Fear not Angelenos, the Hollywood Bowl summer concert series we all love and miss is back thanks to PBS stations nationwide.  We were all saddened when the Bowl cancelled its 2020 season, the first time in the venue’s 98-year history, as concerts at the iconic theater are so much a part of summer nights in Los Angeles. Premiering Friday January 15, PBS stations will air IN CONCERT AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL featuring the ‘best of’ live performances from the past 10 years at the Bowl, hosted by LA Phil’s Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel. “While it was heartbreaking not to be able to share music together…this past summer, having the opportunity to look back on these extraordinary concerts reminded us of everything that makes it so special and unique…We will return to the Bowl stronger than ever, but until then we can enjoy these magical moments.”

Each week you will be transported to a front-row seat (bring your own dinners) for performances by a star-studded lineup including Herbie Hancock, Misty Copeland, Katy Perry, Pink Martini, La Santa Cecilia and many more including the LA Philharmonic of course. Added Chief Creative Officer of KCET Juan Devis, “We are excited that this collaboration will help bring arts and culture to millions of viewers at home during a time when it’s needed most by our community.”

For the full schedule, click here.

The Wallis’ popular Sorting Room Sessions are back in an entertaining virtual format.  The three January performances focus on popular and classic music artists in an intimate setting that will transform your living room into a chic nightclub – you provide the cocktails.

Up first is an evening with classical Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and Pianist Fabio Bidini who will take you on a music journey to France featuring Ravel’s jazz-inflected Sonata No. 2 in G Major, Massanet’s  Méditation and Gounod’s Ave Maria.  Meyers has been hailed for her “vigorous mastery, unflinching technical skills and stylish elegance” by the Los Angeles Times.  Bidini, a finalist in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, was proclaimed a “keyboard wizard” by Boston Musical Intelligencer. Old Blue Eyes fans mark your calendars as Richard Shelton brings a cabaret version of his hit show Sinatra: RAW to the Sorting Room on January 16.  RAW, a powerful portrayal of Sinatra’s final public performance in Vegas, has attracted sell out crowds in the UK, LA and Australia. The final January show features singer Sheléa in a tribute to the songs written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning married couple whose lyrics have earned them induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. These on demand shows presented by The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts are available individually for $25 per household or $60 for all three.

For all the details, click here.

The Pasadena Pops is jumping into the streaming game and offering its first concert designed to be enjoyed from the comfort of your home. George Gershwin’s famous Rhapsody in Blue is always a romp. It’s interesting to note that the first generation American/Brooklyn-born Gershwin rose to fame with a recording of Swanee by Al Jolson. Wanting to earn his street cred with the serious composers of the time, he went on to craft a concert hall piece with jazz influences (Rhapsody) — cutting edge at the time, and still a landmark composition to this day. Dvořák, a Czech transplant, was brought to this country towards the end of his career to become the director of a new National Conservatory in New York. He was already famous for mining and interweaving the Bohemian folk music of his country and creating a “nationalistic” sound. Once in America, he sought to do the same, first with his famous New World Symphony, his Op. 96, and his American Quartet, all written while visiting the vacation destination of Spillville, Iowa. There, he claimed, he channeled the ghost of Haydn, the father of the quartet, and wrote his 12th memorable quartet. Hosted by musical director David Lockington, the presentation will dive into additional behind-the-music stories along with interviews with the musicians. Join the Pasadena Pops for this concert! It will be streaming for 48 hours beginning on January 16.

For more details, click here.

Lightning never strikes the same place twice — unless you’re Taylor Swift. Her second surprise album evermore has immediately gone platinum at the top of Billboard charts across the globe. Not only is evermore making history as Swift’s eighth consecutive album to debut at number one, it has also earned her another moniker beyond singer-songwriter into masterful storyteller. If evermore is meant to be the sister album to folklore, then she’s the younger, smarter, pluckier one, unabashed in her lyrical lessons about broken loves while loosening her songs’ wistful instrumentation with reckless abandon. Some of the album’s connective tissue can be found in tracks like ’Tis the Damn Season and Dorothea, two different perspectives about the same former lovers. Folklore fans will enjoy a particularly good cry over the songs Tolerate It, Happiness, and the title track, which all prove the supreme skill in how Swift chooses to weaponize her words of woe. But our pop princess hasn’t been lost forever and can be heard on the more indie rock gems like Willow, Long Story Short, and Closure, delivering those catchy sing-along choruses in Swift’s exquisitely breathy lilt. Fellow folk masters Aaron Dessner of The National, Jack Antonoff, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and HAIM lend their talents to some haunting collaborations, promising Taylor Swift might just win album of the year.

For all things Taylor, click here.