In Los Angeles, classical music and dance don't take a summer vacation, as happens in some other major cities. In fact, summer provides some of the best opportunities to catch world-class musicians and dancers at settings as big as the Hollywood Bowl and as intimate as REDCAT.
Of course, there's the annual Ojai Music Festival (see story above) as well as the numerous outdoor concerts throughout the South- land.
The abundance is daunting, but it can also be rewarding if you map your approach in advance and keep an open mind to challenging and oddball musical experiences.
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Opera, deconstructed
Expect weird and wacky things when the Wooster Group applies its signature multimedia style to "La Didone," a 17th century Baroque piece by Francesco Cavalli. This is the first time the New York experimental troupe has tackled opera, and it's safe to say that there won't be much in the way of standard park-and-bark delivery. June 11-21, REDCAT.
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Grand tradition
For classical music fans, summer doesn't officially start until fireworks go off above the Hollywood Bowl. This season's opener features the induction of opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa and singer Josh Groban into the Bowl's Hall of Fame, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. June 19, Hollywood Bowl.
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Radical moves
The avant-garde choreographer Yvonne Rainer revisits Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" in the West Coast premiere of "RoS Indexical," set to the BBC's reenactment of the ballet's riotous 1913 opening in Paris. The performance also includes "Spiraling Down," a new work that synthesizes diverse influences from traditional ballet to soccer. June 25-28, REDCAT.
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High energy
Returning for its seventh season at the Ford, the dance group Viver Brasil will perform "Feet on the Ground/Aiye," a series of new works mixing samba, traditional moves and multimedia projections to illuminate ancient Afro-Bahian stories. July 3, Ford Amphitheater.
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Oldie but goody
American Ballet Theatre returns to the Music Center with its production of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," a time-tested crowd-pleaser featuring choreography by Kenneth MacMillan. The five pairs of rotating leads include Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes, and Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg. July 16-19, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
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Prodigy
