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Le Salon de Musiques: Chamber Music Concert Series L.A MAGAZINE, posted By: Kari Mozena · 11/23/2011 6:41:00 PM 
Once a month, the Angeles Concerts Artists Corporation presents Le Salon de Musiques on the 5th Floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where you can enjoy a chamber music concert in a smaller space (with a killer view of Los Angeles behind the musicians) and discuss afterwards. While chatting, you sip champagne and consume finger sandwiches (courtesy of Patina). I attended this month’s concert, which featured Francois Chouchan on the piano and Antonio Lysy on the cello. It was heaven. It’s wonderful to see such accomplished artists up close as they play, you become part of the music. As one attendee said to the musicians, “We feel what you feel.” The program was Schubert and Grieg, and musicologist (I want that title) Julius Reder Carlson helped lead the discussion. Lysy played a cello made by Carlo Tononi, made in Bologna in the 1700s. He discussed its history, which he had traced since its creation.
These evenings are a little gem. They are held monthly, and tickets are $65 and $45 for students. They run until May. Here is the schedule: http://www.lesalondemusiques.com/concerts-schedule-dorothy-chandler-pavilion.asp
Photos Courtesy Karina Pires
Music Review: Le Salon de Musiques March 24, 2011 By Theodore Bell 
An enthusiastic and appreciative Los Angeles audience was transported to a time in Paris long past through Le Salon de Musiques with Debussy, Saint-Saens and Ravel Sunday afternoon, March 20, in the Impresario Room on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Artistic Directors François Chouchan, Bernard Philippe, and Phillip Levy assembled an outstanding program that was dedicated to the Japanese people and their struggles in Chouchan’s opening greeting. A short preamble by musicologist Reder Carlson placed the music in context, describing the historic significance of the “salon” in French culture, underscoring the epicene qualities of intimacy and immediacy in the music, the musicians, and the ideals of the day.
The musicians were situated at floor-level with the listeners intimately wrapped around them in shallow semicircular rows. A wall of north-facing windows surrounding us on two sides overlooked the iconic urban hillside landscape of Los Angeles. Mist and clouds encompassed the view, giving it an unscripted impressionist ambiance. The rear wall of the rectangular salon was paneled halfway to the high ceiling to render a surprisingly good acoustic. I savored the purity and effulgence of the mostly direct sound.
The high point of the evening was the third and final work on the program: a stunning performance of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. The ensemble sound was striking, and the performance will register as among the most memorable of the year.
Sarah Thornblade was breathtaking at times; she is one of the great violinists of Los Angeles. Her attention to detail was meticulous, and she seemed to really connect to the soul of the music. Her inspired leadership of the quartet was vigorous and imprinted a lingering impression.
Cellist Andrew Shulman was conspicuous with his deep, rich tone, supported by his incredible technique and depth of affect. The entire room resonated with his instrument. His pizzicato was undamped, beautifully full, and his lyrical melodic touch was such a pleasure to hear. The plaintive Allegro moderato had a breath-like prosody.
Violist Rob Brophy and second violinist Searmi Parks seamlessly tied melody and accompaniment effects together. The blend among the ensemble members was consistently superb, even at pianissimo levels. The rhythmic Assez vif was effervescent with its characteristically bubbly tremolos, trills and dynamic bursts.
The rancor originally incited by Ravel’s controversial quartet, especially its closing Vif et agité movement, is difficult to understand, given how we now hear it as so obviously brilliant. This edition exuded dramatic energy at every turn, and the not-so-subtle builds and releases made for an exciting ending, closing the program with a flourish like the uncorking of a fine champagne.
Debussy’s Sonata in Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp L 137 was the opening and most defining of the French style as our modern ears have come to assign it. Its lack of harmonic tension, undulating rhythms and melodic stasis were described by Carlson as metaphoric clouds interacting on a large scale but without clash or pathos.
