Dudamel/LAPO M8 to be held in Shrine Auditorium in Feb.

[barry guerrero]

Here are the photos of Shrine Auditorium. It just looks like a big movie palace to me. Anyway, there are LOTS of choruses signed up to join in on this. Maybe they're going to build the stage out (?). Is there anybody from L.A. who would like to comment on this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/3382998235/in/photostream/

http://www.laphil.com/tickets/performance-detail.cfm?id=4683

[James Meckley]

I'm not from LA, but according to Wikipedia, the LA Shrine Auditorium opened in 1926, seats 6,300 and can accommodate 1,200 on stage. The stage measures 194 feet wide and 69 feet deep. It seems to be used mostly for awards shows and sporting events. It's where Michael Jackson's hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.

I wonder if it's ever been used for a symphony concert?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_Auditorium

I've been considering going out for the last week of their Mahler Project, when they'll be performing symphonies 6, 7, 8, and 9.

James

[waderice]

Architecturally, it looks really nice.  Acoustically, its design appears to be a sonic disaster.  You might be lucky to understand what's being sung when it comes time for them to perform the M8.  And you may be lucky to hear the mandolin in M7.

Wade

[James Meckley]

And you may be lucky to hear the mandolin in M7.

The Shrine Auditorium is being used only for Symphony No. 8. The rest of the cycle will be presented in the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, which has excellent acoustics.

James

[Stürmisch Bewegt]

And you may be lucky to hear the mandolin in M7.

there are mandolins in M8 .

[barry guerrero]

It's a pretty small and minor part in M8. As I recall, it starts after the three Penitent Women, when Una Poeten-(whatever her name is) starts singing "Neige, neige, du Ohnegleiche" (catchy, eh?), and continues through where the boys (Selige Knaben) sing, "Er uberwascht uns schon, an macht'gen Gliedern".

The texture is much thinned out during these passages, so there usually isn't much trouble hearing the mandolins (usually 2). I'm more concerned about whether an electronic organ will be used, or if Shrine Auditorium has a big-old Wurlitzer.

[James Meckley]

I'm more concerned about whether an electronic organ will be used, or if Shrine Auditorium has a big-old Wurlitzer.

I haven't been able to find any information on a built-in organ—Wurlitzer or otherwise—and I suspect there isn't one.

They recently installed a sophisticated new sound system from Meyer Sound, the same company that installed one of its systems in Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley (discussed here recently). If they use this system faithfully during the upcoming M8, I'm quite sure the mandolin(s) will be audible. Whether I would want to hear the whole performance enhanced in this way is quite another matter.

http://www.meyersound.com/news/2006/shrine/?type=25

James

[barry guerrero]

I was just at the Meyer Sound building in Berkeley yesterday. They also do Cirque du Soleil's sound, which includes the new Beatles tribute program they're doing.