Vocal
EXCLUSIVE: Frederica von Stade Uncovers Dark Family Secrets in 'A Coffin in Egypt,' to be Staged by Chicago Opera Theater
EXCLUSIVE: 2015 MATA Festival Interview Spotlight - Ann Cleare on 'Eöl,' Talea Ensemble and J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth
Founded by Philip Glass, Lisa Bielawa and Eleonor Sandresky in 1996, the MATA Young Composers Now! Festival strives to present emerging compositional talent sourced from across the globe. The 2015 edition at The Kitchen continues in that very tradition, featuring quite the varied array of exemplary young voices. So, with a nod to the spirit of MATA, itself, Classicalite has chosen three composers to speak with about that career-defining opportunity: a MATA commission. Our final entry is Ireland's own Ann Cleare, whose MATA-commissioned piece Eöl closed out the festival Saturday night, as part of the "Incomparable Contrivances" program performed by the Talea Ensemble. Cleare's percussion-heavy mini-concerto expertly explored the resonant qualities of handmade sculpture and proved to be one of this year's highlights. Stayin' Alive: Swingers Marty and Elayne Roberts Celebrate 34 Years at The Dresden [VIDEO]
No trip to eastside Los Angeles is complete without supping among the friendly, Continental-meets-Mandarin confines of The Dresden. And no visit to that Los Feliz institution there on N. Vermont Ave. can ever be fully appreciated without then stepping one room over to catch the truly dynamic duo of Marty and Elayne Roberts. As of April 1, this all-purpose husband and wife band has been swinging five nights a week for 34 gloriously camp years--long before Jon Favoreau put them in Swingers, proper. (And eons, respectively, before the hipsters damn near destroyed the neigborhood.)
