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Childs Bringing His ‘Dreams’ to West Coast

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Pianist Billy Childs’ long-held interest in classical music--he studied classical composition at USC--has resulted in a number of commissions, most notably the 1994 piece “Fanfare for the United Races of America” for Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

His latest classical work, “A Day in the Forest of Dreams,” was commissioned by the Dorian Wind Quintet and will be given its West Coast premiere by Childs and the Dorian Quintet at the El Camino College Center for the Arts on Nov. 8. The piece was given its world premiere in New York on Sept. 28.

“Most of the music I write in the classical arena has some jazz influence because that’s such a big part of my life,” Childs says. “What I found most difficult about this piece was combining the piano with the quintet. The wind quintet is a complete package as it is and trying to integrate the piano with it was a real challenge.”

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Childs, an L.A. native who now lives in Altadena, is a three-time Grammy nominee in jazz categories. He is currently working on a piano concerto as well as music for his next jazz recording, to be released by Shanachie Records in 1998. As a further sign of his broad interests, Childs continues to work with the jazz-funk-poetry combo Prophecy, which next appears at LunaPark on Nov. 22.

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* “A Day in the Forest of Dreams” performed by Billy Childs and the Dorian Wind Quintet, Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College Center for the Arts, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance; Nov. 8, 8 p.m. Works by Lee Hoiby, David Sampson and Robert Ward will also be performed. $18-$21. (310) 329-5345. Also Nov. 9 at Bing Theatre, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. 4 p.m. Free. (213) 485-6873.

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