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The primary source of news and information about California State University, Dominguez Hills, its students, faculty, and staff.

Music

LA Opera Presents Free Live Simulcast of Verdi’s Otello on May 13

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Free live outdoor broadcasts: Verdi's Otello, conducted by James Conlon

Source: LA Opera

High-definition broadcast will be transmitted free of charge, live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, to audiences at California State University, Dominguez Hills and at the Santa Monica Pier

(Los Angeles) April 11, 2023 – LA Opera will present a live simulcast of its opening night of Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello for audiences at two outdoor locations. At 7:30pm on Saturday, May 13, 2023, LA Opera’s production of the towering operatic masterpiece will be transmitted live in high-definition video from nine cameras at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to large LED screens at California State University, Dominguez Hills and the Santa Monica Pier.

The performance will star tenor Russell Thomas, the company’s Artist in Residence, in the title role and will be conducted by Music Director James Conlon.

Through the generous support of Los Angeles County, LA Opera is able to present these simulcasts free of charge as a special gift to the community.

Otello will mark the ninth “Opera at the Beach” simulcast to the Santa Monica Pier. This will be the first time that LA Opera’s annual live simulcast will be experienced by audiences in the city of Carson, where “Opera on the Lawn” will take place on the North Lawn on the campus of CSUDH.

Since Otello is performed in Italian, the simulcasts will feature subtitles in both English and Spanish.

“Bring your friends, a blanket and picnic out to the Santa Monica Pier for a special night under the stars with the LA Opera for Verdi’s Otello,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, who represents the Third District where the Santa Monica Pier is located. “The simulcast brings the magic of opening night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to the beach, connecting more LA County communities to the power of opera. Our office is thrilled to be part of this beloved Third District tradition and unique LA experience.”

“Access to arts and culture programming has the power to transform lives,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, who represents Los Angeles County’s Second District where CSUDH is located. “My office is proud to bring one of Verdi’s greatest operas, Otello, for all to enjoy freely and in our community. I applaud LA Opera for creatively working to make the arts more accessible throughout LA County.”

“I am honored and delighted that LA Opera has chosen to partner with our university on this unique event,” said CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham. “This simulcast is another opportunity for CSUDH to demonstrate that we are not only in the community, but of the community. Showcasing great instrumental and vocal performances is a fantastic occasion that brings people together in a positive way, using music as the catalyst. We look forward to future collaborations with LA Opera.”

Although no tickets are required for entrance, guests are encouraged to sign up in advance at LAOpera.org/OperaAtTheBeach or LAOpera.org/OperaOnTheLawn to get important information about parking and the latest updates, and to receive a free gift at the event plus a chance to win a three-opera ticket package.

Seating at both locations is general admission, and gates will open at 5:30pm. Attendees are advised to bring their own seating and to arrive early both for pre-performance picnicking and to secure the best viewing areas. There will be arts and crafts activities for families to enjoy before the simulcast begins. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed. Pets are not allowed.

Opera on the Lawn–California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson
For detailed information about the Carson simulcast, please visit LAOpera.org/OperaOnTheLawn. The North Lawn of CSUDH is located at 1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA 90747. Free parking is available.

Opera at the Beach–Santa Monica Pier
For detailed information about the Santa Monica Pier simulcast, please visit LAOpera.org/OperaAtTheBeach. The Santa Monica Pier is located at the western terminus of Colorado Avenue. Parking information can be found at SantaMonica.com/transportation/parking. Attendees can arrive by public transit, exiting the Metro Expo Line at the downtown Santa Monica station.

For more information about the Santa Monica Pier, please visit SantaMonicaPier.org.

About the Opera
Hailed as the pinnacle of the Italian operatic repertoire, Verdi’s 1887 operatic transformation of the original Shakespeare tragedy is a powerful drama of uncontrolled human emotion at its most extreme. (Otello is the Italian spelling for Othello.) Verdi’s musical portrait of a hero’s descent into a tortured heart of darkness is made explicit in every chilling detail as Otello is steadily manipulated into destroying all in life that he holds dear.

Conductor James Conlon takes command of the truly epic musical forces, featuring a gigantic orchestra and chorus, in a production created by acclaimed stage director John Cox. The powerhouse cast is led by Artist in Residence Russell Thomas in the title role (considered the “Mount Everest” of the dramatic tenor repertoire because of its incredibly daunting vocal and dramatic challenges). Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen makes a highly anticipated company debut as the doomed Desdemona and baritone Igor Golovatenko is the sadistic Iago, who takes delight in slyly exploiting Otello’s one fatal flaw: jealousy.

