Happy New Year, Essential Arts readers! 2025 is already shaping up to be a feast of a year in terms of arts and culture in Southern California, and we here at The Times are ready to eat up. Here are ...

Houston-born classical composer Kaylen Prince is breaking barriers and expanding representation in classical music while making it accessible to all.

But, counterintuitive though it might seem, I don’t think sound is always a helpful way to understand genre. I’m a composer and conductor in the field that’s broadly known as Western classical music, ...