Flutist Pamela Vliek had an exceptional timbre that brushed her Debussy with warm hues and nuanced affection. In the opening Pastorale, Vliek was captivating with her ability to meld with the harp and viola; she shaped her attacks and touch to match them, especially in the mellow timbres of the lower register. Her rich, organic sound was wonderful.
Brophy was capable whether in duo, trio, or solo, and his unique style was engaging. Marcia Dickstein’s harp grounded the Debussy (and Saint-Saens) with her solid technique and gentle touch. Her influence elevated the performance to a level rarely experienced. The Interlude found Dickstein energized, and Vliek and Brophy were effervescent in the wispy flourishes. At other instances, it was amazing how much music could be created with the plainest of sustained pitches. Dickstein’s harp purred as she pushed the Finale along, and Vliek delivered a high-energy splash of her own to propel us toward the conclusion.
Saint-Saens’ Fantasie in A for Violin and Harp, opus 124, was distinctly different from the less-staid Impressionists on the program. Searmi Park was particularly assertive in her approach, and she engaged the attention of the audience from the very start. Her instrument sang so beautifully at times, and her expressive, almost rapturous, manner brought out unique timbres and envelopes that she still managed to precisely control. The delicate flowing lines of the Largamente were clean and exact, although still fluid. Her melodies were warm and engaging, and the emphatic musical climax of the Andante loosened the rhythm of my breathing. Her delicate pianissimo harmonics that followed were deftly sweet.
The tempo of the event itself was nice. The one-hour concert, without intermission, was followed by an informal champagne chat between the audience and musicians. The range of questions was intriguing and really provided insight into the motivations and practices of the artists.
Bravo to the producers and artists of Le Salon de Musiques! Très LA!
The sophistication of music and ambiance combined exquisitely with LA’s finest artists for a truly unique event and an important addition to the local chamber music scene.
Two concerts remain in the series this spring. Phillip Levy will perform on Schubert’s String Trio in B-flat Major and Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor scheduled for April 10, and Chouchan will join the final installment of the series on May 15 with Mozart’s Sonata in D Major and Rachmaninoff’s Fantasy-Tableaux, both for two pianos.
~Theodore Bell/Culture Spot LA
Le Salon de Musiques in Schubert - A Haunting Second Concert of the Inaugural Season Huffington Post - December 2, 2010 | 2:00 pm 
If symphony orchestras are lumbering, soon-to-be-extinct dinosaurs, as some of their critics claim, then today's chamber ensembles are their evolved, fleet-winged descendants that may yet survive music's Jurassic Age.
The scene in Los Angeles has never been livelier; it's almost as difficult catching all this autumn's chamber concerts as counting birds in migration.
The latest sighting of the species is called 'Le Salon de Musiques.' Co-artistic directors are François Chouchan (series founder) and Phillip Levy, with Bernard Philippe serving as artistic advisor.
They have organized an inaugural season of eight concerts focused mainly on German composers.
The resident French and German Consulates are patrons. A list of featured artists in the series reads like a Who's Who of local virtuosos.
Le Salon's concerts are presented at an underutilized but elegant space within the very heart of the Music Center. The fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the former Curtain Call restaurant hosted fancy gatherings in years past, is both a lovely perch overlooking the central city and an acoustically apt chamber for music.
Its dated, high society décor (with stiff chairs) is somehow appropriate for the throwback image this series projects.
Le Salon's promotional materials and its website have the refinement of a bygone era in their use of lacy script and imbedded composer faces that remind me of the Everybody's Favorite Piano Music volumes of my youth.
Yet there is nothing stuffy about the sincerity of its promoters to beguile and charm their listeners into the glories of chamber music.
I caught the second concert of the series on November 21, a performance of Schubert's String Quintet in C Major. Completed just two months before the composer's early death, at age 31, it is one of the greatest chamber compositions in the repertoire. At turns serene and searing, it was also Schubert' last instrumental piece and a swan song to the Classical era whose chief proponents had also included Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
The String Quintet's unusual combination of an extra cello with a standard string quartet provides richer sonorities in the lower ranges and, in the second movement, an ethereal dialogue between the first violin and the second cello.
