ENTERTAINMENT
November 20, 2013 | By David Ng
Diane Disney Miller, who died on Tuesday at 79, was famous for being the elder daughter of Walt Disney. In Los Angeles, she was also known as a formidable cultural presence who played a crucial role in the creation of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Miller died in Napa Calif., following a fall in September. Earlier that month, she spoke to the Los Angeles Times on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Disney Hall. The concert venue, designed by architect Frank Gehry, was funded with an initial $50-million gift from her mother, Lillian Disney.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 19, 2013 | By David Colker
Walt Disney's name is on Los Angeles' world-famous concert hall, but it was a far less-known Disney who came from behind the scenes to ensure that architect Frank Gehry's vision for the building stayed intact. Diane Disney Miller, Walt Disney's eldest daughter, had previously shunned the limelight along with other women in the family. "We were just three women, my mother, my sister and me," she said in a 2003 Los Angeles Times interview. "Housewives, if you will. " That's pretty much how the public knew her until 1997, when some of the city's most powerful figures came close to forcing out Gehry during a crucial planning phase of the hall.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 16, 2013 | By Mike Boehm
Dodging the labor strife that has descended on other recent negotiations over orchestral musicians' pay, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the union representing its musicians announced Monday that they've reached a new four-year contract that lifts wages by just less than 1% a year. At the end of four years, the minimum yearly wage for the Phil's more than 100 musicians will be $154,336, up 3.8% from the $148,700 minimum in the contract that expired Sunday. The minimum wage scale had risen 17% over the previous four-year contract.
ENTERTAINMENT
July 11, 2013 | By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic
The first night of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's summer season is no longer treated as Opening Night at the Hollywood Bowl, now that the Hall of Fame awards concert a couple of weeks earlier draws the fanciest picnics. That June concert was also the unveiling of the Bowl's updated audio and visual setup. But the L.A. Phil still tries to start off summer with something special. Tuesday night was more special than usual. San Francisco Symphony music director and native Angeleno Michael Tilson Thomas, once a Bowl regular but last seen in the amphitheater in 2007, made a rare appearance (only his second since 1985)
ENTERTAINMENT
June 21, 2013 | By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic
SAN FRANCISCO - Thursday was the last day of the spring of "The Rite of Spring. " By now everyone and his or her brother has seemingly found a way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the riotous Parisian premiere of Stravinsky's famed ballet. With so many such rites - including Mark Morris' intriguing new choreography that premiered in Berkeley last week - you might expect the "Rite" to have finally run its course. Not yet. Spring, in fact, ended with a revelatory performance of Stravinsky's score Thursday afternoon here at Davies Hall, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony.
ENTERTAINMENT
May 14, 2013 | By Jamie Wetherbe
R&B star Janelle Monáe will step in for an ailing Aretha Franklin at an upcoming concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Franklin was under doctor's orders to withdraw from the May 20 “Corporate Night” fundraiser, according to the orchestra's website. CSO representatives said the 71-year-old singer will be undergoing medical treatment at that time; they did not elaborate on her health. CHEAT SHEET: Spring Arts Preview Franklin, who missed shows in 2010 for unspecified medial reasons, also canceled a May 26 show at Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Connecticut.