Our Laguna: Laguna Beach Live! livens up the city with music

September 06, 2012|By Barbara Diamond

Josh Nelson and his trio recently performed as part of… (Coastline Pilot )

Bossa Zuzu's Brazilian beat closed Laguna Beach Live!'s 2012 Jazz Wednesdays series of musical performances at Hotel Laguna.

The Live! at the Museum chamber music concert series winds up on Thursday.

Next up: The annual Bluegrass and Barbecue from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 16 on the Magnolia Patio at Aliso Creek Inn & Golf Course, 31106 S. Coast Hwy. The Los Angeles-based Brombies will perform from 5 to 7 p.m.; the barbecue starts at 4 p.m. There is always something to look forward to on the Laguna Beach Live! calendar.

"We are up to 34 concerts a year," said Lucinda "Cindy" Prewitt, co-founder with Sam Goldstein and Joe Bryne of Laguna Beach Live!

Prewitt had worked with Goldstein on the formation of the Business Improvement District by the lodging establishments in town. The district funds cultural activities to entice tourists to Laguna.

"I knew there was the possibility of funding," Prewitt said. "So I began to think about what I would like to do with it. Music!"

Laguna Beach Live! was founded in 2001. Prewitt chairs the board, which includes Goldstein, Joe Becker, Tom Ellebie, Cody Engle, former Mayor Paul Freeman, Old Potter Place developer Joe Hanauer, Judith Jelinek, school board member Betsy Jenkins, Glenn Gray, Madeleine Peterson and Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson, an ex-officio member,

"We said, 'Do we have any jazz in town?'" Prewitt said. "No? Let's do it."

Seven Jazz Wednesday concerts are held every other week starting in June in the Hotel Laguna's Rose Garden.

But Live! doesn't limit itself to jazz.

The group joined forces with the Laguna Art Museum to present four chamber music concerts in the galleries every second Thursday of June through September.

Performers this summer included Hutchins Consort Quartet playing acoustically matched string instruments, Jenni Olson on flute and Marcia Dickstein on harp, the Triada Guitar Trio and Ceora Winds playing the final concert.

The 2013 schedule will begin in January with the Winter Jazz Concert Series at Aliso Creek, concluding in April.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Society will present the annual Music Festival Feb. 4 to Feb. 10 , with performances at the Laguna Playhouse and other local venues.

The festival features well-known and up-and-coming musicians in a variety of activities, including master classes.

Double bassist Edgar Meyer, the Calder and Calidore quartets, and Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell were featured in the 2012 festival.

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