How classical music synchronizes audience hearts: L.A. arts and culture this week

Los Angeles Times

14-04-2025

Spring break is here and I'm cooped up at home alongside a kid with the flu. Like the cloudless sky, I am blue — and searching for silver linings.
I found one in a memory: a recent trip to Walt Disney Concert Hall with a close friend to see folk singer Gregory Alan Isakov perform to a packed house with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Isakov is one of my friend's favorite artists, and she found great solace in his music in the devastating days after January's fires.
We came looking for community, and we found it in the darkened hall — next to a retired couple who had made the journey from across town. The wife told us she was in the midst of chemotherapy and that Isakov's music was helping her through the tough spots. Her husband regularly teared up during the show, and so did we.
It was one of those nights where the elements of an artistic performance united to create a singular experience for the assembled guests. A few years ago, researchers from the University of Bern's Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Switzerland found that during live classical music concerts, the heart and breathing rates of audience members began to synchronize. I'm certain this was the case at Disney Hall that evening — you could just feel it.
The sense of relief this communion brought was heightened by the presence of two remarkable sign language interpreters at the side of the stage — using their faces and bodies to convey the feeling of the music for deaf guests in the third row. Sign language became a beautiful dance, adding to the unifying experience of the concert.
That's what art can do. It's what I'm leaning into on another day when the world feels tipped on its side. I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, here with Ashley Lee for your weekly arts rundown.
'Young-Il Ahn: Selected Works 1986–2019''He painted beach scenes, the harbor, Lake Isabella, the sunset over San Pedro, and the colors of California,' wrote former Times staff writer Victoria Kim of the Korean American artist whose acclaim arrived later in his career. This exhibition spans the full scope of his painting practice, including his earliest works as well as pieces from his abstract Water series, his Self-Reflection and Tal (Mask) series and his California series. It opened this past weekend and is on view Tuesdays through Saturdays until May 24. Perrotin, 5036 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. perrotin.com
'In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel'Times theater critic Charles McNulty has shared his 'strange hopefulness whenever anyone brave enough decides to do one of the flops from [Tennessee] Williams' self-described 'stoned age,' that period when Broadway critics rued that he was only on parole and not in their detention center,' he wrote in 2016. 'It is still possible to learn as much about a great artist from his failures as from his successes.' Dance On Productions is putting on this rarely staged Williams piece, written in 1968 and centering on a debilitated painter and his lonely wife. Jack Heller directs the one-act play, with a cast of Paul Coates, Remington Hoffman, Susan Priver and Rene Rivera. The production, which opened last weekend, runs Thursday through Sunday until May 18. Hudson Backstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. onstage411.com
'Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits'This exhibition at the Huntington is one of Times art critic Christopher Knight's picks for the spring season. 'Bachardy has been drawing portraits of artistic, literary and film personalities for more than 70 years,' he wrote in The Times' list of anticipated offerings. 'A selection of about 100 examples in graphite and acrylic on paper comprises a survey of the prolific L.A. artist, drawn from the Huntington archive of his work.' It's on view through Aug. 4, with a members' preview of Tina Mascara's documentary about Bachardy taking place on July 24. The Huntington, 151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org
— Ashley Lee
WEDNESDAY🎞️ The Big Lebowski Jeff Bridges will be on hand for a screening of the 1998 Coen brothers' film 'The Big Lebowski,' followed by a moderated discussion.⏰ 6:30 p.m. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway. laorpheum.com
🎭 The Enablers An evening of Trump-centric satirical monologues written by an all-star lineup of playwrights performed by an equally stellar group of actors.⏰ 8 p.m. Echo Theater Company, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village. echotheatercompany.com
🎭 Furlough's Paradise Kacie Rogers and DeWanda Wise star in the West Coast premiere of a.k. payne's Blackburn Prize-winning drama about the relationship between two cousins, one on a three-day furlough from prison to attend a family funeral.⏰ Through May 18. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
THURSDAY🎞️ House of Flying Daggers Zhang Yimou's 2004 wuxia martial arts film, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi, was an Oscar nominee for cinematography. It screens in 35mm.⏰ 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
