Blog

Another summer of California Philharmonic concerts culminates with Broadway & Bolero, their captivating season finale featuring esteemed Maestro Victor Vener, his world-class orchestra and a powerful trio of special guests.

Last weekend’s California Philharmonic concerts contained the usual frothy mix of film scores, musicals, and classical warhorses. But the inclusion of John Corigliano’s 1997 “Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra” proved to be a surprising deviation from the orchestra’s well-trodden path of accessible music and into the realm of musical idioms that mass audiences typically find forbidding.

The audition is the "make or break" factor that all musical artists must overcome in order to be a part of a prestigious orchestra. Musicians have prepared their whole life for this one moment and a single mistake in their audition could crush their dreams. With so much talented competition, it is getting harder to determine who will be offered the job of a lifetime. Musicians such as Dennis Trembly and Carrie Dennis share their most memorable auditions. Read more @

It's never too early to start performing in an orchestra. Just ask Lyonya Shilovsky, a 3-year-old Russian boy who performed Jacques Offenbach’s ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’, aka ‘Can-Can’, with the Novosibirsk Symphony Orchestra. He manages to hold his own for most of the show, only having one minor slip at the halfway mark. Regardless he is definitely one to watch!