Upcoming Events

Explore everything our Community School of Performing Arts and Trudl Zipper Dance Institute have to offer before fall classes begin! Take a class, watch a performance, and meet the faculty at this fun-filled family event.

Experience great artistry as students from the Conservatory of Music perform solo and chamber works in this weekly recital series. Performance Forum is generously underwritten by Alice Steere Coulombe. This performance will be livestreamed.

The season kicks off with three iconic orchestral works from classical music’s founding fathers. Opening the program is Bach’s beloved Orchestral Suite No. 3, which features one of the Baroque era’s most famous melodies: “Air on a G String.” Next, the rich sound of the clarinet takes centerstage in a lyrical concerto by Mozart, his only one written for the instrument. Ending the concert with a bang are the percussive marches and trumpet fanfares of Haydn’s energetic “Military” Symphony.

Composer, pianist, and organist George Walker, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music, has a robust catalogue of brilliant and technically challenging pieces that are rarely performed. After falling in love with Walker’s music at first listen, Steinway Artist Alexandre Dossin began a passion project to record the composer’s complete collection of piano works. Hear these heartfelt interpretations of Walker’s music as Dossin plays selections from his critically acclaimed albums.  

This intimate afternoon concert explores the delicate balance of voices found in chamber music. The centerpiece of the program is Bach’s The Art of the Fugue. Interspersed between these dazzling dialogues are short pieces exploring Bach’s music through a contemporary lens. The conversation between past and present continues when Schumann’s imaginative “Fairy Tale Pictures” is paired with György Kurtág’s late 20th century response. Beethoven’s complex Grosse Fuge closes the performance.

 Take a six-string world tour with Puerto Rican guitarist Leonela Alejandro, winner of the 2024 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition. Delight in her endearingly powerful and energetic stage presence as she performs solo guitar works featuring Brazilian beats, laidback jazz club vibes, and everything in between. 

Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Artistic Director Janie Taylor is joined by New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns for an evening that illuminates the creative process. The pair, alongside Colburn’s exceptional Dance Academy students, will dance and discuss Sonata for Saras, a piece they created together from different cities and premiered on the LA Dance Project digital platform. Talented young artists from the Colburn Conservatory will perform the accompanying music: Sonata for Piano and Clarinet by Olga Harris.

Enjoy an evening of chamber music masterworks in which the rich, dark sound of the viola plays a central role. Directed by renowned violist Tatjana Masurenko, Viola Plus returns with another rousing program featuring Tatjana herself, Colburn faculty and students, and special guests.

Travel across the centuries in this program of vibrant chamber works rooted in the rich Austro-Hungarian musical tradition. First, Haydn’s “Quinten” string quartet masterfully darts from major to minor as each movement transforms and embellishes the central theme. The winds then take center stage for Ligeti’s whimsical Six Bagatelles, a piece saturated with Hungarian folk melodies, before two violins, two violas, and a cello close out the concert with Brahms’s radiant and warm String Quintet No. 1.

This holiday season, the Canadian Brass will be decking the halls in DTLA. A beloved tradition for 50 years and counting, the Grammy-winning ensemble’s joyful holiday program is a must-see for music lovers of all ages. This showstopping concert is filled with playful arrangements of festive favorites, heartwarming holiday hijinks, and bold brass sounds. Experience Canadian Brass’s “unbeatable blend of virtuosity, spontaneity, and humor” (Washington Post) as they celebrate the season in LA’s favorite hall for chamber music.  

This colorful program highlighting a variety of music styles features the work of two influential French composers. César Franck’s expressive and fiery piano quintet will be performed alongside Claude Debussy’s only string quartet, an avant-garde tapestry of textures. Special guest Blake Pouliot joins Colburn students for both works. Rounding out the program is a fugal masterwork by Mozart showcasing the bass and an innovative contemporary work by Tōru Takemitsu that blends Eastern and Western sounds.

This intimate concert by award-winning pianist Paul Lewis features a series of Mozart and Poulenc pairings. The first half of this charming program includes Mozart’s energetic 10th piano sonata as well as excerpts from Poulenc’s Improvisations, a series of 15 short and diverse solo piano tunes. After intermission, Lewis performs the remaining Improvisations before concluding with Mozart’s turbulent Piano Sonata No. 14. L’isle Joyeuse (“Joyous Island”) by Claude Debussy divides the Mozart/Poulenc double feature.

Stars from the world of tap dance are joined by Colburn Dance students and faculty for an inspired performance showcasing the dynamism and vitality of the art form.

Under the batons of Salonen Fellows Mert Yalniz and Aleksandra Melaniuk, the Colburn Orchestra spotlights the next generation of virtuoso soloists in a program of vibrant and varied concerto works. The talent demonstrated by the conservatory-trained musicians in this ensemble—soloists and conductors included—indicates that the future of classical music is bright. Be among the first to experience their artistry!

James Conlon, one of today’s most versatile and respected conductors, leads the RVC Ensemble (Recovered Voices at Colburn Ensemble), in a love letter to Bohemian melodies by Dvořák, Martinů, and Vítězslava Kaprálová.

Led by harpsichordist, organist, and musicologist Ian Pritchard, the Conservatory of Music’s Baroque Ensemble brings the music of the 17th– and 18th–century to life, performing masterpieces from one of the richest periods in music history.  This performance will be livestreamed.

Experience the talent and charm of MacArthur Genius Grant-winning pianist Jeremy Denk as he leads a dynamic exploration of Beethoven’s last sonata, written at the height of his deafness. Part performance and part discussion, this engaging examination of Piano Sonata No. 32 will delve into work’s boundary-pushing orchestration, innovative musical structure, and vivid emotions.

MacArthur Genius Grant-winning pianist Jeremy Denk joins Colburn faculty and students in this program of electric quintets. Opening the concert is Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, a work that masterfully balances the piano against oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon. Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet starts on an eerie tone before modulating towards a brighter, more symphonic end. In between these masterworks is Valerie Coleman’s Tzigane, which was inspired by Ravel’s similarly named Hungarian rhapsody for violin.