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Classics in Concert

2:48 pm

Fri September 21, 2012

LA Philharmonic Live: Dudamel Conducts 'The Rite Of Spring,' Sept. 30, 5 p.m. ET

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Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging / courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel leads his forces through a vibrant opening-weekend performance of Stravinsky, Stucky and Ravel on Sept. 30, 2012.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

LA Phil president and CEO Deborah Borda, along with composer Steven Stucky, join the KUSC crew backstage.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

Dudamel comes back onstage to receive the audience's cheers at the end of The Rite of Spring.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

In a recent interview with NPR's Robert Siegel, Dudamel called Rite "amazing...you discover new colors, you discover, 'Oh look, this is a very traditional harmony,' but then you see the details — and then every time it's different."

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky wrote his first, shimmering Symphony for a joint commission by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

2012-13 marks Dudamel's fourth season as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

Percussionist Joseph Pereira with his array of mallets for the Rite of Spring.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

The winds and brass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic play Stravinsky's strange and exciting colors.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR.

Composer Steven Stucky is warmly greeted by Dudamel after the performance of his newly written Symphony.

Credit Greg Grudt/Mathew Imaging for NPR

This was the opening program of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's ninth season at the spectacular Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry.

By editor

Originally published on Thu January 24, 2013 6:52 am

If there were a Guinness World Records entry for "Most Infamous Music Premiere," Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring would almost certainly take the prize. The year was 1913. The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris was packed to the rafters in anticipation of the next ballet from the team that had produced The Firebird and Petrushka.

Hardcover Nonfiction Bestsellers

2:47 pm

Fri September 21, 2012

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Nonfiction, Week Of Sept. 20, 2012

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By editor

Bob Woodward's The Price of Politics, about the battles between Obama and Congress, debuts at No. 1.

Around the Nation

2:31 pm

Fri September 21, 2012

One Afghan Girl's Healing Journey To The U.S.

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Credit Gloria Hillard for NPR

Arefa with her host family, sisters Jami Valentine (left) and Staci Freeman. Doctors in the U.S. have been treating Arefa's third-degree burns, and also performed skin-graft surgery for the top of her head. Each morning still requires a fresh dressing.

Credit Courtesy of Solace for the Children

Valentine and Freeman greet Arefa after she arrived at LAX in June.

By editor

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 9:09 pm

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There is limited medical infrastructure in war-torn Afghanistan, so severely wounded children are sometimes brought to the U.S. for medical care. Doctors in America say that for one little girl, her struggle to stay alive for three years until finding her way from central Afghanistan to a hospital in Los Angeles is nothing short of a miracle.

Monkey See

2:01 pm

Fri September 21, 2012

Dustin Hoffman Directs Maggie Smith, But How Is His Direction Like Dentistry?

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Director Dustin Hoffman and actress Maggie Smith arrive at the Quartet Premiere at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2012.

By Bob Mondello

[The films that Team NPR saw at the Toronto International Film Festival will be rolling out in theaters over the next several months, and we'll be reminding you about some of them along the way. One that Bob Mondello enjoyed was Dustin Hoffman's directing debut, Quartet. He attended the gala Toronto premiere and wrote this short postcard about the actors' responses and the audience's reaction to the film, which is currently scheduled to open just after Christmas, on January 4, 2013. — Linda Holmes]

Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers

1:43 pm

Fri September 21, 2012

NPR Bestsellers: Hardcover Fiction, Week Of September 20, 2012

By editor

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 2:44 pm

Junot Diaz tells a tale of infidelity in This Is How You Lose Her. It debuts at No. 3.

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