LA Chamber Orchestra's All-Digital “Bach's Brandenburg 5” with Jeffrey Kahane

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) continues its all-digital 2020-21 season, LACO: Close Quarters, with “Bach's Brandenburg 5” featuring Music Director Jaime Martín on flute, Assistant Concertmaster Tereza Stanislav on violin and Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane on fortepiano. Available on demand beginning on Friday, December 18, 2020, 6:30 pm (PT), the digital program also features Debussy’s Syrinx, a work for solo flute performed by Martín, and compelling visual elements directed by groundbreaking director/designer/artist James Darrah, LACO 2020-21 Creative Director of Digital Content, including a new artwork by Iranian American artist Ardeshir Tabrizi. According the Los Angeles Times, Tabrizi’s works, “feel as if they do not inhabit the present so much as they are haunted by a past that has all but vanished and a future that will never be more than a fantasy.” Thanks to the generosity of individual donors, the program is available to the public at no cost and can be streamed at LACO.org/laco-at-home, and on LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live. Although Brandenburg Concerto No. 5’s keyboard part is typically played on harpsichord, Kahane chose the fortepiano as his ideal instrument to perform the work. Predecessor of the modern piano, the fortepiano was developed by Italian harpsichord maker Bortolomeo Christofori in the early 18th century. Although it resembles a harpsichord in appearance, its inner workings could not be more different, given that its strings are struck by hammers. LACO: Close Quarters “digitally native” programs, created specifically for streaming, are each between 30 and 40 minutes in length and are filmed at The Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall. Additionally, Darrah has established a creative hub for developing artistic media content with L.A.-based artists and filmmakers at a first-of-its-kind LACO digital studio at Wilhardt & Naud, a film studio and multidisciplinary arts campus located in Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles. The artists, inspired by the Orchestra’s musical programming, will create works in a variety of mediums that will factor into the broadcasts and endure long after the season concludes. LACO Close Quarters builds upon the highly successful LACO SummerFest series, the Orchestra’s first foray into streaming that concluded in September and featured five digital chamber music concerts that have attracted nearly 140,000 views to date. Subsequent LACO Close Quarters episodes premiere on Fridays, January 1, 15 and 29, February 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, April 9 and 23, May 7 and 21, and June 4, 2021, at 6:30 pm (PT). The broadcasts will be available on demand at laco.org/laco-at-home, LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live.