Colburn Gets NY Times Ink

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Downtown’s Colburn School gets a highly favorable write-up in tomorrow’s New York Times. The piece looks at how a school must go about attracting students in the highly competitive world of music performance (it’s the teachers) and the synergy that comes from being right next to Disney Hall.

Like school president Miguel Angel Corzo, the conservatory’s students — 96 at present — have their eyes on Disney Hall, literally and metaphorically. They are among the finest young musicians in the world, hailing not just from the United States but also from Asia, Europe and Australia. (Curiously, given the location, none yet come from Latin America.)

“We are a performance school,” said Robert Lipsett, who teaches violin and helped map the conservatory’s evolution. “If you want to be a musicologist, Colburn is not the place. It’s for musicians who are going to make their livelihood as performers, at one level or another.”

… Disney Hall’s arrival placed an architectural and acoustic gem in the heart of downtown, but it did nothing to foster street life or diversity on the hill. People drive in for cultural excursions and leave soon afterward. Colburn’s new brick complex looks unremarkable from the outside; it could easily be mistaken for an office building or low-income housing. But for an area awash in white-collar workers who desert at dusk, it promises a young resident population.

We took a peek inside the then-not-yet-opened extension back in August. For those who haven’t yet been over there, be sure to check out how the plaza space between old and new buildings connects to the garden behind MOCA. Also off that plaza is the Colburn Cafe, a real hidden gem for eating on Bunker Hill.