Articles by Rick Schultz

British-born Bramwell Tovey opened his final concert this season as principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl with a knockout reading of “The Star-Spangled Banner” – but that tune was written by a Brit. Read more

When South Korean conductor and competition veteran Shi-Yeon Sung stepped in for an ailing Edo de Waart at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday night, she was amply prepared to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic on short notice in a demanding program of Wagner, Schumann and Brahms. Read more

Youth was served Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, with veteran British conductor Andrew Davis ably leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an all-Mozart program featuring mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and pianist Orion Weiss. Read more

Recalling Bramwell Tovey’s debut with the Philharmonic at Disney Hall in May 2007 (he had already guest conducted at the Bowl) in a program that included Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” Borda says he gave “one of the greatest verbal program notes I had ever heard.” Read more

Classical audiences used to groan when someone approached the front of the stage to address them at the beginning of a concert. Read more

Conductor Carl St.Clair celebrated the 95th anniversary of the Paris premiere of Stravinsky’s once-scandalous “Rite of Spring” by having his Pacific Symphony play it well on Thursday night at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Read more

Stravinsky once dismissed Vivaldi’s music as “the same concerto 400 times.” Read more

HELMUT Lachenmann’s work is very strange, even by contemporary standards. Read more

The need for last-minute replacements is an unfortunate fact of concert life. Read more