Gwen Stefani and the L.A. Philharmonic, together at last (updated)
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The energetic pop sounds of No Doubt are about to get a classical makeover thanks to a new collaboration between the Anaheim rock band and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Gwen Stefani and members of No Doubt are scheduled to meet with students from the orchestra’s Composer Fellowship Program who are creating a multiple-movement piece inspired by songs by the Grammy-winning rock band. The No Doubt songs that are up for classical reinvention are ‘Suspension Without Suspense,’ ‘Rock Steady’ and ‘Simple Kind of Life.’
The orchestra said that all members of No Doubt -- Stefani, Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal and Adrian Young – will attend a Youth Orchestra L.A. rehearsal to meet each of the composer fellows. No Doubt also will participate in a Q&A session with YOLA musicians and composer fellows. The date of the rehearsal will be announced later.
The completed piece will then be performed by the YOLA EXPO Center Youth Orchestra in a free evening concert at Santee High School on Feb. 26. No Doubt is not scheduled to perform at the concert.
The four composer fellows who will work with No Doubt are Daniel Allas, Tamzin Elliott, Phillip Golub and Aaron Ishibashi. The orchestra said this is the first time that the fellows had taken the music of a rock group as the inspiration for their compositions.
Tony Kanal of No Doubt said in a statement that the band members were ‘looking forward to hearing the new compositions from the composer fellows and can’t wait to meet them and the YOLA musicians.’
Founded in the mid-1980s, No Doubt has produced such hit albums as ‘Tragic Kingdom,’ ‘Return of Saturn’ and ‘Rock Steady.’
The EXPO Center Youth Orchestra is a project supported by the L.A. Philharmonic, the Harmony Project and other local organizations that brings music education to disadvantaged students in South L.A. The YOLA program is modeled on the El Sistema program in Venezuela, which gives instruments and music lessons to youth from troubled neighborhoods.
-- David Ng
(Update: An earlier version of this story said No Doubt’s albums included ‘Underneath it All,’ which in fact was a single on ‘Rock Steady.’)
Photos, from top: Gwen Stefani. Credit: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times. String players in the Expo Center Youth Orchestra. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times
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