I hear that conversation as between a despairing Life and embracing Death, and it was exquisitely spoken between violinist Kevin Kumar and cellist Antonio Lysy, as supported by the soft, extended harmonies of a string trio within the ensemble consisting of violinist Maia Jasper, violist Robert Brophy, and cellist John Walz.
The outer movements of the work suggest a vibrant society of gypsies and gentry comingling on the streets and café's of Vienna, while a desperate inner struggle consumes the increasingly detached composer, terrified but never self-pitying. In this piece and in his simultaneously composed but incomplete Symphony in D Major and Minor, Schubert seemed to foresee, with agonizing intensity, not only his own demise but the autumn of a European culture that Mahler was so acutely to echo at the dawn of the Twentieth Century.
The musicians had not performed this work together before, but each had been long acquainted with it from other encounters and brought to the afternoon an authentic musical compatibility and refined expression that may have surprised even them.
A discernable aura of significance filled the room as the music unfolded.
A pleasant aspect of Le Salon's format had been the earlier introduction of the piece by two narrators who earnestly if a bit naively read program notes, while the musicians highlighted important motifs to listen for in the performance to follow. After the concert, a question and answer session further reduced the artificial wall between performers and audience.
That wall was completely done away with in the bonhomie of champagne and gourmet cuisine mixed with cozy conversation at nearby tables after the concert's conclusion.
For at least one listener at the otherwise light-hearted post-concert celebration, Schubert's String Quintet lingered and haunted.
Photo Above: Carole Sternicha
LA Times October 18, 2010 | 2:00 pm 
A lot of people buy into the notion that classical chamber music exists on a lofty perch above the madness of so-called civilization. Le Salon de Musiques takes that idea literally.
This new chamber music series –- which presented its debut concert late Sunday afternoon –- is housed in a partitioned dining room way up on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The windows are left undraped, so listeners get a sweeping view of the rest of the Music Center, City Hall and parts beyond. On a clear day (which Sunday wasn’t), it ought to be a stunning sight.
The main thrust of Le Salon de Musiques, though, is an attempt to create a throwback to the 18th century salons of Marie Antoinette, whom founder/co-artistic director François Chouchan cites as his muse. The performance is relatively brief, about an hour of music, followed by another hour or so of “La Conversation,” at which the musicians and audience members are encouraged to mingle, talk about what they just heard, and sample French champagne and various delicacies inevitably provided by the folks at Patina. There is no stage, per se, yet the room sounds pretty good -– just dry and intimate enough for chamber music, with an appealing warmth in the mid-bass range.
Ticket prices are set at $65, which is higher than the Coleman Concerts and Music Guild’s top ducats ($45) and the neighboring L.A. Philharmonic’s chamber music series ($61.25 top) but within the wide price range of Chamber Music in Historic Sites, whose format Le Salon most resembles. An encouraging sign: The audience looked somewhat younger overall than the turnouts at some of our chamber music series.
For now, the programming of eight concerts, one a month through May, is resolutely conservative –- mostly mainstream material from Mozart to Rachmaninoff, heavy on the basic Germans. Sunday’s opening edition was devoted entirely to Dvorák. Pianist Chouchan and violinist/co-artistic director Phillip Levy opened with the folksy Sonatina in G major and were joined by violinist Julie Gigante, violist Victoria Miskolczy and cellist David Low in the more expansive Piano Quartet, Opus 81.
Both performances went off pretty well with hardly any surprises -- Chouchan and Levy treating the Sonatina as an equal partnership instead of violin with piano accompaniment and, in the Piano Quartet, the ensemble producing a richly upholstered well-balanced blend, mostly relaxed tempos, decent rhythm and energetically pushed codas. Levy prefaced each piece with informal verbal program notes (none was provided in the printed program), complete with demonstrations of key passages.
