Walt Disney Concert Hall - Day and Night

Every musical phrase has a purpose.

It's like talking.

If you talk with a particular purpose,

people listen to you,

but if you just recite,

it's not as meaningful.

~ Itzhak Perlman

Walt Disney Concert Hall

designed by Frank Gehry 

Opened October 23rd, 2003

We all have things on our bucket list. One thing on my list was to see Itzhak Perlman live! When I found out he was coming to Disney Hall, I immediately went online and called my friend Shea who also has a huge passion for music. 

His concert dates with the full orchestra were a bit out of our budget, but on a Tuesday night, he'd be playing with pianist Emmanuel Ax for considerably less and it wouldn't break the bank. I think it was in early fall that we got our seats for January and before we knew it, the time had arrived.

PROGRAM

Mozart: Sonata in C major, K. 296

Fauré: Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13

R. Stauss: Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18

Honestly, I didn't know what these pieces were ahead of time, but I didn't care. I just figured it would be great! I mean, Perlman, right?

Here's the Mozart Sonata with Perlman but this recording was with Daniel Barenboim not Ax. 

I can tell you that it was certainly worth the wait! I'm sure it was great to see him with the full orchestra but I was glad we saw just the two perform on stage together. There was something wonderfully intimate about it and they called out additional works from the stage. So many I lost track. They were beautiful, so I wish I could remember what they were!

With the two of them, you were also able see more of Mr. Perlman's personality, which was funny and passionate, and made me think of Yo-Yo Ma who I am also kind of obsessed with.

Perhaps our task in this shaky, 

fast changing, bewildering world

in which we live

is to make music,

at first with all that we have,

and then, 

when that is no longer possible,

to make music with what we have left.

~ Itzhak Perlman

No pics during the show, but here's Miss Shea and me, during the intermission.

Next door ... the new Broad Museum!

So, that was back in January. Then a couple of weeks ago Shea called.

There is a program for families and kids at the Disney Hall on certain Saturday mornings. It's called Toyota Symphonies for Youth where the orchestra plays, they teach about a particular instrument and have programs before the performance,  like an "instrument petting zoo." Very cute. Anyway, Shea's daughter had a soccer tournament and couldn't make it so she asked me if I wanted to go over there with her.

What a great way to start off a beautiful Saturday!

That particular Saturday was called "Spirit of the Cello." It was really fantastic! This cellist started speaking to the audience about a rehearsal many years ago, where the "spirit of his cello" started to speak to him.

This 'spirit' came out, in the form of an actor with a thick Italian accent ... who was hilarious! "I am the Spirit of the Celllllloooo!"

Anyway, great concept and there was playing of the cello and orchestra, intermittently, along with explanations about the importance of rehearsing and playing along with the orchestra, as well as talking about different composers who wrote for the cello.

Shhhhh .... I snuck a shot of the orchestra before it started ... great seats, huh?

They played Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn ...

Never miss an opportunity to teach;

when you teach others, 

you teach yourself.

~Itzhak Perlman

After the concert we grabbed salads at the cafeteria and walked around to the little public garden, at the Disney Hall to have lunch.

This is the "Rose for Lilly" fountain, designed by Frank Gehry for Lillian Disney. Her bequest is what began the Walt Disney Concert Hall project. Apparently, she loved Delftware so it's a mosaic of thousands of pieces of shattered Delft vases and tiles. It's beautiful and I think works so well with the architecture of the building.

The most important thing to do 

is really listen.

~Itzhak Perlman

Below, if you walk between the two structures there is a little amphitheater ...

One must always practice slowly.

If you learn something slowly,

you forget it slowly.

~Itzhak Perlman

I couldn't find a cello piece at the Disney Hall for you, but here's a Mischa Maisky cello Concerto by Haydn in some fabulous place. Probably Europe ... 

There are people who are uncanny,

who are finished products at a young age.

I wasn't, thank God.

~Itzhak Perlman

Hope y'all are doing great!

Many Blessings and much light!

