Music in a Mansion

One of my favorite past times as a musician is to attend one of the many amazing concerts that the greater Los Angeles area has to offer. I am lucky to have many well connected friends here in the city who not only invite me, but often get me in for free. Tonight my dear friend Byron Adams, a musicologist and professor of music at UC Riverside, invited me to a concert of the Vienna Trio at the historic Doheny Mansion near USC. I knew nothing about the group nor the venue, but agreed to go and was delighted that I did so. Being the resident musicologist of the Da Camera Society (the group organizing the concert), Dr. Adams gave a fantastic pre-concert talk on the history of and relationship between the three pieces on the program. The concert took place in the Pompeian Room, where chairs were arranged concentrically around the performers in a setting that harkened to the music salons of old. I imagine that the composers on the program (Mozart, Schumann, and Schubert) experienced many of their premieres in a similar setting. The performance, which was flawless, was followed by a very classy reception of exquisite German food to honor the nationality of the three composers on the program.

Some of you may question why I would blog about such a thing as a chamber music concert. I think most composers will agree with me that getting out of one's studio, hearing the music of others, and socializing are all vital to the creative process. For me, such activities prove inspiring and give me something to juxtapose the solitude that comes with composing. And besides, it's fun! :-)