The LA Phil has announced the full summer season for Hollywood Bowl’s sister venue across the gorge, the Ford, with a typically eclectic and cross-cultural lineup that includes Mac DeMarco, Lucinda Williams, Jorge Drexler, the Milk Carton Kids, Darren Criss, Arooj Aftab, Meredith Monk, José James, a kids’ show by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, a dance project from Serpentwithfeet and many more attractions.
The smaller-sized amphitheater is one of the most prized venues for musicians to play in Los Angeles, although the Phil’s emphasis in its four months of annual shows there is far less on commercial acts than in maintaining intriguing blend of all possible arts, with jazz, Americana and Latin and global music definitely getting a leg up on pop in the programming.
Ticket packages for three or more programs went on sale today, here. Individual concert tickets will go on sale May 9. The full Ford lineup can be found here.
The Ford gets a slightly later start in its 15-week season than does the Bowl, with DeMarco set to be the opening night attraction July 14. He’ll be performing music from his new album, “Five Easy Hot Dogs,” in his return to the venue after four years.
Closing night is a film: an Oct. 28 showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” with the “shadow cast” Sins O’ the Flesh in the flesh. There’s just one other movie screening scheduled for the Ford this summer — “Selena,” on Sept. 23, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, presented in partnership with the outdoor films org Street Food Cinema.
Several multi-artist bills highlight the lineup. A Los Angeles Folk Festival will find the Milk Carton Kids joined by Waxahatchee, Willie Watson and other artists to be announced on Oct. 7-8.
Recent Grammy best new artist nominee Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily will team up for a Sept. 20 collaboration that will fill the canyon with a distinctive brand of art music with Pakistani-Indian elements.
Some of the non-ensemble headliners include, in chronological order, Darren Criss (July 23), Jorge Drexler (July 29), Local Natives (Aug. 1), avant-garde Ukrainian quartet Dakha Brakha (Aug. 4), Lucinda WIlliams (Aug. 10), José James (Aug, 26), Armenian folk group Element Band (Aug. 27), San Diego soul group Thee Sacred Souls (Aug. 30), Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes (Sept. 3), singer-songwriter Ryan Beatty (Sept. 14) and Swiss/Latin instrumental band Hermanos Gutiérrez (Sept. 28).
One of the more intriguing selections is Serpentwithfeet’s dance project “Heart of Brick,” the west coast premiere of a co-commission of the LA Phil and New York’s Joyce Theater that is described as “delving into Black gay love through visual elements, dance and music.” It was created by Serpentwithfeet and co-written with Donte Collins, with direction by Wu Tsang and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.
Fans of the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, which only became more beloved to Angelenos as it was forced out of its old home in Echo Park and into a new one in Highland Park, will be pleased to see the puppetry transplanted into yet another venue for a one-off on Aug. 13. (Be sure to take note of the kid-friendly start time of 10:30 a.m.)
Meredith Monk will celebrate her 80th birthday with “Memory Game,” a program of the neo-classical composer’s vocal music in collaboration with the Bang on a Can All-Stars on Aug. 31.
The Jazz Re-Evolution lineup for July 22 sports a roster that includes Amy Keys, Antonique Smith, Gary Dourdan, Joseph Marcell, Keith David, Miguel Sandoval, Nedra Wheeler, Reign Morton, Sophia Bacelar, Terrace Martin, Tracie Thomsand Wayne Bergeron.
Comedy will be found in a July 28 performance by the Improvised Shakespeare Company and, on Aug. 9, a lineup of female comics hosted by Marcella Arguello.
The LA Phil will be conducting most of its business across the street during the summer, but will cross Highland to join a modern jazz artist from Iceland, Laufey, on Sept. 16.
For anyone who is reminded of “What’s Opera, Doc” by the Hollywood Hills setting, opera will get its night out at the Ford with the Pacific Opera Project’s one-night-only presentation of “The Barber of Seville” on Aug. 25.