For additional information about the production, please visit LAOpera.org/Otello.

To download artist headshots and production photographs, click here.

About LA Opera
Los Angeles is a city of enormous diversity and creativity, and LA Opera is dedicated to reflecting that vibrancy by redefining what opera can be. Through imaginative new productions, world premiere commissions, and inventive performances that preserve foundational works while making them feel fresh and compelling, LA Opera has become one of America’s most exciting and ambitious opera companies.

In addition to its mainstage performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the company explores unusual repertoire each season through the LA Opera Off Grand initiative, featuring performances in a variety of venues throughout Los Angeles. The LA Opera Connects initiative offers a robust variety of educational programming and community engagement offerings that reaches people throughout every corner of Los Angeles County. The company also offers a multitude of online content via its LA Opera On Now digital offerings, which launched in 2020. Learn more at LAOpera.org.

LA Opera’s production of Otello made possible by generous support from
GRoW”¯@ Annenberg
Barbara Augusta Teichert

With special additional support from
National Endowment for the Arts
The Norman and Sadie Lee Foundation

With special appreciation to
Gregory and Régina Annenberg Weingarten

LA Opera’s”¯Opera at the Beach”¯made possible with generous support from
Los Angeles County and Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath

LA Opera’s”¯Opera on the Lawn”¯made possible with generous support from
Los Angeles County and Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell

LA Opera Orchestra generously underwritten by
Terri and Jerry Kohl

LA Opera’s 2022/23 season generously underwritten by
GRoW @ Annenberg

LA Opera is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community.

Amber Riley Shares Struggles, Triumphs at Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series

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Amber Riley onstage

Vulnerability is power.

That was one of the key messages imparted by Amber Riley, the featured speaker for CSUDH’s Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series on November 30. Riley, a Grammy-nominated singer, award-winning actor, producer, and author, spoke candidly about her personal journey of self-care and mental wellbeing, as well as the tools and lessons that have helped her along the way.  

The Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series program, established by CSUDH President Thomas A. Parham, invites celebrated public figures to discuss their experiences within the context of society’s most pressing issues. Riley is a vocal advocate of mental health and speaks openly about her struggles with depression and anxiety, which she said “came to a head” in 2019.  

A native of Compton, Calif., Riley rose to success for her portrayal of Mercedes Jones on Glee, FOX’s hit television series. After competing in and winning Season 17 of Dancing with the Stars, Amber returned to her acting roots, earning roles in live television adaptations and onstage in London’s West End. In 2020, she released her debut EP, RILEY. The 6-track project reintroduces the woman and artist she has become, and reveals how her experiences growing up in Compton and transitioning into Hollywood have shaped her.

CSUDH President Parham onstage with Amber Riley
CSUDH President Parham with Amber Riley.

Directly addressing the audience, Riley kicked off the event by sharing that her “purpose in life is to share” and heal, imploring attendees not to feel alone in their experiences. Parham then joined her onstage, asking about her Southern California roots, her childhood aspirations, and her family. Riley described difficulties she faced growing up, as well as the lack of positive representation of Black women in the media.  

“I internalized a lot of that, especially walking into Hollywood,” Riley said. “I [knew I] was going to have to defy odds if I was going to make it. 

“The trauma and baggage that I have carried turned into fuel for me,” she added. “We can either let challenges stop us and limit us, or fire us up. Fighting is hard, but when I finally figured out what my purpose was, I knew that I needed that fight.”   

Riley also discussed the physical symptoms she suffered in 2019–including panic attacks–and the lack of vocabulary she had at the time to describe her feelings. She emphasized the importance of medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, but also spoke about how talking openly and honestly with family and friends helped her heal.  

“Once the secret is out, that secret doesn’t hold any power anymore,” Riley said. “Once I started sharing, that shame just disappeared.  

“I didn’t feel alone anymore, because I started finding there were so many people going through the same thing, waiting for someone to say it. Every conversation was healing.”  

Her vulnerability with others became a “superpower,” she said, and she used her experiences to inform her music, acting, and writing. In addition to professional help and her support network, Riley listed daily meditation, journaling, music and creative expression, and her faith as powerful aides for her wellbeing. 

Riley also took questions from the audience, and advised students to be open with friends about their struggles, to practice gratitude, and to pursue ambitious dreams. 

