New Programming Expands Ford’s Summer Nights

Visitors to Hollywood’s John Anson Ford Amphitheatre this summer can take advantage of the facility’s new elevator and free non-stacked parking as well as some new or revived programming in the sixth annual Summer Nights at the Ford season.

Added to the usual varied bill of local dance and music are three series: Sunday brunch chamber music concerts, Saturday morning storytelling sessions and evening opera and film showcases.

The season, which includes 39 events presented by 27 performing arts organizations, opens on June 27 with the Dia de San Juan Salsa Festival, featuring Familia Cepeda, and continues through Sept. 6 with the last of three performances by Maria Bermudez and her company from Spain, Sonidos Gitanos/Gypsy Flamenco.

The Ford Theatre Foundation will sponsor the chamber music concerts at 10:30 a.m. on four Sundays, with the Takacs Quartet opening the series on July 12; pianist Christopher O’Riley, violinist Andrew Dawes and cellist Paul Katz on Aug. 9; the American String Quartet on Aug. 16; and cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han on Sept. 6.

Returning to the Ford for the first time since 1995, opera and film programs include Bel Canto Opera’s “Aida” on June 28 and a concert version of Mozart’s “Abduction From the Seraglio,” with Lucinda Carver leading the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, on July 10.

The closing events--a gala, a premiere and the awards presentation--for OUTFEST ‘98, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will take place at the Ford on July 19. The Hollywood Arts Council presents “Jazz Goes to the Movies II,” which features clips from Duke Ellington-scored films and the music of the Louie Bellson Big Band and trumpeter Clark Terry playing Ellington originals, on Aug. 29.

The Ford’s Family Fun series adds storyteller Nailah Malik’s multiethnic narratives on July 11, Aug. 1 and 15 and Sept. 5.

On July 5, the California E.A.R. Unit presents an afternoon kids’ program that explains the building blocks of music using piano, violin, blow dryer, duck calls and more. Also debuting is JP Nightingale’s World Tour, a program of popular songs and instruments from around the world, on Aug. 9.

Other performers new to the summer calendar are the Los Angeles-St. Petersburg Russian Folk Orchestra (Aug. 23), Frit and Frat Fuller’s Kin Dance Company and guest artists (Aug. 15), the Verdugo Hills Showtime Chorus with “The 1940s Radio Hour” (Aug. 16) and conductor Jeong Jin’s Los Angeles Pilgrim Men’s Chorus (Aug. 28).

First-time sponsor the Jazz Bakery will honor Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in “Bebop Heaven” (July 26); the Brazilian Summer Festival ’98 features music from Sambacoustic and dance from Do Brasil (July 4); the African Village celebration welcomes Nigeria’s Majek Fashek, the Brazilian sounds of Sonia Santos and salsa of Los Angeles’ Charanga Cubana (Aug. 2); and Jazzantiqua Dance and Music Ensemble present “In Shadow and Light,” based on the photographs of Harlemite Roy DeCarava (Aug. 1).

* Single tickets go on sale April 1. Call (213) GO 1-FORD or (213) 461-3673.