When Walter Gibson wraps his fingers around his cream-colored recorder and looks at the gaggle of second- to sixth-graders trying to mimic his sound, it is not difficult to see himself in their faces.

The first notes erupted from the cello like a fanfare. Three of them, each longer and louder than the last, bounced off the ...

As a heavy-hitting orchestra rife with stars of the classical music world, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has an impressive ...