concert

Verdi's masterpiece - one of them anyway - AIDA, has it's final Orange County, CA, performance Tuesday, 8 p.m., Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA. It is not to be missed.        Aida, the 1871 spectacle usually performed with "a cast of thousands," including animals, which debuted at the Cairo Opera House, is distilled to its essential elements, which are quite enough to enthrall an audience.  Local critics were lavish in praise of the South African soprano, Kelebogile Besong, making her North American debut, in the role of Aida at Segerstrom Concert Hall.                    This is one of the great operas everyone should see at least once.  It is awash with military and political intrigue, a love triangle and enough gorgeous Verdi music to thrill.         Besong as Aida, slave to the Egyptian princess Amneris, played by local diva, Milena Kitic, is besotted with the Egyptian military hero, Radames, the man Amneris wants for herself. Aida, herself a princess, unknown to her captors, is distraught when the victorious General Radames brings back defeated enemies, which include Aida's father, the king.          The ingenious staging in an oversized downstage sandbox, with the fabulous 88 - piece Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Carl St. Clair conducting, on stage behind the actors, works rather well. The chorus and dancers ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo The Costa Mesa opera house audience in Orange County, California, went wild. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts’  performance, October 2,  featuring the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece film,"The Godfather" with a full symphonic orchestra onstage providing the beautiful music of Nino Rota's Academy Award winning score, conducted by UCLA alum, Justin Freer, was sensational. The word was the symphony's trumpet player, Robert Frear, of Long Beach State music department, was the original musician from the film. His featured solo, The Godfather Waltz,  in that haunting opening scene in Don Corleone's office, as Bonasera is asking for a favor to avenge his daughter, primes the audience for what is to come. As an Opera Pacific docent I've enjoyed many operas in that theater, but I can not recall such a vocally appreciative audience. Of course, The Godfather, is, in a certain sense, an opera. It is something Puccini or Verdi might have fashioned. It has all the elements of a great opera - love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Especially loyalty and revenge. And there are certainly enough deaths to satisfy that element of operatic trauma. Poor Michael Corleone is the perfect Aristotelian tragic hero. His flaw of family love and devotion to his father causes him to lose his soul. He abandons his planned life to avenge his father. So sad. In ...

Puccini's Turandot Soars: Pacific Symphony Feb. 18, 20 & 23 Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall Costa Mesa, CA Giacomo Puccini's final opera, "Turandot,' debut 1926, librettists, Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, at La Scala opera house, Milan, Italy, is admirably showcased with the wizardry of Pacific Symphony's imaginative concert production running February 18, 20 and 23, at the Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California.   It is a show that surprises, entertains, delights and thrills to the combined talents of singers, orchestra, video designers and dancers. With the full orchestra on-stage, conducted by Carl St. Clair, the Pacific Chorale arrayed above, the Southern California Children's Chorus, adding unexpected luminary delights and video images of China reminiscent of Hollywood Cinemascope.   Directed by Eric Einhorn, "Turnadot" grabs the audience in an embrace of extraordinary Puccini music, Including the world-famous aria "Nessun dorma," sung by Prince Calaf, played by tenor, Marc Heller, as he promises himself victory in winning the princess. The aria has become known as the signature for the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.   Based upon a 12th century Persian fairy tale, "Turandot" (the final t is pronounced) transported to ancient China, where the Princess Turandot lives imprisoned in self-imposed hatred of men seemingly to avenge the abduction and murder of her ancestor of a thousand years ago. Not really a love story in the ...

