Sunday was a day of firsts — the first-ever Concert on the Bluffs for the City of Malibu, Cultural Arts Commission, Parks and Recreation Department, Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra, four members of the New York City Ballet and a sold-out audience of over 500 people.
Malibu Cultural Arts Commissioner Eric Myer described the event as a “smashing success.”
“We have an abundance of very talented artists living in our city, and we have long wanted to celebrate them,” Mayor Laura Rosenthal said. “We’re famous for beautiful beaches and great surfing. It’s time we were recognized as an important arts destination.”
The concert took place at Malibu Bluffs Park, facing a fabulous view of the Pacific Ocean in one direction and the Santa Monica Mountains in another. The sold-out crowd brought their kids, blankets, lawn chairs and picnics, bought food at the food trucks, and experienced the concert laying down or sitting up in the sunshine. The sound system made every instrument clear as a bell.
Musical Director and Conductor Scott Hosfeld — a Malibu resident and a member of the Cultural Arts Commission — pulled together a group of 35 world-class musicians from the LA Philharmonic, LA Opera and Hollywood Bowl orchestras to play in the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra for the event.
Hosfeld’s wife — violinist and composer Maria Newman — served as concertmaster. Her composition, “Fanfare ad Omnes,” was “penned in honor of [the] inaugural Concert on the Bluffs,” she explained.
“I don’t know of any other place in the world besides LA where you pull together this many high-caliber musicians in so short a period of time,” Hosfeld said in an interview. “Malibu is actually a 27-mile stretch of homes teeming with artists … The musicians [who played at the concert] aren’t just some of the world’s best players, many are Malibu residents.”
In selecting the music, he tried to keep the 90-minute program as Malibu-centric as possible. The concert featured two compositions by Maria Newman, as well as the “20th Century Fox Fanfare,” written by Maria’s father, Alfred Newman, winner of eight Oscars for his musical scores. A song by Sting, “Shape of My Heart,” by Sting was partly chosen because Sting owns a home in Malibu.
The entire “3:10 to Yuma” film score suite, which earned Malibu resident and composer Marco Beltrami an Academy Award nomination, was performed with orchestra strings, Marco on piano, Tristan Beltrami on electric and acoustic guitar, and nine other musicians and vocalists brought in to play nontraditional percussion and specialty instruments. The 2007 western film starred Russell Crowe.
“Overall, the music is homage to the great spaghetti westerns of the past, which inspired me to get into film scoring in the first place,” explained Marco, who has been nominated for two Oscars, and has 116 film and television productions to his credit.
Three numbers on the program featured performances by members of the New York City Ballet. Choreographed by Malibu resident Amanda Kofsky, one of the four ballet dancers was Kofsky’s daughter, Indiana Woodward, who became a member of the New York City Ballet in 2012.
Woodward, who attended Malibu High and Webster Elementary schools, explained in an email to The Malibu Times that “it was incredibly special to be performing” in her hometown, especially as “a professional dancer with the New York City Ballet.” She has already returned to New York to start working again.
The other dancers, invited by Kofsky, included Joaquin de Luz and Amar Ramasar — both principal dancers — and Emilie Gerrity of the Corps de Ballet. They only had about one week for choreography and rehearsal.
Kofsky’s brother, Trevor Rabin, composed one of the pieces being performed, a “duet for violin and piano.”
Other locals involved in the production included Tom Sorce, audio designer/production manager, Natalie Rubenstein, stage manager, and the City of Malibu’s Amy Crittenden, who served as an event producer. The other event producer was local Catherine Malcolm-Brickman, who is also a member of the Cultural Arts Commission.
“Concert on the Bluffs is the most ambitious public arts project ever undertaken by the City of Malibu,” an announcement of the event read. “The concert is possible thanks to a $45,000 grant from the city and generous involvement of local world class artists in all aspects of the production. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Arts in Education programs, including the Visiting Artists series, in Malibu public schools.”
