The Wild Beast Concert Series
The Wild Beast Concert Series continues on Saturday night (Oct. 22) at 7 pm with two avant-garde classics from the Roaring Twenties in the program, Four Pianos and a Wedding.
The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts presents performances of two “ballets”: George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique (1924) and Igor Stravinsky’s Les Noces (The Wedding, 1923). Both works, scored for four pianos and an array of percussion, encapsulate the energy and Futurist leanings of the post-World War I era.
Written during Stravinsky’s “Russian period” (circa 1908–1919), Les Noces—a dance cantata originally conceived as a ballet with vocalists—was described by the composer as a collection of cliches and quotations of typical wedding sayings.
Antheil’s best known and most enduring work, Ballet Mécanique, blends the mechanical sounds of airplane propellers and electric bells with multiple pianos. The ballet is not a show of human dancers, but of mechanical instruments.
When these compositions premiered, many musicians found the pieces beyond their capabilities to perform, but Saturday’s concert assembles virtuoso pianists (recent graduates of CalArts’ Piano Program), faculty vocal soloists, the CalArts Choir and a battery of percussionists, to bring both works to life.
Preceding the outdoor concert, several of L.A.’s acclaimed food trucks will be onsite and will provide tasty treats from around the world available for purchase.
The following trucks are scheduled for Saturday in parking lot 5 (off CalArts’ main entrance):
- Great Balls on Tires: Gourmet meatballs with a twist;
- Shrimp Pimp Shrimp sandwiches, wraps, salads, traditional fish n’chips and tacos;
- No Jodas: Cuban food; and
- Longboards Ice Cream: frozen treats.
24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia
Reserve tickets