Category Archives: Features

Pacific Jazz Orchestra Launches Spectacular Debut Season

LA Welcomes First Resident Jazz Orchestra in Nearly Two Decades

by Linda A. Rapka

Aiming to entertain and enrich the local community of Los Angeles as well as the global community through performance and education, the newly formed Pacific Jazz Orchestra is the ambitious innovation of Chris Walden, a seven-time GRAMMY-nominated arranger/conductor who serves as the orchestra’s artistic director and conductor.

“I’ve been arranging and conducting for recording artists and for TV and film for 30 years, but I’m now at a point in my career and my life where I wanted to fulfill my own musical vision,” Walden said. “Having worked a lot with symphony orchestras as well as with big bands, I wanted to create a hybrid ensemble that embodies both. And with this 40-piece ensemble we’re able to play jazz as well as symphonic material.” Continue reading

Member Spotlight: Bruce Dukov

Bruce Dukov Performs Record 1,900th Motion Picture Score

Bruce Dukov may be the most famous violinist you’ve never heard of — but you definitely have heard him many times.

Since launching his studio career in the 1980s, Bruce has left an indelible mark on the world of film music, as well as in thousands of records and TV shows. His gorgeous and memorable violin solos have been featured in films such as “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Wrongfully Accused,” “Analyze This,” “Batman Forever,” “Addams Family Values,” and in John Williams’ score to “Rosewood.” to name just a few. Last month Bruce reached a landmark achievement when he performed on his 1,900th theatrical motion picture score. Continue reading

Member Spotlight: Meredith Snow

Violist Meredith Snow, a native of Long Island, New York, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, where she was a student of Paul Doktor and Samuel Rhodes.

A former member of the Colorado String Quartet, she has also participated in the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Marlboro Music Festivals. Snow played three seasons with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra before joining the LA Phil in 1986, and she often appears with the Philharmonic Chamber Music Society and the Green Umbrella Series. Continue reading

Hot Labor Summer

“Los Angeles is ground zero in the fight for the middle class in America. The Los Angeles Labor Movement is setting the tone for the rest of the nation in their fight against corporate greed in the U.S.” – Yvonne Wheeler, President, L.A. County Federation of Labor

In every industry, every union, workers are saying enough is enough to wages that can’t pay the bills and bosses who have profited off their hard work. Transportation workers, hotel workers, writers, actors, baristas, government workers, teachers, and healthcare workers are standing together in solidarity as they fight for livable wages, benefits, and fair working conditions.

Photo by Linda A. Rapka // AFM Local 47 musicians and leadership turned out to the massive Unions Strike Back rally in downtown Los Angeles on May 26, where thousands of workers gathered in a massive show of solidarity to support the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.

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Musicians Support WGA

AFM musicians from coast to coast are supporting our Writers Guild colleagues in their strike. Their goal is our goal; winning fair and livable compensation from the same huge film/TV studios we will be negotiating with later this year.

Marking the first WGA strike in more than 10 years, writers walked off the job on May 2 after talks between WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came to a standstill. Continue reading

All That Jazz: First Annual AFM Local 47 Jazz Festival a Huge Success

A heartfelt thanks to all performers and attendees at our First Annual AFM Local 47 Jazz Festival!

We celebrated our three-day inaugural concert series over three Sundays in April, during Jazz Appreciation Month, in our new Captain Greg Welch Gathering Place. Generously sponsored by the Music Performance Trust Fund and AFM Local 47, and supported by CenterStaging and Union Graphics, the concerts were presented free to the public. Continue reading