Arts Briefs: Opera performer, supporter and restaurateur Mario Lalli Sr. dies
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Opera finale
The local music world lost a committed performer, restaurateur and fan with the death last month of Pasadena’s Mario Lalli Sr. at age 92. His long series of restaurants and live opera venues called Mario’s Italiano Ristorante ended their run in the old plaza shared with the historic Pasadena Playhouse.
Lalli was born in Springfield, Mass., and by 10 years old he was a fanatic listener to opera, spending long hours at his uncle’s record shop. He eventually moved to New York and studied at the Julliard School conservatory, toured in various companies before settling in Colorado with his family.
It was there that he and his brother Tullio established the first version of Mario’s Italiano Ristorante — operating under the motto “where they sing while you dine.” Lalli was a regular performer there, among others. That eatery and musical venue would eventual relocate to the California desert communities of Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and La Quinta before landing, in the last of its 13 locations, in Pasadena.
His son, Mario Lalli Jr., soon after founded Café 322, a nightclub in Sierra Madre, where the elder Lalli continued to perform opera favorites well into his 80s.
Lalli Jr. is known as a hugely influential guitarist and bandleader in the desert rock underground scene that spawned the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and Eagles of Death Metal. He currently leads the band Fatso Jetson.
Most recently, the elder Lalli and the audience drawn to his restaurants were featured in a 2014 documentary called “Sing Your Own Song,” directed by Anne O’Neal.
Toronto in Glendale
On Dec. 12, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra returns to the Alex Theatre in Glendale, this time led by guest conductor Peter Oundjian, music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Scotland’s Royal National Orchestra.
The 8 p.m. performance (which also lands at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Dec. 13) will feature violinist Stefan Jackiw. Both are making their debuts with the LACO. Oundjian will be conducting Bartók’s Divertimento and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.
The Alex Theatre is at 216 North Brand Blvd. Tickets start at $27. More info at: (213) 622-7001, www.laco.org.
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Compiled by Marquee staff