A new series of collaborative concerts at downtown Los Angeles's Grand Performances will put the Colburn School's students and alumni alongside contemporary digital music makers. The back-to-back performances will be held Friday, August 14 and Saturday, August 15 at California Plaza.

"This is such a unique performance opportunity for our musicians," said Laura Liepins, Director of Career Development at the Colburn School. "It's exciting to see current students and alumni perform alongside musicians from other genres to unite classical and contemporary traditions."

The Colburn School's alumni performers include flutist Gina Luciani, violist Zach Dellinger, harpist Charissa Barger, and cellist Ben Lash. Current student Ray Ushikubo, recent winner of the Music Academy's Steinway Concerto Competition, will play piano and violin.

Both the Colburn School and Grand Performances hope the Classical Remix performances will help both sets of musicians to make connections with Los Angeles audiences who may not be familiar with their style of music. The performances will include a traditional performance of a classical piece, which will be sampled, looped, and re-worked by electronic music artists Alfredo Rodriguez, Daedalus, and Mark de Clive-Lowe.

As part of an ongoing partnership between the Kawai Piano Company and the Colburn School, 10 seasoned piano technicians seeking enhanced skill training will arrive on campus this week to begin an intensive seminar and training program to prepare them to service Shigeru Kawai pianos, the manufacturer's higher end instrument.

"Anytime a technician has the opportunity to do advanced technical training directly from the manufacturer, that's a huge benefit to them," said Neema Pazargad, Director of Piano Technology at the Colburn School. It's also a benefit to the manufacturer, whose investment in these technicians means they have a reliable and trusted workforce available to tune and repair instruments in concert halls, educational institutions, and even private homes.

Participants of Shigeru Kawai's Advanced Technical Seminar are selected by the manufacturer. Past attendees have traveled from across the United States, as well as Europe, Asia, and South America. Technicians attend a group class in the morning, led by Don Mannino of Kawai and a colleague from Kawai's headquarters in Japan, and then each technician is assigned to work with one of the 30 Kawai pianos in the Colburn School's fleet of 165 instruments.

On the last day of the seminar, instructors and technicians move into Zipper Hall to perform and discuss concert level service on one of two Shigeru Kawai Concert Grands the Colburn School owns. As part of the training, Mr. Mannino plays the piano for the technicians, then modifies the voice of the instrument by changing the height of the lid or moving it even just two feet on the stage to demonstrate how easily our perceptions of tone and sound can change.

During their time on campus, technicians stay in the Colburn School student residences. Mr. Pazargad wants this to be a meaningful time for the participants. "I hope they all can take their skills to the next level during their time at the Colburn School, and I also hope they get to experience every aspect of our facility, from the incredible access to instruments our students enjoy to the resources we have in the piano technology workshop," he said.

This is the fourth year of the Kawai Advanced Technical Seminar at the Colburn School.

The Community School of Performing Arts will hold its annual Chamber Gala on Saturday, June 6. This year's event has been split into two performances to accommodate the number of participating student ensembles. Concerts begin at 2:30 pm and 4 pm in Thayer Hall.

The Chamber Gala is the culminating performance for students who study in the Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute at the Colburn School. "This is an opportunity to showcase all the work they've done this year," said Gina Coletti, who serves as chair of the institute. Each ensemble will perform one or two movements from a longer work.

Chamber music students were placed into trios, quartets, and quintets at the start of the academic year. Students range in age from 11 to 18 years old. "Chamber music represents community in its most essential forms," Ms. Coletti said. "You have to make sacrifices for the betterment of the group, you have to pull your own weight, you have to be honest with each other," she explained. With only one musician playing each part of the score, it becomes even more critical for the musicians to develop strong communication skills. "It's not about compromise," Ms. Coletti added. "It's really about collaborating to find the best way forward for the benefit of the entire group. They develop strong bonds and become mentors for each other."

This is Ms. Coletti's first year as the chair of chamber music for the Community School, and her passion for the art is palpable. She sees her role as one that exists to create opportunities for her students, especially when they ask to try something new. "I try to find a way to say yes," she said. "Their best learning comes from their own feeling of ownership and their passion."