“Your dreams are supposed to scare you–challenge you,” she said.  

The same night as her appearance at CSUDH, Riley made television history by winning Season 8 of FOX’s The Masked Singer. Riley is the only person to win first place on both Dancing with the Stars and The Masked Singer.  

In closing the event, Parham thanked Riley for sharing her story, being vulnerable, and uplifting others through her talents and honesty. In summarizing the themes touched upon during their conversation, Parham noted that “the journey to self-care is a journey that is worth taking.”  

“Peace is worth the time it takes to find it.”

Watch the entire recorded event:

Jonathon Grasse’s New Book Explores Brazilian Music History

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Music Professor Jonathon Grasse Publishes New Brazilian Music History

When ethnomusicologist, composer, and CSUDH Professor of Music Jonathon Grasse first started traveling to Brazil 30 years ago, he had no intention of becoming a historian of the country’s music–he was simply exploring the country with his Brazilian wife. Before long, though, he became fascinated by the nation’s diverse regional musical heritages, adapting his research and writing to teach a course on Brazilian music at UCLA, where he earned his doctorate.

Eventually, his focus narrowed to the region that his wife hails from: Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil that is deeply connected to the nation’s slave past and home to many traditions related to the African diaspora. Grasse’s new book, Hearing Brazil: Music and Histories in Minas Gerais, published by University Press of Mississippi, is the first English-language historical survey of the area’s musical traditions.

Researching and writing the book were an extension of what he was already doing, says Grasse. “I was going there all the time. I was meeting people. I was already sort of doing field work. I was even publishing some articles about my experiences there.”

When he decided that he wanted to write a book, Grasse homed in on his love for the music of Minas Gerais. “No one had written about the topic in English with this scope, with the intention of discussing regionalism on such a high level. For me, it was a no brainer. I just thought, I’m going to have to do this now.”

Drawing on over 200 Portuguese-language sources from his own collection and throughout Brazil, Grasse spent 15 years writing, researching, and completing field work. The result is a history of the region as told through its music–exploring the intersections of its history, music, and culture.

For Grasse, “music and history are tied together.” His work surveys the often-tragic history of Minas Gerais, and finds the connections between the darkness of the history and the joyfulness of much of the region’s music. Often, the music can be seen as a reaction or a necessary tonic to the harshness of life.

“I think Brazilians have an incredible ability to make musical joy a reality in their life,” says Grasse. “Through the centuries and even in contemporary Brazil, there’s kind of an undercurrent of violence. I don’t focus on violence as a topic, but music as a salve that eases that tension, I would say.”

In taking a regional approach to the topic, Grasse ends up tying together many disparate strands of Brazilian music and history–from its colonial past to its modern cities. He examines everything from the region’s Afro-Brazilian heritage to the liturgical music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

His new work allowed Grasse to delve even further into the regional themes of the popular Minas Gerais music collective Clube de Esquina (Corner Club), led by legendary musician Milton Nascimento. Grasse’s first book, Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges The Corner Club, written for the 33 1/3 series, was a celebration and analysis of the collective’s 1972 double album.

The end result of Grasse’s efforts is a new book that weaves together Brazilian instruments, genres, social functions, and historical accounts, to form a tapestry that reveals the cultural territory’s development.

“This book came about because I felt that that the regional quality of the music made the place stand out even more as I studied it,” says Grasse. “Writing the book helped me discover more about this region that I am very close to. Over so many years, starting as an outsider writing this observational/descriptive kind of book–this process brought me so much closer to the subject.”

CSUDH Professor’s New Book Explores a Filipino Military Band’s Connection to U.S. Colonialism and Her Own Family History

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CSUDH Professor's New Book Explores a Filipino Military Band's Connection to U.S. Colonialism and Her Own Family History In her new book, Instruments of Empire: Filipino Musicians, Black Soldiers, and Military Band Music during U.S. Colonization of the Philippines, CSUDH Assistant Professor of Asian-Pacific Studies Mary Talusan Lacanlale doesn’t just reveal the hidden history of the Philippine Constabulary Band–she uncovers some of her own family history, as well.

The Philippine Constabulary Band, a group of Filipino musicians originally formed in 1902, toured the world for several decades to great acclaim, but they also helped to convince audiences that the American colonization of the Philippines was worthwhile and just. The band dissolved at the outset of World War II, and its history was all but forgotten–but not by Lacanlale’s grandmother.

