Kara Walker at SFMOMA, Solid Gold soul with the Gay Men’s Chorus
Kara Walker’s study for her SFMOMA installation “Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine),” 2023-2024. (Kara Walker) Hey there! Welcome to another edition of Essential Arts…
‘The Comet / Poppea’ review: Yuval Sharon opera is exceptional
Now we know not to call “The Comet / Poppea” a mashup. That was the obvious expectation before Friday night’s premiere of Yuval Sharon’s latest…
Column: L.A. is transforming opera. OperaFest LA is half the story
Los Angeles is not, historically, an opera city. Only in 1986 did it finally found a resident company, Music Center Opera, now Los Angeles Opera.…
How opera singer Janelle Colquhoun became national champion archer after losing her sight
In short: Janelle Colquhoun became a champion para archer after being robbed of her sight in her late 20s. The Brisbane woman lost her career as…
‘A Strange Loop,’ Johnny Cash and things to do in L.A.
“A Strange Loop” at the Ahmanson. (Alessandra Mello) It’s a big week for SoCal stages, and Essential Arts has you covered with staff picks for…
Things to do: ‘Jelly’s Last Jam,’ expert guide to the Getty
“Up My Sleeve” by Paula Wilson, 2021. Woodcut, relief, silkscreen, collagraph, monotype and digital print; oil-based ink, oil, acrylic, muslin and canvas; 35 inches by…
Opera singers Allegra Giagu and Charlotte Goode bring their passion for music to regional towns
The country Victorian town of Tongala found itself in the national spotlight last year when 18-year-old local footy legend Harley Reid was drafted by the…
‘So staged!’ rage Britain’s Got Talent fans as they slam opera act’s shock twist
BRITAIN’S Got Talent viewers were left furious by an opera act which turned out to have a surprising twist. Singer Natalie Choquette, from Montreal in…
Things to do: ‘Lion King’ at Hollywood bowl, Hockney’s ‘Turandot’
Detail from pascALEjandro’s “Nada, Nada, Nada,” 2019. Ink, watercolor, colored pencil, polymer clay, gold leaf, and glass on paper, 44.25 inches by 30.25 inches by…
David Hockney’s magnificent ‘Turandot’ is reborn at L.A. Opera
When the curtain rises Saturday evening on Los Angeles Opera’s “Turandot,” composer Giacomo Puccini’s last work will feature the L.A. debut of the production’s biggest…
Venice Family Clinic Art Walk, a fight to save L.A. youth orchestras and your guide to L.A. culture this week
Civic Youth Orchestra (Courtesy of Civic Youth Orchestra / Photo by Bill Kraus) Hello and welcome to another week of Essential Arts, where we highlight…
Stars Wars Day, Alice Wang’s extraterrestrial art and more LA culture
Hello and May the 4th be with you! From a cultural galaxy near, near by, the Essential Arts newsletter is back again, corralling the best…
Roasting LACMA’s big bet in Vegas
John Valadez’s 2024 acrylic painting “Chaos,” 84 inches by 144 inches, at Luis de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of John Valadez and Luis…
Soap opera actor and screenwriter Meg Bennett has died
Award-winning screenwriter and actor Meg Bennett, who achieved fame on “The Young and the Restless,” has died, her family announced Sunday. She was 75. Bennett…
Festival of Books at USC, Andrew Scott and your ultimate culture guide to the weekend and beyond
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) Apparently some lady named Taylor has a new album — or two. We’re still trying to make sense of “Tortured Poets…
L.A. Opera defies elitist label with ‘La Traviata,’ ‘Noah’s Flood’
The label of elitism sticks to opera like superglue. The label is a fake, but one for which no cultural chemical capable of removing it…
Best things to do in L.A.: ‘Chocolate Room,’ Maurice Sendak
Ed Ruscha, “Chocolate Room,” 1970, chocolate on paper (Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times) It’s been asked before, and we’ll ask it again: If music…
What to do in L.A.: ‘Fat Ham,’ Coachella, Virginia Woolf dance
Welcome to another edition of Essential Arts, where the question of the week just might be: How have 99 Cents Only Stores shaped L.A.’s cultural…
Essential Arts: Easter music, Butterfly Pavilion, the Broad
It’s a new Essential Arts! Based on feedback from readers, we’re rethinking this newsletter and adding recommendations from our prize-winning writers on the very best…
Carolina Miranda on chronicling L.A.’s rich artistic communities
It’s the weekend and my main goal is to get over to Café Tropical for a Cuban sandwich. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, art and design…