The “La Conversation” portion, however, is going to need some format tweaking in order to get a real dialogue going. A couple of questions were tossed to the musicians via a live microphone, but that quickly fizzled out, for people had already headed for the food line and were congregating in small groups. I would also think that a more provocative future program than the one presented Sunday might generate more interest in a lively discussion.
The menu, by the way, mainly consisted of trays of cucumber, beef, chicken and salmon mini-sandwiches and dessert items. Patina refused to take Marie Antoinette at her alleged (and historically questionable) word, for they did not serve cake.
–- Richard S. Ginell
Photo: Francois Chouchan, left, and Phillip Levy Performing at Le Salon de Musiques’ inaugural concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Credit: Carole Sternicha.
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Le Salon de Musiques: Chamber Music Concert Series L.A MAGAZINE, posted By: Kari Mozena · 11/23/2011 6:41:00 PM
These evenings are a little gem. They are held monthly, and tickets are $65 and $45 for students. They run until May. Here is the schedule: http://www.lesalondemusiques.com/concerts-schedule-dorothy-chandler-pavilion.asp
Photos Courtesy Karina Pires
Music Review: Le Salon de Musiques March 24, 2011 By Theodore Bell
Artistic Directors François Chouchan, Bernard Philippe, and Phillip Levy assembled an outstanding program that was dedicated to the Japanese people and their struggles in Chouchan’s opening greeting. A short preamble by musicologist Reder Carlson placed the music in context, describing the historic significance of the “salon” in French culture, underscoring the epicene qualities of intimacy and immediacy in the music, the musicians, and the ideals of the day.
The musicians were situated at floor-level with the listeners intimately wrapped around them in shallow semicircular rows. A wall of north-facing windows surrounding us on two sides overlooked the iconic urban hillside landscape of Los Angeles. Mist and clouds encompassed the view, giving it an unscripted impressionist ambiance. The rear wall of the rectangular salon was paneled halfway to the high ceiling to render a surprisingly good acoustic. I savored the purity and effulgence of the mostly direct sound.
The high point of the evening was the third and final work on the program: a stunning performance of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. The ensemble sound was striking, and the performance will register as among the most memorable of the year.
Sarah Thornblade was breathtaking at times; she is one of the great violinists of Los Angeles. Her attention to detail was meticulous, and she seemed to really connect to the soul of the music. Her inspired leadership of the quartet was vigorous and imprinted a lingering impression.
Cellist Andrew Shulman was conspicuous with his deep, rich tone, supported by his incredible technique and depth of affect. The entire room resonated with his instrument. His pizzicato was undamped, beautifully full, and his lyrical melodic touch was such a pleasure to hear. The plaintive Allegro moderato had a breath-like prosody.
Violist Rob Brophy and second violinist Searmi Parks seamlessly tied melody and accompaniment effects together. The blend among the ensemble members was consistently superb, even at pianissimo levels. The rhythmic Assez vif was effervescent with its characteristically bubbly tremolos, trills and dynamic bursts.
The rancor originally incited by Ravel’s controversial quartet, especially its closing Vif et agité movement, is difficult to understand, given how we now hear it as so obviously brilliant. This edition exuded dramatic energy at every turn, and the not-so-subtle builds and releases made for an exciting ending, closing the program with a flourish like the uncorking of a fine champagne.
Debussy’s Sonata in Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp L 137 was the opening and most defining of the French style as our modern ears have come to assign it. Its lack of harmonic tension, undulating rhythms and melodic stasis were described by Carlson as metaphoric clouds interacting on a large scale but without clash or pathos.
Flutist Pamela Vliek had an exceptional timbre that brushed her Debussy with warm hues and nuanced affection. In the opening Pastorale, Vliek was captivating with her ability to meld with the harp and viola; she shaped her attacks and touch to match them, especially in the mellow timbres of the lower register. Her rich, organic sound was wonderful.