“My grandma would visit from the Philippines every other year and stay with us in Massachusetts for a couple of months,” recalls Lacanlale. “She was my only connection to Filipino culture, as well as my own history. She would close her eyes and tell us this fantastic story about how her father–my great-grandfather–was a famous band musician, how he came to the U.S. many times to perform in symphony halls in New York, Boston, and Chicago.”

“I thought, ‘Yeah, you’re exaggerating. That can’t possibly be true.’ “

The stories stuck with Lacanlale, though, and years later, while in graduate school, she decided to research the band for a Philippines history course.

“At the time (1999 or 2000), everything wasn’t digitized,” says Lacanlale, “so I had to go and look through lots of microfilm. I found my great-grandfather’s name, Pedro Navarro, and photo in American newspapers–he was the band’s first Filipino conductor. I was blown away that my grandmother’s stories were true on the one hand, and also how my family history had a connection to U.S. colonization of the Philippines.”

Pedro Navarro Portrait
Mary Talusun Lacanlale’s great-grandfather Pedro Navarro conducted the Philippine Constabulary Band from 1916 to 1918

Lacanlale continued to research the band’s history after grad school, working on it as a side project for two decades, during summer breaks and when grant funding allowed. In the course of her work, Lacanlale found that the Constabulary Band had been assembled specifically to promote American colonization. An African American army officer named Walter Loving was asked to assemble the band and scoured the islands for musicians to fill out the roster.

“This Filipino band was sent to all of these states and several world’s fairs to project an image of the Philippines that legitimized U.S. colonization,” says Lacanlale. The idea of American colonization was a contentious one at the time, for a variety of reasons. “Some said they didn’t want all of these brown people becoming U.S. nationals; others said our constitution says we’re committed to freedom and independence, so why are we colonizing another country?”

In the end, the U.S. government brought over 80 Filipino band members to tour the states on multiple occasions. As Lacanlale relates, “They were able to make the band’s playing of European and American music seem miraculous, because they obscured the fact that the Philippines was already westernized due to 300 years of Spanish colonization.”

In truth, most of the Constabulary Band had been playing similar music for generations. But to American audiences of the time, they represented tribesman who had been ‘civilized’ by the influence of the U.S.

“The newspapers said that Loving had gathered a bunch of random Filipinos who had never seen western instruments before and taught them to be the best musicians in the world,” Lacanlale says. “So of course it seemed miraculous. ‘In just a few years of colonization, we created this symphony!’ It was an amazing tool to promote the success of U.S. colonization.”

Lacanlale chose the book’s title to reflect this fact. “They were ‘Instruments of Empire’ because they proved to the American public that ‘civilizing’ Filipinos was possible.”

The band toured all over the U.S., and Lacanlale’s great-grandfather accompanied them on three of the treks. They also played throughout Southeast Asia, and even for Queen Lili’uokalani, the last Hawaiian queen before the U.S. made the islands a territory.

When Loving first retired from the band in 1916, Lacanlale’s great-grandfather Pedro Navarro took over and became the band’s first Filipino conductor. He excelled in the role, even receiving praise from legendary bandleader John Philip Sousa. Navarro remained conductor until 1918, when he left the band.

One of Lacanlale’s takeaways from her years of research is that some of the racist stereotypes of the early 1900s still persist today. “One of the important issues I raise is how we still diminish Filipino performance today. There are a lot of artists from the Philippines, but I think there’s still this legacy that follows Filipinos. They’re still stereotyped as ‘natural’ performers or singers.”

SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORDINGS: An ethnomusicologist specializing in Filipino and Filipino American music and culture, Lacanlale recently co-produced a Smithsonian Folkways Recordings of Filipino gong music in honor of the late musician and teacher Danongan Kalanduyan Kulintang Kultura: Danongan Kalanduyan and Gong Music of the Philippine Diaspora.  Enjoy this Smithsonian Folkways playlist with commentary by Lacanlale.

“If we continue to refer to them through a racial stereotype that assumes that musical ability is somehow biological–which it’s not–then we will not see Filipinos as independent individuals in the world. That’s what I insert as an argument as it relates to today.”

“Unless we get away from that, we’re unable to see them as real artists”–like Pedro Navarro, whose great-granddaughter’s scholarship is helping bring his and his bandmates’ artistry–and history–back to into the light.