🎭 How to Fail Writer-director-performer Ron Campbell's one-man guide to not succeeding spectacularly.⏰ 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through May 3. The Actors' Gang at the Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. ci.ovationtix.com
🎭 The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds In the Afro Latino playwright's meta comedy, characters from his previous works throw his artistic process into chaos as he attempts to write a new play that stays true to the many aspects of Latinidad.⏰ Through May 25. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A. latinotheaterco.org
🎭 What Is War A collaborative performance created by Eiko Otake and Wen Hui, who share their personal memories related to war, current and historic, through movement and projected video.⏰ 8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
🎭 Ali Wong The award-winning actor and comedian tries out new stand-up material in the appropriately titled 'Work in Progress.'
⏰ 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 and 9 p.m. April 22; 7 p.m. April 24. Hollywood Improv, 8162 Melrose Ave. improv.com
During its 100th-anniversary gala, Pasadena Playhouse announced to its supporters that it had paid $9.5 million to buy back its historic building, which had been lost to bankruptcy in 1970. The news marked a remarkable comeback for the storied theater company, which was founded in 1917 and has survived ups and downs over the years — including the prospect of permanent closure in 2010. During a recent tour of the 1925 campus, artistic director Danny Feldman talked about the history of the organization and laid out his goals for its future.
A 4-foot-wide by 4-inch-thick square of solid steel titled 'Dark,' created by artist Bruce Nauman in 1968, is at the heart of Times art critic Christopher Knight's most recent review. The 1.3-ton sculpture rests in the back garden of Marian Goodman Gallery in Hollywood as part of the exhibition 'Bruce Nauman: Pasadena Years,' which surveys the acclaimed artist's work from 1969 to 1979. 'The confrontation with Nauman's sculpture is a blunt exercise in artistic faith — an expression of trust between artist and audience, and an agreement to play together,' Knight writes. 'If you can't grant that, you probably should just walk away from art — this or any other.'
Times theater critic Charles McNulty spent a month rereading James Joyce's notoriously inaccessible masterwork, 'Ulysses,' in preparation for a viewing of a stage version of the book. The show was recently performed by the New York performance troupe Elevator Repair Service and presented by Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA's Little Theatre. 'We exist in concentric realms, and our multifarious lives can only be lived. The same is true for art. There are things I wanted from this stage production that I didn't get. But there were unexpected rewards, and my view of 'Ulysses' expanded,' McNulty writes in his review.
After television producer Chuck Lorre's foundation donated $1 million to the LAUSD program that provides free, repaired instruments to students, the world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma paid a visit to the repair shop to perform with kids from the program. Interest in the organization peaked after it was featured in last year's Oscar-winning documentary, 'The Last Repair Shop.'
The original cast recording of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit 'Hamilton' has been inducted into the Library of Congress alongside Elton John's album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,' Chicago's debut, 'Chicago Transit Authority,' and the soundtrack to the Minecraft video game. The selections are part of a group of 25 audio recordings that will join the National Recording Registry this year as 'defining sounds of history and culture,' worthy of preservation.
The 2025 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report has been released. Noteworthy findings include: Global art market sales in 2024 reached an estimated $57.5 billion; the U.S. leads the global art market, accounting for 43% of sales by value; and, despite a strong post-pandemic recovery, U.S. sales fell by 9% last year, to $24.8 billion.
Artnet reports that the Getty Trust will sell $500 million in bonds to shore up its defenses in the face of fire, earthquake and other natural disasters. 'The proceeds will be used to invest in new boilers, irrigation and surveillance systems, water storage, communications systems, emergency management software, and firefighting equipment,' the story notes. The move comes after the Getty Villa found itself in imminent danger from the Palisades fire in early January — prompting Times Art Critic Christopher Knight to suggest the museum consider moving its collections to avoid future conflagrations.
— Jessica Gelt
I don't know about you, but I can't think of even one reason why I would ever (ever) buy a $40 'forearm-length' hot dog. But I applaud Times Food columnist Jenn Harris for her service.