And Happy Birthday Evelyn!!!

xo

October's End ~ Nosferatu, Halloween and Olvera Street's Dia de Los Muertos

All Hallows Weekend

Where there is no imagination

there is no horror.

~Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

Nosferatu at the Walt Disney Concert Hall

O.K. so first I want to show off the amazing sky we had last Thursday ... 

This was what I saw before walking into work!

And when I came out, after work, it looked like the sky was on fire! My little iPhone could quite capture it.

Anyway, a few of days before Halloween, I called my friend Karen to see if she was interested in going to happy hour, on Halloween. Turns out she and her two neighbors had a plan, and I was invited along!

They were going to the Disney Hall, to see the old 1922 silent film, Nosferatu, by German filmmaker F.W. Murnau! It was the first Dracula movie ever made. 

I decided to be a "Devil in a Red Dress," for Halloween.

Clothes make a statement.

Costumes tell a story.

~Mason Cooley

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

1922

You can see the organ, on the left facing the movie screen. All hour and a half of the film, the score was played by organist Clark Wilson. Below, you can see the wild set of organ pipes. It really did sound amazing!

This is the whole remastered movie but if you want to watch the end segment, go to 1:25:35

After getting our creepy Halloween on, at Nosferatu, Karen and exited the Disney Hall out into a  shiny and wet downtown. It finally rained in LA!!! We decided to walk over to the big Music Center across the street to walk around and hopefully find a cozy warm drink, which we did! Otto's Grill is now a place a French Brasserie called Kendall's, and they have really good fries!

On my way home in the car I ripped off my annoying false eyelashes. I took this following photo in the mirror, before washing off my Devil makeup (which took forever, to get off! To say that the black liquid eyeliner was waterproof, was a bit of an understatement.) 

Anyway, the photo struck me as strangely looking like a German expressionist portrait ... a weird sychronicity because, as it turns out, the film, Nosferatu was considered a German expressionist film. 

Google German Expressionist portraits, and you will see what I mean.

On Saturday Evening, Nov 1st, it was Dia de los Muertos, and I headed downtown with my friend Shea and her family to Olvera Street. We used to go to Hollywood Forever Cemetery but it's so packed full of people these days, that we now look for alternatives.

Dia de Los Muertos

Olvera Street, Los Angeles

He who has gone,

so we but cherish his memory,

abides with us,

more potent, nay,

more present than the living man.

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Procession

If the people we love are stolen from us,

the way to have them live on,

is to never stop loving them.

~James O'Barr, David J.Schow, and John Shirley

The Crow, 1994

 

Pardon the blurriness, but without a flash, and considering that it was dark out, it was the best I could manage!

Of course, being down at Olvera Street, we had Mexican food and margaritas. Well, the adults had margaritas!

My friends daughter, checking out some trinkets ...

Doesn't this next girl, look like Norah Jones?

I ended up getting this little pink clay cross, as a keepsake. I love it.

It's always moving to see the altars and offerings to someone's ancestors, and others that have passed.

It had been rather windy and had rained again earlier, which I guess is why the candles weren't lit. I love the photographs and marigolds ...

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. 

~George Eliot

The Aztec dancers were there, as well as musicians, in the main square. (I've mentioned my family connection to this place, before. My great, great grandparents had their wedding reception here.)

After a margarita, I had no problem asking people if I could take their picture!

 

Another fun group of musicians!

It finally started to clear out, toward the far end of the street.

Found this video, on Youtube. It was uploaded in 2009. It was filmed and edited by Amos Clark with a Canon 5D Mk2. He did a really great job, with the filming, and it was apparently edited with Final Cut Pro.

Before we left for Olvera Street. I had originally wanted to do the skull makeup, but after having to scrub off my devil expressionist visage, I decided I would save it for next year.

For my colorful past daytime posts of Olvera Street, click here and here.

For my Olvera Street Dia de los Muertos post from 2009, click here.

Blessings and light!

And here's to a beautiful November!