Sam Kim

Ralph Kirshbaum, world renown pedagogue and performer, recently moved to L.A. to take over the Gregor Piatigorsky Endowed Chair in Violoncello at the USC Thornton School of Music. We got to chat with Kirshbaum about his role as artistic director for the Festival, and the music scene among other things in L.A.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's Westside Connections series adds some culinary flair with a few special guests to discuss and examine the relationships between music and food.

Magnificat, or Song of Mary is a vocal work by Bach for orchestra, a five-part choir and soloists. The work is based on an ancient hymn with texts from the Gospel of Luke, and is one of LACO music director's Jeffrey Kahanes inspirations for getting into conducting.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is making a rare detour into Southern California this Friday the 17th at the OC Performing Arts Center.

The Philharmonic Society, the OC's oldest music organization, is kicking off the 10th annual Laguna Beach Music Festival this week. Placido Domingo returns to the stage in a production of Simon Boccanegra in the titular role.

The Salzburg Chamber Soloists are performing this Thursday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The program includes works by Janacek, Britten, Mozart, and Ravel.

Want to see the highly acclaimed Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra (where Dudamel got his start) perform for free?

We talk with Evan Ziporyn of Bang on a Can All Stars about his 25 years with BoaC, Steve Reich's 75th birthday, and his experience with West Coast musicians. They're playing Disney Hall tonight.

This week's classical picks include performances by the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Steve Reich, Nigel Armstrong and Andrew Shulman.

The Coachella Valley Symphony is putting on a program similar to the wildly popular NY Phil "Mostly Mozart" festivals, with an all-Mozart program Monday night at 7 pm. If Coachella is a bit of a trek for you, the LA Phil kicks off their Mahler Project this Friday the 13th.