“In Amazon’s recently released pilot episode of ‘Mozart in the Jungle,’ a young, curly-haired Latin conductor named Rodrigo (Gael Garcia Bernal) is lauded as classical music’s next big thing,” writes David Ng in Monday’s (2/10) Los Angeles Times CultureMonster blog. “Sound like someone we know? ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at a fictional American orchestra.… The similarities between ‘Rodrigo’ and Gustavo [Dudamel] are rather brazen.… In the pilot episode, Rodrigo is introduced as the new music director of the fictional New York Symphony. The outgoing conductor (Malcolm McDowell) is bitter and resentful of his successor’s youth and talent. Their nasty rivalry is refereed by the orchestra’s urbane chairwoman (Bernadette Peters). Much of ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ focuses on a young oboist named Hailey (Lola Kirke) who is struggling to make ends meet.… ‘Mozart in the Jungle’ is inspired by the 2005 nonfiction book by Blair Tindall that provided an unflattering account of drugs and sexual debauchery in the classical-music profession…. L.A. classical-music fans should note that the oboe solos heard in the episode are performed by Lelie Resnick, who is the principal oboist for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and who has performed with the Pacific Symphony and Long Beach Symphony.”
Posted February 11, 2014