This past spring, two of the Community School's chamber ensembles advanced in the Fischoff Competition, a national chamber music competition held in Indiana each year. The Fenice Quartet advanced to the semifinals, while the Incendium Quartet, who will appear in Saturday's concert, received the gold medal in the junior division of the competition. The Honors Woodwind Quintet, last heard in this semester's Honors Recital, will perform again on Saturday's program as well.

"I just want the kids to have opportunities to thrive," Ms. Coletti said. "They work so hard, practicing hours every week to get it right. They deserve the best chances for success."

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The Community School of Performing Arts will hold auditions for the Colburn Youth Orchestra and Colburn Chamber Orchestra, as well as four other ensembles and the Ed and Mari Edelman Chamber Music Institute June 4–7 and June 14 on the Colburn School campus.

The Youth Orchestra is a full orchestra comprising strings, winds, brass, and percussion. They perform standard symphonic repertoire, including newly commissioned works and arrangements created especially for them. The Chamber Orchestra consists only of strings and, like the Youth Orchestra, they perform standard repertoire for their ensemble as well as works commissioned for them, including compositions by current Community School students.

Maxim Eshkenazy directs both ensembles and also serves as Associate Conductor of the Colburn Orchestra, the Conservatory of Music's flagship ensemble. Both orchestras regularly appear as part of the Sundays Live performance series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which is also distributed as a podcast by KUSC radio. The Chamber Orchestra debuted at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Sounds About Town series, and the Community School is currently planning a European tour for the ensemble beginning June 2016. The group plans to perform in cities such as Prague, Budapest, and Vienna as part of their very first tour.

Both ensembles participate in the Community School's annual Collaboration Concert, which brings together the Community School's orchestras, choirs, ballet, and modern dance students in one spectacular production involving more than 100 students.

Each year, the Community School's orchestra program holds a concerto competition for students enrolled in the Colburn Youth Orchestra and Colburn Chamber Orchestra. Winners have an opportunity to perform a solo accompanied by one of these ensembles.

"Ensemble participation is a crucial part of a young musician's development," said Assistant Dean Sara Hiner, "especially for those who are at an advanced level and planning to pursue music in college. The skills learned in a large ensemble like following a conductor, active listening, blending as one unit, as well as the camaraderie, is priceless."

Auditioning students should prepare a solo concerto, etude, or showpiece without an accompanist to demonstrate their technical and interpretive skills, along with an orchestral except from a prepared list. Students auditioning for the Chamber Orchestra may sight read as part of their process.

"It is an honor working with such dedicated and talented young musicians as the ones we have here in the Community School," said Orchestra Manager Alexis Luque. "I am looking forward to welcoming new students to our orchestras this fall and helping them to be the best they can be. I could not be more proud of the students in these groups."

Contact the Community School by phone at 213-621-4548 to schedule an audition time.

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Colburn School perform hundreds of during the school year, but summer is no exception. On June 21, students from the Colburn School's Jumpstart Young Musicians Program, Glee Choir, and Adult Wind Symphony will join several other performing arts ensembles for the 90th anniversary celebration of Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

The event will begin at 3 pm on the LA Trade Tech campus on Washington Boulevard, just south of downtown Los Angeles. "We're thrilled our students will have a chance to participate in this event and perform for members of the LA Trade Tech community," said Dr. Nathaniel Zeisler, who directs the Colburn School's community engagement programs. "These groups have had only a few opportunities to perform off campus. We love connecting our students with new audiences."

The Jumpstart Young Musicians Program offers beginner-level band instruction to 5th, 6th, and 7th grade students from Los Angeles Unified School District partner schools. Jumpstart students attend up to 11 hours of instruction each week after school on the Colburn School campus. Colburn's Adult Wind Symphony is a 60-piece ensemble made up of educators, performers, and amateur musicians who gather each summer for a series of community performances. The Glee Choir program serves students in several high schools adjacent to downtown Los Angeles.

Along with the Colburn ensembles, performers include the Santee High School Marching Band and Color Guard and the YOLA@Expo Orchestra, with LA Trade Tech students in culinary arts, fashion, and art providing activities on site.

LA Trade Tech is the oldest of the nine public two-year colleges in the Los Angeles County Community College District and served more than 34,000 students in 2014.

Parking and admission to the event are free. Visit our website calendar for more information on this event. Visit this link to see a map of the LA Trade Tech campus.