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TAKE A LOOK at any episode of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s digital series Close Quarters, and you’ll see immediately that this is not your customary concert video. In one episode, filmed on Election Day 2020, a bicyclist traverses the streets of northeastern
Los Angeles, shown onscreen atop shots of the orchestra playing Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” so that even with traffic, the ride becomes a reverie. The scenes are prefaced by multimedia artist Zackary Drucker’s recitation of a poem she wrote that same day, listening to the same music, its own kind of reverie. In another episode, members of the Robey Theatre Company enact Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, about a soldier who gives his violin to the devil in exchange for wealth, while a LACO ensemble plays
14 PERFORMANCES SPRING 2021
the score, all shot in noirish black and white. The 14-episode free series launched in November and continues with new videos through June 4. It was inspired in part by a conversation between LACO executive director Ben Cadwallader and music director Jaime Martín, who were planning a long-term strategy after COVID-19 forced the live performance shutdown in March. “Jaime said, ‘Enough with the Zoom concerts! Every time I look at my Facebook feed or
YouTube, it’s musicians in boxes, playing in the kitchen, playing in their living room,’” Cadwallader recalls. “He said, ‘Whatever we do, the overall quality has to match the artistic excellence people have come to expect from LACO. It’s not enough to put forth a single-camera recording of musicians on a stage.’” To create something more cutting-edge, made to be viewed digitally, composer and LACO artistic adviser Ellen Reid suggested that Cadwallader speak with James Darrah, a director, designer and filmmaker
COURTESY LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Compelling Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra series combines music, film and art.