Oscar-Winning Short Showcases Music of CSUDH Conductor, Orchestra

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Oscar Award-Winning Short Showcases Music of CSUDH Professor, Orchestra
Charles Dickerson and the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles in performance; artwork from “If Anything Happens I Love You”

Oscar Night 2021 was quite a bit different from previous years for Charles Dickerson, supervisor of Special Ensembles in the CSUDH Music Department and executive director and conductor of the Inner City Los Angeles Youth Orchestra (ICYOLA). That’s because this year, “If Anything Happens I Love You,” a short featuring the music of Dickerson and the ICYOLA, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

Dickerson attended a small dinner party at the home of one of the film’s producers, where they all watched the broadcast together. “Man, when it was announced that we won, we screamed at the top of our lungs,” says Dickerson.

The animated film focuses on parents’ grief after losing a child to gun violence in school, and Dickerson adds, “Gun violence is an issue which the kids in my orchestra and I have a real connection to.” In fact, every year at the ICYOLA’s end-of-season concert, they perform a tribute to those who have been killed by gun violence.

Dickerson’s involvement in the film came “out of the clear blue,” he says. Maryann Garger, one of the film’s producers, was looking for an orchestra to record a piece of music for the film, and particularly wanted a youth orchestra, if possible. She did some research and discovered the ICYOLA, then cold-called Dickerson and asked if he would be willing to help.

When Garger told Dickerson what the film was about, he knew ICYOLA’s participation “was a natural fit,” he says. The director asked Dickerson to re-arrange the portion of music the orchestra would be recording, a 45-second piece of the song “Beautiful Dreamer” that occurs about halfway through the film.

The recording session turned out to be more than a bit tricky. Not only did the music have to match the images on the film to the 10th of a second, but “because we did this during the COVID-19 lockdown, we actually had to record the music part by part,” says Dickerson. Instead of assembling the entire 16-piece ensemble at a studio, “we had the three cellos come in and do their part, then we had the violins, the violas, the clarinet, and so on. By the time it was done and we stuck it all together, you never would have known that we weren’t all playing together!”

Once the music was recorded, it was added to the soundtrack and the film was released. What happened next took everyone involved in the project by surprise. “We sat and watched this film just take off,” says Dickerson. The film was picked up by Netflix, and Dickerson says, “I’m told that the film has now been viewed by over 70 million people worldwide. The message is very powerful.”

“We were thrilled to know that this little project that we worked on was starting to gain that kind of traction,” says Dickerson. “Then, the next thing I heard was ‘We’re in the top ten to get an Oscar.’ You gotta be kidding me! Then I heard we’re in the top five and we’re actually gonna be in the room on the day of the award. I thought, ‘Nah, that’s not gonna happen!’”

Dickerson was surprised that he was so affected by the short film’s Oscar win. “I’m not a big movie guy, and I never thought that I’d get so excited about it,” he says. “But what a thrill it has been to have the privilege of being involved in this project.”

Next Up: Rebuilding

Dickerson’s next mission–one he’s already started work on–is rebuilding the CSUDH Orchestra to its former glory. Currently, the ICYOLA and CSUDH Orchestra are one and the same; Toro students who take orchestra classes rehearse and play with the ensemble at their performances. In the past, CSUDH boasted a strong, independent orchestra program, but by the time Dickerson came to CSUDH, it had disbanded.

For more than three decades the university orchestra, as run under former Music Department Chair Francis Steiner, incorporated both Toro students and local residents into the Carson-Dominguez Hills Symphony Orchestra. After Steiner retired in 2009, the orchestra continued under CSUDH alumnus Hector Salazar, but went dark in 2011.

About three years ago, former Arts and Humanities Dean Mitch Avila approached Dickenson and asked if he would like to help resurrect the orchestra program. Dickerson’s response was an enthusiastic, “Heck yeah, let’s make it happen!”

His efforts are set to kick in this fall, when Dickerson plans to launch a recruitment effort aimed at both CSUDH students and the local community. “I want to reestablish an orchestra that serves the entire student body at Dominguez Hills, as well as do what Professor Steiner did, which is to invite people from the local community who would like to participate to join in. We want them to come be a part of this, too.”

Dickerson is excited at the prospect of rebuilding the CSUDH Orchestra program, and says, “I believe in that line from “Field of Dreams”: ‘If you build it, they will come.’ Well, we’re trying to build it back up, and hopefully the students and community will come. The CSUDH Orchestra is back, and if you play, we want you to come and join us!”