Barbican; King's Head, both London
An orchestra reveals much about itself from the way it tunes up: not the mere technicality of fixing the note but the onstage atmosphere in those moments before kick-off. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, fiddling and blowing full out as they warmed up for the first of two London concerts, part of a European tour, communicated exuberance, optimism and a discernible but unshowy Hollywood sheen. This is a big orchestra with, after some thin years in the 1990s, a freshly restored, sumptuous New World sound. Already the mood was high. "Let's get the measure of this hall," they seemed to imply. "You're going to see a lot of us."
So we will: the Los Angeles Philharmonic and music director cum magician-maestro, Gustavo Dudamel, have just signed to become one of the Barbican's international associates, a partnership with five world-class orchestras including Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and Leipzig's Gewandhaus. On the scorching evidence of Thursday's concert of John Adams, Bernstein and Beethoven, this LA deal is an exciting prospect, with the bonus that Dudamel, whose work with El Sistema and the Sim�n Bol�var Youth Orchestra is already the stuff of legend, will spend time coaching young players here too.
The orchestra has performed this programme several times, in LA's Walt Disney concert hall, with live relays to 450 cinemas in the States and Canada, as well as in Lisbon. It's hardly surprising they delivered it with such aplomb and, in the best sense, swagger. Adams's high-energy, rhythmically intricate Slonimsky's Earbox (1995) owes much to Terry Riley's pivotal In C, as well as to Bernstein. The chance to hear his Symphony No 1 "Jeremiah" (1942) alongside Adams made for satisfying listening, with the mellow but occasionally frail-toned mezzo Kelley O'Connor as soloist. In the work's compelling opening movement, "Prophecy", the propulsive, lurching low brass and searing broad string theme pushed forward with the force of a digger churning up the world to expose its molten core.
The second half contained Beethoven's seventh symphony, obligingly in the Oscars spotlight since the "Allegretto" features on the soundtrack to The King's Speech. Here Dudamel showed a new maturity ? he did, after all, reach the grand age of 30 this week ? and avoided any excessive conductorly intervention. Tempi were brisk, which proved a breathtaking challenge for the orchestra's large forces: they rose to it with unanimous adrenalin and finesse. Above all, musicians and Dudamel alike allowed Beethoven's genius to speak for itself, with ferocious vitality. It sounds easy, but that is the hardest task of all. This concert will be broadcast on Classic FM on 16 February. The Adams and Bernstein, recorded live in LA, are already available via iTunes.
A small revolution shook the opera world this week, low-key and apparently local but likely to have a lasting impact. London's Little Opera House at the King's Head, Islington, north London, has announced the first ever fringe opera rep season, with performances by OperaUpClose of its celebrated La boh�me, together with Cinderella, Madam Butterfly, The Barber of Seville and a new staging of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Future plans include Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse, Mark Ravenhill's first foray into directing opera.
Currently resident at the King's Head under the entrepreneurial artistic directorship of Adam Spreadbury-Maher, the company is a tiny nomadic outfit, camping between the Soho theatre, the Cock Tavern or wherever there's cheap, available space, with ambitions to venture south of the river, and even into the wilds beyond the M25. New programmes will be announced every two months. Performances are in English and treble-cast with professional singers. Madam Butterfly has been updated to Bangkok Butterfly to chilling effect. The rewritten libretto removes the story to a sleazy, high-rise penthouse where underage girls are on sale and the electrics are dodgy. Pinkerton (Randy Nichol) the yank pilot says "awesome" and Butterfly (Margaret Cooper) kills herself by putting a gun to her mouth. It fits the original without distortion. If not all the voices sound beautiful in such startlingly raw proximity ? just a few metres away from anyone in the audience ? they are none the less strong, full of promise and musically intelligent. Danyal Dhondy's chamber-scale rescoring, for clarinet, viola and piano, is inspired.
OperaUpClose's mission is to appeal to novices or experts, and to "bring opera to audiences who ordinarily might avoid it". Having read this week that the "opera singer" Gio Compario of the price-comparison website TV ads has signed a mega deal with Warner Music with his first CD out in March, all I can say is: Go Compare. For �15, not to mention amazing quality and passion, OperaUpClose is the clear winner.
The Avatars of Second Life Daniella Alonso Gina Gershon Ehrinn Cummings Sienna Miller
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