  Nearly everyone enjoys magic. When done well. As a journalist I’ve covered many such shows, for decades, including those at Los Angeles’ Magic Castle and the late, great, Harry Blackstone, Jr.’s stage shows, to name a few. The best word to encapsulate those experiences is: delightful. Magic shows have the power to lift one’s spirits in powerful ways to relax and allow the wonder of the unknown to transport the audience to another realm. Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California, is featuring a magic show, The Illusionists –Live From Broadway. I couldn’t wait to see it. It spotlights seven key performers and a bevy of female and male attendants. There are plenty of stunning effects, but some of the performers reek of the dark side, which is apparently their schtick, but is a long way from tuxedo-clad practitioners of yore. From the onset there seemed to be a current that was uncomfortable to me. Too much grittiness, hint of violence and some things downright creepy. The show runs from Feb. 3, to 7th. Then moves on to the Pantages Theater, Los Angeles. In case anyone wonders – what is the difference between an illusion and a trick I’ll offer this: usually an illusion conjures a back-story, is complicated, with some surprise woven into it…Such as Andrew ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo Frank Sinatra is still dead. But his music and iconic imprint on the soul of music lovers of several generations remains. Plenty of wheelchairs kept company with fresh-faced teens in coming to pay homage to a great iconic performing artist of the last century. Frank Sinatra Jr., pianist and singer, debuted his paternal paean, “Sinatra Sings Sinatra: as I Remember it,” in Orange County, California, May 2, 2015. The show is scheduled for May 22, in Wilkes-Barre,PA, at Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. It was clear the debut audience loved the show and gave both Sinatras – younger and elder - a standing ovation. In fact, a more enthusiastic crowd is seldom seen outside a rock concert. Clearly they were swept away by the magnificent 39-piece onstage orchestra and the catalog of emotional memories Albert Francis Sinatra’s long career evokes in each individual. Nonetheless, I confess I went expecting to hear, as well as see, something of the original Sinatra. Alas, there was no audio of Sinatra Sr. The show was a son’s remembrance with photos and his rendition of the music. As a rich archive of film, television, recordings, as well as newspaper coverage of six decades, is available, hoping to ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo "Sinatra Sings Sinatra, as I Remember It" Music and Life Story performed by his son, Frank Sinatra, Jr. Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa Saturday, May 2, 2015   Frank Sinatra arrived 100 years ago and for the better part of the last century he was in the limelight in films, stage performances and recorded music...How fortunate for fans we live in an age when the best of Sinatra can be conjured electronically and presented onstage, as it will be Saturday night for the show's world premiere at the Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California. His son, Frank Jr, has created "Sinatra Sings Sinatra, as I remember It," to remind us what is now missing from the cultural arena. Back in Chicago when my father-in-law took our three school age sons to see Frank Sinatra, my husband and I couldn't be bothered. So the four DeCarlo men became a band of brothers seeing as many shows as possible while we continued to ignore him. That was until Frank Sinatra opened a new outdoor theater on the far South Side of Chicago and I had an assignment to cover it. Well, sitting in the sixth row, so close I marveled at his perfectly creased midnight blue tuxedo trousers, which ...

Traveling entices me… and being made to travel with my imagination by simply closing my eyes and listening, thrills me to the point of submission. Such was my experience this past week at Gabriele Ciampi’s minimalist style concert featuring CentOrchestra in Los Angeles. The highly anticipated event took place at the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles with its 100-seat theater filled to capacity. Some audience members were so close to the stage they could have themselves been considered part of the act. Maestro Gabriele Ciampi has a way with the baton. Musical notes danced in my head and lulled me into their melody. He masterfully moved the audience at his whim, toying with their emotions as he guided us into his realm of melodic masterpiece. It’s always gratifying when an event lives up to expectations. Words on this page can’t describe the beauty of the night’s music, so I beseech you to bring the Maestro into your homes, via his CD, and immerse yourself in his music. You will not regret it. Personally, I am looking forward to a night in with Gabriele’s Untouched Melody, In Memory of Neil Armstrong. For more info please visit http://www.gabrieleciampi.com/  

https://soundcloud.com/aforkontheroad/sir-kenneth-branagh-musician Sir Kenneth Branagh talks about Russia and Spies, musician Dan Navarro shares his music… and insider travel tips, and Allison from WanderWe.com puts your own personal travel concierge… in the palm of your hand. That, and the top 3 most romantic restaurants in the World, and in LA, and romantic hotels to target for the upcoming fabricated holiday of Valentine’s Day.   www.DanNavarro.com