Mary Beth Crain

George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was one of those game-changing works that was bound to elicit controversy. Composed in just a few weeks for bandleader Paul Whiteman's historic "Experiment in Modern Music" concert at New York's Aeolian Hall in 1924, the world's first "jazz concerto" startled ears not used to......

In the realm of choral music, there are few works more important or stunningly gorgeous than Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers 1610. Up until this point, choral music was strictly rooted in the tradition of divided choirs and cantus firmus, or fixed song, a cappella polyphony. But Monteverdi, the great genius and......

In the 1930s, the famous British comedienne Gracie Fields had a hit song entitled, "I Brought My Harp to the Party, but Nobody Asked Me to Play." That's something that will probably never happen to Bridget Kibbey. One of the most accomplished and sought-after harpists today, Kibbey is known for......

Russian keyboard virtuoso Alexei Lubimov is one of those rare artists who’s equally at home with J.S. Bach and John Cage. He segues effortlessly from all sorts of baroque keyboard instruments to the modern piano and beyond, his YouTube performance on the tangentenflŸgel, an early pianoforte, being one of his......

Opening night of the Los Angeles Master Chorale's 2012-13 season promises to break the sound barrier with Organ Extravaganza, a musical feast of choral works with organ, which, puns the website, "pulls out all the stops." The truly spectacular program includes Gerald Finzi's Ascension Day anthem, God Is Gone Up,......

Whenever you get the chance to hear the dazzlingly perfect Andras Schiff, whose delicate touch, technical wizardry and otherworldly tone is enough to give you goose bumps, take it. The Hungarian-born British pianist has, in the past, been known for his superb take on Bach, succeeding — some say surpassing......

Warning: Don't run to the Getty Museum's current exhibition "Messerschmidt and Modernity" if you think it's all about the WWII German fighter plane. That aircraft was named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt. This exhibition features the "astoundingly modern" series of so-called Character Heads by 18th-century German baroque artist-sculptor Franz......

In 1937, Benjamin Britten was commissioned to create an oratorio on the subject of angels for the British Broadcasting System. Obviously the BBC had faith in the young choral composer, who was only 24. They weren't disappointed; on September 29, 1937, The Company of Angels premiered as a special broadcast......

The saxophone has pretty much been a male-dominated instrument; if you Google "famous saxophone players," not even one woman comes up. But Chika Inoue is about to change all that. The young Japanese artist, who's won top honors at numerous competitions, including the 2012 Beverly Hills Auditions, has a rich,......