Tristan and Isolde... as an Opera?

For those of you who have tickets to the LA Phil's Tristan Project, consider yourself lucky. This sold out opera features the collaboration of LA Phil's Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, video artist Bill Viola, and director Peter Sellars, and will soon be heading to New York for it's East Coast premiere.

But there's plenty of other great LA Phil shows to catch... check out our LA Phil listing on the ExperienceLA calendar for more info!

On a tangent, if you haven't heard of the name Gustavo Dudamel, you'll be sure to hear his name more often in the near future. In 2009, Dudamel will succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as Music Director of the LA Phil. There's been a lot of rave reviews about this guy from Venezuela... and he's only 26! In fact, it wasn't until three years ago that he stood before a professional orchestra for the first time. Sometimes, I wonder what it's like to be a prodigy of some sort... My days of plinking away at the piano unfortunately did not progress any further than small recitals where my mom was my biggest fan and the audience was comprised of my teacher's other students. Yay.

26!! Come to think of it... he's only a few years older than me. Um... does anyone else suddenly feel a little unaccomplished? But I digress... =)

In any case, if there's one thing I appreciate about the LA Phil, it's their willingness to take risks and be versatile... and versatility definitely captures the spirit of LA.

-Sarah Koo, ExperienceLA Arts/Culture Marketing Intern