In Thursday’s (8/18) Los Angeles Times, Reed Johnson writes, “It could be one of the largest big-screen casts since ‘Ben-Hur.’ When the Los Angeles Philharmonic beams its live concert simulcast from Caracas, Venezuela, in February, several hundred musicians will be gathered onstage to perform Mahler’s ‘Symphony of a Thousand,’ so-called due to the prodigious number of players it requires. Among them will be the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and the conductor who made his reputation with both of them: Gustavo Dudamel, the Phil’s music director. That planned Feb. 18 event is shaping up as the blockbuster attraction of the second year of L.A. Phil Live, a series of live concerts broadcast in high definition and high-quality surround sound to specially equipped movie theaters in scores of cities across the United States and Canada. Partnering again with NCM Fathom and Cineplex Entertainment, the L.A. Phil is hoping to build on the apparent success of last season’s inaugural series of three simulcasts. … This season’s simulcasts will begin Oct. 9 with Dudamel conducting an all-Mendelssohn program of the ‘Hebrides’ Overture and the ‘Scottish’ Symphony, as well as the Violin Concerto with Dutch soloist Janine Jansen, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.”
Photo of Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra by Mathew Imaging
Posted August 18, 2011