Brophy was capable whether in duo, trio, or solo, and his unique style was engaging. Marcia Dickstein’s harp grounded the Debussy (and Saint-Saens) with her solid technique and gentle touch. Her influence elevated the performance to a level rarely experienced. The Interlude found Dickstein energized, and Vliek and Brophy were effervescent in the wispy flourishes. At other instances, it was amazing how much music could be created with the plainest of sustained pitches. Dickstein’s harp purred as she pushed the Finale along, and Vliek delivered a high-energy splash of her own to propel us toward the conclusion.
Saint-Saens’ Fantasie in A for Violin and Harp, opus 124, was distinctly different from the less-staid Impressionists on the program. Searmi Park was particularly assertive in her approach, and she engaged the attention of the audience from the very start. Her instrument sang so beautifully at times, and her expressive, almost rapturous, manner brought out unique timbres and envelopes that she still managed to precisely control. The delicate flowing lines of the Largamente were clean and exact, although still fluid. Her melodies were warm and engaging, and the emphatic musical climax of the Andante loosened the rhythm of my breathing. Her delicate pianissimo harmonics that followed were deftly sweet.
The tempo of the event itself was nice. The one-hour concert, without intermission, was followed by an informal champagne chat between the audience and musicians. The range of questions was intriguing and really provided insight into the motivations and practices of the artists.
Bravo to the producers and artists of Le Salon de Musiques! Très LA!
The sophistication of music and ambiance combined exquisitely with LA’s finest artists for a truly unique event and an important addition to the local chamber music scene.
Two concerts remain in the series this spring. Phillip Levy will perform on Schubert’s String Trio in B-flat Major and Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor scheduled for April 10, and Chouchan will join the final installment of the series on May 15 with Mozart’s Sonata in D Major and Rachmaninoff’s Fantasy-Tableaux, both for two pianos.
~Theodore Bell/Culture Spot LA
Le Salon de Musiques in Schubert - A Haunting Second Concert of the Inaugural Season Huffington Post - December 2, 2010 | 2:00 pm
The scene in Los Angeles has never been livelier; it's almost as difficult catching all this autumn's chamber concerts as counting birds in migration.
The latest sighting of the species is called 'Le Salon de Musiques.' Co-artistic directors are François Chouchan (series founder) and Phillip Levy, with Bernard Philippe serving as artistic advisor.
They have organized an inaugural season of eight concerts focused mainly on German composers.
The resident French and German Consulates are patrons. A list of featured artists in the series reads like a Who's Who of local virtuosos.
Le Salon's concerts are presented at an underutilized but elegant space within the very heart of the Music Center. The fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the former Curtain Call restaurant hosted fancy gatherings in years past, is both a lovely perch overlooking the central city and an acoustically apt chamber for music.
Its dated, high society décor (with stiff chairs) is somehow appropriate for the throwback image this series projects.
Le Salon's promotional materials and its website have the refinement of a bygone era in their use of lacy script and imbedded composer faces that remind me of the Everybody's Favorite Piano Music volumes of my youth.
Yet there is nothing stuffy about the sincerity of its promoters to beguile and charm their listeners into the glories of chamber music.
I caught the second concert of the series on November 21, a performance of Schubert's String Quintet in C Major. Completed just two months before the composer's early death, at age 31, it is one of the greatest chamber compositions in the repertoire. At turns serene and searing, it was also Schubert' last instrumental piece and a swan song to the Classical era whose chief proponents had also included Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
The String Quintet's unusual combination of an extra cello with a standard string quartet provides richer sonorities in the lower ranges and, in the second movement, an ethereal dialogue between the first violin and the second cello.
I hear that conversation as between a despairing Life and embracing Death, and it was exquisitely spoken between violinist Kevin Kumar and cellist Antonio Lysy, as supported by the soft, extended harmonies of a string trio within the ensemble consisting of violinist Maia Jasper, violist Robert Brophy, and cellist John Walz.
