If you need a mini vacation away from LA before Carmageddon, head on over to Ojai this weekend for the Ojai Music Festival. Local (and global) fave Dawn Upshaw returns to the 65th iteration of the Ojai Music Festival as music director in a well curated series highlighting contemporary composers and little known or rare works of older composers. more ›

For the third year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is producing a series that explores a single topic, usually one that reaches from the hardcore to the non-traditional classical going audiences. In 2006, it was Minimalist Fest. featuring famed compositions of the minimalism movement and an all night concert til 4 a.m. with The Orb and other trance artists. This past year was From Shadow to Stalin, an exploration of Eastern Europe, classical musics to the band, DeVotchka. more ›