“Beautiful music, fine food and dear friends converge for a notable experience. We look forward to this continuing treat!”
– Laura Lake, audience member
“Performing for the LA Musical Salon was a wonderful experience. It’s not very often that one has the opportunity to perform in such an intimate and inviting atmosphere. I not only had the pleasure of making music with extremely talented musicians, but was also able to perform for a generous audience and in a beautiful venue…the evening was just pure joy!”
— Courtney Huffman, Soprano, Guest Artist
L.A. Musical Salon
The Los Angeles Musical Salon is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit corporation, formed in 2008 following the successful 2008 Inaugural Season of the L.A. Musical Salon Dinner-Concert Series. To date, we have been run entirely by volunteers. Our expenses are funded by tax-deductible membership dues and contributions, as well as by grants from local organizations.
We currently run three principal types of programs, each focused on a different aspect of support for performing arts, but which work together as an integrated whole:
1) The L.A. Musical Salon Dinner-Concert Series – supporting rising young performers. Our signature series of dinner-concerts provides a unique performance venue for rising young artists, where they can develop a personal relationship with their audience in an intimate, relaxed and gracious setting. [NOTE: Our Dinner-Concert Series is on hiatus, but we continue to support young artists by booking them for our free, public programs.]
2) Commissioning New Works – supporting composers, choreographers and other creative artists. We have commissioned a number of new chamber music works which have been premiered at our Dinner-Concert Series.
3) Community Outreach – building the audience of the future. Currently, our principal outreach focus is through free programs for the public at community venues such as the Westwood Branch Library. With programs designed for children and teens, we present music in a fun, engaging way to help build the audience of the future. With programs for adults, we seek to enrich the cultural life of our local community. We draw on artists from our Dinner-Concert Series and elsewhere to perform in our community outreach programs.
Our Beginning…
The L.A. Musical Salon Series was created by co-founders Terry Tegnazian and Scott Whittle, growing out of their love for classical music, their patronage of young professional musicians, their desire to forge personal connections between audience and musician, and to make the making of music directly accessible and fun.
Ms. Tegnazian introduces The Blue Rose Trio at the first concert on February 9, 2008.
“In most concert settings, the musicians are distant from and essentially anonymous to the audience—the audience sits in the hall, the musicians are on stage, and rarely do the two meet,” observes Ms. Tegnazian.
She continues, “Even a chamber music concert in a home setting rarely provides opportunity for anything more than a few moments of superficial conversation between audience and musicians—and rarely does the audience see the same musicians more than once.”
Addressing these issues, Ms. Tegnazian and Mr. Whittle designed a dinner-concert series unlike any other performance experience in town—the Series’ 2008 Inaugural Season, undertaken as an experiment, proved a great success and quickly evolved to encompass the commissioning of new works and community outreach.
The Regency Club, 2008-2011 venue.
The best-kept secret on the Westside! This annual series of dinner-concerts creates an unprecedented opportunity for audience and rising young performing artists to develop a personal relationship in an intimate, relaxed and gracious setting. Its four goals:The L.A. Musical Salon Dinner-Concert Series
Continuity… The “series” format combined with the appointment of Artists in Residence, along with Guest Artists each season, creates the unique opportunity for the audience and artists to get to know each other over time.
Intimacy… Audience size is limited, and the artists join the audience for the dinners.
Patronage… Much of the glorious music, art and literature that we enjoy today flowered thanks to patrons of the past. Showcasing young professionals in this series makes every one of us a patron for the future.
Elegance… A lovely ambiance and excellent food enhance the experience.
For more details of our most recent Dinner-Concert Season, see 2017 Season.
Commissioning New Works
In its 2008 Inaugural Season, the L.A. Musical Salon commissioned four new pieces of choreography from talented choreographer and dancer Laura Karlin of Invertigo Dance Theatre, which were premiered at the April 2008 concert. In 2009, we commissioned Sea Quartet for piano, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, from composer and conductor Jenni Brandon, which was premiered at the March 2009 concert.
Beginning in 2009, we undertook a more ambitious three-year project, commissioning a chamber music transcription of the Brahms Triumphlied from composer, concert pianist and chamber musician Marek Zebrowski. Mr. Zebrowski premiered the first movement as a work in progress with the Upstream Ensemble at our February 2010 concert. An enthusiastic audience welcomed the completed piece in its world premiere at the May 19, 2012 dinner-concert.
This launched our long-term project of increasing the repertoire for piano quintet with double bass, the rare instrumentation used by Schubert in his beloved Trout quintet. To date, we have commissioned from Mr. Zebrowski chamber music transcriptions of three additional pieces for this instrumentation—the Debussy Petite Suite; the Paderewski Tatra Album, Op. 20, no. 1; and the Schubert Erlking.
Other commissions have followed in subsequent years. Check under “New Works Commissioned” in our main menu.
Community Outreach
We began our community outreach effort of free events in 2009 with a children’s program entitled “Lesanju the Elephant“ by one of our 2009 guest artists, the Vientos Trio, at the Westwood Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. This free event was publicized by the Library, and was attended by approximately 60 people, mostly 2- to 5-year-olds.
Building on the success of that first program, we sponsored two free public musical programs at the Westwood Branch Library in 2011, that were designed for a teen audience, featuring acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist Derik Nelson.
In 2012 we sponsored two free holiday concerts at the Westwood Branch Library: one for children featuring harpist Charissa Barger, and one for adults featuring the Fiato Quartet. The following year, 2013, we sponsored ten free guitar lessons for ten students, and commissioned a new children’s piece “The Handsome Frog” which was premiered at the library in August.
In 2014 we embarked on a groundbreaking program for the Los Angeles Public Library system, raising enough funds to appoint a Quartet in Residence @ Westwood Branch Library, to perform four free concerts during the year—which has been highly popular with patrons and enjoys broad community support. In 2019 we completed our sixth season of the Free Concert Series @ Westwood Library featuring our Quartet in Residence along with a number of different guest artists each year.
For more info, see Free Events.
We look forward to seeing you – and bring your friends, too!
