» Video Game Review By Michael WORKMAN “Bring us the girl, wipe away the debt.” Gamers will be hearing this line in their sleep for a long time now that Irrational Games “BioShock Infinite” has been released. Players take on the role of Booker DeWitt, an ex-Pinkerton agent that must find a mysterious girl to […]
By Ted AYALA Youth, specifically the seemingly carefree days of childhood, have long been a source of inspiration for artists across the centuries. There would scarcely be room in this entire paper to list all the composers who have sought to evoke the freshness and wonder of childhood in their music. Of these, Robert Schumann, […]
By Charly SHELTON Once in a while, a director makes a movie around a singular idea. The 1930s serials done with a big budget became the Indiana Jones films. High-tech action in Alice in Wonderland – “The Matrix.” And now director Michael Bay has made a new film around one singular idea: “Hey guys, I […]
By Mary O’KEEFE Kids have boundless energy. Dancers have energy with style. Combine the two and you have Move It or Lose It. Ignite Dance Workshop, a non-profit organization, is partnering students with professional industry dancers for a performance at the Alex Theatre on Friday. The organization is dedicated to community advocacy for youth […]
By Ted AYALA Richard Wagner famously remarked of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7” that the piece represented to him the “apotheosis of the dance.” The Santa Cecilia Orchestra’s closing concert of its 20th season on Sunday conveyed an impression of that remark. Something of Wagner’s Venusburg bacchanalia could be sensed in Sonia Marie de León de […]
By Ted AYALA A faint echo of the Brooklyn Festival, which started at Disney Hall on April 16, could be heard last Saturday at the Alex Theatre when the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s composer-in-residence took his star turn on the stage. Andrew Norman, a Southern California native now living in Brooklyn, had his latest LACO […]
By Ted Ayala How is musical excellence defined? Does a composer’s willingness to go against the grain of his times and fight for his personal convictions bespeak of “greatness?” When considering the latter question, one usually thinks of composers like Beethoven, Mahler, Stravinsky, Webern, and Cage for starters; all of them composers who struggled […]
Opening the Eyes of ‘The Disillusioned’ By Sabrina WALENTYNOWICZ Usually when looking for a new book, I lean towards historical fiction. The setting is a real place, but the characters are imagined and there is likely some sort of fantastical element that could never be possible in our universe. Sadly, this is not the case […]