Gil Shaham

This morning on the way to work, listening to KUSC, as always, i heard Gil Shaham's playing Haydn's 4th violin concerto. The sound was so charming, didn't remember hearing this piece before, have to check it out. Too bad i arrived at work before the piece ended.

Gil Shaham is one of my favorite violinists. I first heard him play at least 15 years ago and was immediately drawn to the lyrical quality of the sound. For the untrained ears of mine i could only tell that Shaham's sound was very nice and there was an elegant clarity to it. The flow of the sound was smooth and easy. His playing somehow reminded me of that from Yehudi Menuhin, my favorite violinist. I could not help but looking for more information about him.

He was born in the US in 1971, while his Israeli parents, both scientists, were spending time at the University of Illinois on an academic fellowship. At the age of 4, after hearing recordings by Itzhak Perlman, he asked his parents to buy him a violin. A 4 years old? in relating to my modest Buddhist studying, i could only say that it must be karma, the seed surely had been sewn in his previous incarnation(s) :-). At age 10 he performed with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta. At 11 he was admitted to Juilliard, studying under Dorothy DeLay who also taught other amazing violinists like Midori, Sarah Chang. He attended Columbia University after turning down Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Impressive!

His talent was put to a test in 1989 when he filled in for Itzhak Perlman in London because Perlman was having ear infection.

My first Gil Shaham's recording was Vivaldi: The Four Seasons/Fritz Kreisler: Concerto for Violin The second one was Wieniawski: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
but i take anything he plays :-) and love to attend his concerts. when he comes to town.

Gil Shaham currently plays with his Stradivarius violin, the "Comtesse de Polignac" of 1699, originally lent to him by the Stradivari Society in Chicago ( i better check out other recipients from this list :-) )

Sidetracking, i found this interesting article about lending Stradivarius instruments. So impressed with this quote by Mary Galvin, one of the lenders "I realised though that many artists could not afford the tools of their trade; we try to give them a leg up. The instruments inspire the musicians to search for a new, more profound voice. Then they go out and make recordings and for a few dollars everyone can enjoy these incredible instruments and the music these talented youngsters express."

Disney Concert Hall

Disney Concert Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is one of my favorite architectural works in Los Angeles (the other is Getty Center). Disney Hall was designed by Frank Gehry whose works include the Bilbao Museum in Spain. It was built in 1999, completed in 2003. The project was initiated by the $50 million gift from Lilian Disney in 1987 as a gift to the people of Los Angeles and as a tribute to her husband Walt Disney's devotion to the arts.

After the building was completed, as a subscriber to the LA Phil i was invited to tour the hall before it was opened to the public. Walking through the building with sculptural, slick, metalic exterior

















contrasting with the elegant, warm, intimate wood interior acoustically designed by the famed Yasuhisa Toyota and Minoru Nagata of Japan, i felt so fortunate to live in Los Angeles :-).















The imposing organ, with many of its 6134 pipes enclosed in wooden jackets, built by the Glatter-Götz Orgelbau company of Owingen, Germany, is itself a work of art, imho.





Even the fabrics used for the seats were beautiful and had a retro look


Benches in the orchestra-view section



I always tell out-of-town guests that this building is a must-see and the Los Angeles Philharmonic is a must-hear :-)

Since then i have been to so many concerts at the hall and the acoustic of the hall, no matter where i sat, never failed to impress me. I remember attending Handel's Messiah Christmas sing-a-long and the sound of turning pages were so crisp and clear it was amazing!

One of my favorite seats was in the orchestra view section, which you will see the back of the musicians in the orchestra but since it is so close to the stage you get to see the face of the conductor close-up, how he leads the orchestra, and it's great if the concert is a piano recital. The price is the cheapest in the house (shhhh) :-)

The gift shop is a good place to get unique music and non-music related gift in addition to a good selection of classical music CD, DVDs, and books (i got my lovely handmade evening purse by Bosart there :-) )

More pictures here