A R T S A N D C U LT U R E
Longtime
Legacy
MUSE/IQUE fetes LA’s music scene
MUSE/IQUE’s 2022 yearlong festival, “LA Composed: A Festival of Los Angeles Music,” runs through November and celebrates the city’s musical legacy.
os Angeles is home to iconic performance venues and an impressive history of musicians that includes the Beach Boys, The Mama & Papas, and the Eagles. In its new season, MUSE/IQUE’s “LA Composed: A Festival of Los Angeles Music” celebrates the city’s musical legacy with a yearlong concert series. Curated and led by Artistic Director Rachael Worby, the series features renowned musicians and performers celebrating at cultural institutions such as Caltech and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens through November. “For us, curation is illuminating the connection point between the inspiration of the artist and the curiosity of the audience,” Worby says. “We try to follow the music to that magical place where understanding flourishes. ‘LA Composed’ started from an idea to focus a season on the unique musical history of LA. We started by focusing on genres that are associated with LA, such as film scores or the legendary club scene. We also studied with awe the wide range of cultural influences that feed the LA music scene.” As the organization studied LA’s music giants, it found these entertainers could not be easily defined. Instead, their genius reflects the wild interconnectivity and infinite creativity of the city, Worby says. “It began to occur to us that LA music is much like its most famous streets — brimming with energy and absolutely distinct local flavor — and yet remarkably global and even universal in appeal and influence. We started thinking about composers, singers and musicians in the place of creation — on these incredible streets of LA. From that point, ‘LA Composed’ almost curated itself.” The first concert of the series, “Sunrise on Sunset,” debuted in mid-March at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Featuring vocalists Brandon Victor Dixon, Kecia Lewis and the DC 6 Singers, it explored the music intersections of Sunset Boulevard, the epicenter of cultural revolution. “When Brandon sang Leon Russell’s ‘A Song for You’ for the Sunset Boulevard show, it was a convergence of genius,” Worby says. continued on page 28
Robert Latour/Submitted Photo
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By Kamala Kirk
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