Adams conducts Adams in LA Phil performances of A Flowering Tree ... Carolina Chocolate Drops do Seattle's Giant Magnet festival ... Bill Frisell Trio concludes Village Vanguard residency ... Glass goes solo at Manchester's Futuresonic Festival ... Brad Mehldau does duo and solo sets at SFJAZZ ... The Low Anthem bring the music to Brighton's Great Escape Festival ... Mandy Patinkin, Patti LuPone conclude two-week run in Cleveland ... Dawn Upshaw performs Golijov in Glasgow ... Sara Watkins winds her way up the Western states ... and more ...
John Adams conducts the second of three performances this week at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles tonight. On Tuesday, he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and two young composer/performers Payton MacDonald and Timothy Andres in works by those composers and his own Son of Chamber Symphony. The Los Angeles Times's Mark Swed says the last provides "a gratifying experience of rich complexity ... The details are, in every measure, satisfyingly subtle."
Tonight and Sunday afternoon, Adams leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances of his most recent opera, A Flowering Tree, directed by his longtime collaborator Peter Sellars and starring the singers captured on last year's Nonesuch recording: Jessica Rivera, Russell Thomas, Eric Owens, all reprising the roles they originated. The Los Angeles Master Chorale joins as well, under the lead of music director Grant Gershon.
"Call it a metaphor for composer John Adams and his old buddy/collaborator Peter Sellars’ relationship, which seems to be a tree that never stops flowering," writes LA Weekly's Mary Beth Crain, in recommending the performances. "So, A Flowering Tree is a fitting title for the dazzling duo’s fourth co-opera, which, in typical Adams/Sellars style, draws from a number of intriguing creative sources."
Adams leads the New York premiere of A Flowering Tree this August for Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, where he will be artist-in-residence.
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The Carolina Chocolate Drops are in Washington state to perform at a number of events for the Giant Magnet festival (formerly known as the Seattle International Children's Festival) this weekend. The festival runs all this week in Seattle and concludes in Tacoma on Sunday and Monday. The Chocolate Drops play two sets at the Seattle Center's Nesholm Family Lecture Hall, one this morning, and another tomorrow afternoon. They'll play the festival's closing day at Tacoma's Theatre on the Square on Monday. For more on the festival, visit giantmagnet.org.
The group stopped by Seattle radio station KEXP on Wednesday for the station's American blues & roots show "The Roadshow," to chat with host Greg Vandy and play a few songs. You can listen to the show online at kexp.org.
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The Bill Frisell Trio's residency at the Village Vanguard, which began earlier this week, continues through Sunday, with Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Next week, he returns to his home state of Maryland for a performance with his 858 Quartet, featuring Hank Roberts, Jenny Scheinman, and Eyvind Kang, at Rams Head On Stage.
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Philip Glass is at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, Saturday for a solo piano performance at the 14th annual Futuresonic Festival, an urban festival of art, music, and ideas.
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Brad Mehldau, after last week's residency at the Village Vanguard with his Trio, offers concerts of two different formats this weekend at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center as part of SFJAZZ. Tonight, he's joined by percussionist Matt Chamberlain for the premiere of a unique duo concert. On Saturday, Brad gives a rare solo performance at the venue. It's his last scheduled performance before he begins a European tour at the end of June.
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The Low Anthem play a set at Horatio's Bar in Brighton, England, tonight as part of this weekend's multi-venue Great Escape Festival. They play a few more dates on the Continent in the coming week before returning home for a string of dates in June to celebrate their debut Nonesuch release, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.
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Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone's two-week run at Cleveland, Ohio's Palace Theatre concludes this weekend. Palace performances of An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin run through Sunday, with an evening show tonight and two performances each on Saturday and Sunday.
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Dawn Upshaw is in the UK this week performing Ayre by composer Osvaldo Golijov, a longtime collaborator, and works by Bartók, at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival last night and at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket tomorrow night. She is joined for the performances by The Andalucian Dogs, a 12-piece ensemble founded by the composer, and the Brodsky Quartet.
Upshaw and Golijov were together at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall last weekend for the two culminating concerts of their joint Professional Training Workshop organized by the Hall's education wing and Bard College. Coverage of the performances can be found at nytimes.com.
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Sara Watkins returned to the scene of many a Watkins Family Hour performance, Largo at the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles last night. Tonight, she continues the Western leg of her tour with a performance at The State Room in Salt Lake City, Utah. She heads up to Portland, Oregon, on Saturday for a show at Mississippi Studios and then to Seattle to play the Tractor Tavern on Sunday.
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