebrated his 40th-anniversary season this year.

It was a pleasant concert with a clever name. Sometimes the audience was in awe. Other times everybody just relaxed and watched the world go by — literally, in this case. The Pacific Symphony's "2011: A Space Odyssey" concert on Oct. 20, in addition to playing music made famous by Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi film of a similar name, featured a potpourri of soloist flavors: Barry Perkins on trumpet, Jeremy Denk on piano and organist Christoph Bull. Leading the performances was guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, a native Costa Rican who serves as music director of the Nashville Symphony.

The Internet makes it official: I'm not the only one. As the newly christened 416th member of the "Looney Tunes introduced me to classical music" Facebook group, I take solace. Now I know there are others who, like me, were first exposed to the highbrow musical world through the (seemingly) lowbrow antics of the "wascally wabbit" and a bald, pronunciation-challenged hunter. Unlike many a classically trained musician, I didn't grow up in a household exposed to the classics — unless one counts Neil Diamond in the same league as Wolfgang Mozart.

John Logan Dowden (December 25, 1933 - July 3, 2011     Obituary   John Logan Dowden passed to the larger LIFE on July 3, 2011 in Huntington Beach, California.  He is survived by son William Edward Dowden and daughter Deirdre Love Chapman as well as grandchildren Kyle Dowden, Alana Dowden, Dana Rubarth, Chase Rubarth, and Tristan Beckwith. He is also survived by sister Mariana Bornholdt, godson Jack Pestaner, friend and companion Dolores McGuire, and several nieces and nephews.

When assigned to shoot Lang Lang, the 28-year-old classical piano superstar, at first I had no idea who he was. Then Daily Pilot copy editor Bradley Zint, who writes our "Classically Trained" column, told me he was the "Michael Jordan of classical music. " I then learned he was huge in the classical world. I arrived early and sat next to other folks who were waiting for him to exit a tour bus. Upon exiting the bus, hands in his pockets and aviator shades over his eyes, he posed for photos.

His will be a one-night affair on Orange County's top piano pedestal. Acclaimed virtuoso pianist Lang Lang performs Tuesday with the Pacific Symphony in an all-Russian composer program at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The 8 p.m. performance at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, led by music director Carl St.Clair, features the works of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. A word of advice: The show is fast selling out, so book your tickets soon.

NEWPORT BEACH — As an instrumentalist who makes music with help from innovations generated by a more mechanical age, I have a deeper admiration for those skilled with the timeless purity of voice. Singing comes straight from one's musical soul to the listener; there is no in between. Unlike with instruments, singing is not strings, metal or wood. It's not a human breath or movement somehow altered to make music. Singing is as pure as music gets. The results can be, in my mind, all the more amazing.