The outer movements of the work suggest a vibrant society of gypsies and gentry comingling on the streets and café's of Vienna, while a desperate inner struggle consumes the increasingly detached composer, terrified but never self-pitying. In this piece and in his simultaneously composed but incomplete Symphony in D Major and Minor, Schubert seemed to foresee, with agonizing intensity, not only his own demise but the autumn of a European culture that Mahler was so acutely to echo at the dawn of the Twentieth Century.
The musicians had not performed this work together before, but each had been long acquainted with it from other encounters and brought to the afternoon an authentic musical compatibility and refined expression that may have surprised even them.
A discernable aura of significance filled the room as the music unfolded.
A pleasant aspect of Le Salon's format had been the earlier introduction of the piece by two narrators who earnestly if a bit naively read program notes, while the musicians highlighted important motifs to listen for in the performance to follow. After the concert, a question and answer session further reduced the artificial wall between performers and audience.
That wall was completely done away with in the bonhomie of champagne and gourmet cuisine mixed with cozy conversation at nearby tables after the concert's conclusion.
For at least one listener at the otherwise light-hearted post-concert celebration, Schubert's String Quintet lingered and haunted.
Photo Above: Carole Sternicha
LA Times October 18, 2010 | 2:00 pm
This new chamber music series –- which presented its debut concert late Sunday afternoon –- is housed in a partitioned dining room way up on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The windows are left undraped, so listeners get a sweeping view of the rest of the Music Center, City Hall and parts beyond. On a clear day (which Sunday wasn’t), it ought to be a stunning sight.
The main thrust of Le Salon de Musiques, though, is an attempt to create a throwback to the 18th century salons of Marie Antoinette, whom founder/co-artistic director François Chouchan cites as his muse. The performance is relatively brief, about an hour of music, followed by another hour or so of “La Conversation,” at which the musicians and audience members are encouraged to mingle, talk about what they just heard, and sample French champagne and various delicacies inevitably provided by the folks at Patina. There is no stage, per se, yet the room sounds pretty good -– just dry and intimate enough for chamber music, with an appealing warmth in the mid-bass range.
Ticket prices are set at $65, which is higher than the Coleman Concerts and Music Guild’s top ducats ($45) and the neighboring L.A. Philharmonic’s chamber music series ($61.25 top) but within the wide price range of Chamber Music in Historic Sites, whose format Le Salon most resembles. An encouraging sign: The audience looked somewhat younger overall than the turnouts at some of our chamber music series.
For now, the programming of eight concerts, one a month through May, is resolutely conservative –- mostly mainstream material from Mozart to Rachmaninoff, heavy on the basic Germans. Sunday’s opening edition was devoted entirely to Dvorák. Pianist Chouchan and violinist/co-artistic director Phillip Levy opened with the folksy Sonatina in G major and were joined by violinist Julie Gigante, violist Victoria Miskolczy and cellist David Low in the more expansive Piano Quartet, Opus 81.
Both performances went off pretty well with hardly any surprises -- Chouchan and Levy treating the Sonatina as an equal partnership instead of violin with piano accompaniment and, in the Piano Quartet, the ensemble producing a richly upholstered well-balanced blend, mostly relaxed tempos, decent rhythm and energetically pushed codas. Levy prefaced each piece with informal verbal program notes (none was provided in the printed program), complete with demonstrations of key passages.
The “La Conversation” portion, however, is going to need some format tweaking in order to get a real dialogue going. A couple of questions were tossed to the musicians via a live microphone, but that quickly fizzled out, for people had already headed for the food line and were congregating in small groups. I would also think that a more provocative future program than the one presented Sunday might generate more interest in a lively discussion.
The menu, by the way, mainly consisted of trays of cucumber, beef, chicken and salmon mini-sandwiches and dessert items. Patina refused to take Marie Antoinette at her alleged (and historically questionable) word, for they did not serve cake.
–- Richard S. Ginell
Photo: Francois Chouchan, left, and Phillip Levy Performing at Le Salon de Musiques’ inaugural concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Credit: Carole Sternicha.
Maps & Directions
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