{"id":931805,"date":"2026-07-13T10:58:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T10:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931805\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:58:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T10:58:44","slug":"yo-yo-ma-musical-performances-spotlight-l-a-river-revitalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/931805\/","title":{"rendered":"Yo-Yo Ma, musical performances spotlight L.A. River revitalization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yo-Yo Ma closed his eyes as he drew a bow slowly across his cello, playing the first notes of the Catalan lullaby \u201cThe Song of the Birds.\u201d But this venue wasn\u2019t like any vaulted concert hall he had toured globally.<\/p>\n

At Maywood\u2019s Riverfront Park, Ma was accompanied by the vroom of nearby traffic, cascade of a yucca rainstick and burbling hum of a water synth. An oblivious biker pushed past the world-renowned classical musician. The music flowed on.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019s pop-up show in Southeast Los Angeles was part of his ongoing efforts to highlight people\u2019s relationship to nature through music. He is among a new wave of artists who have been hosting shows along the L.A. River, a waterway with a complex history.<\/p>\n

\"Yo-Yo <\/p>\n

Yo-Yo Ma plays cello for a small group of artists and environmental advocates as part of the L.A. Phil Insight program, which aims to spark conversations around the arts.<\/p>\n

(Halline Overby for InsightLA)<\/p>\n

The river once terrorized Angelenos; its unconstrained flow was prone to flooding until most of its 51 miles were lined with concrete starting in the 1940s. While it\u2019s been neglected, trashed and often forgotten over time, myriad governmental and nonprofit groups have been working for years to restore habitat<\/a>, add park space<\/a> and establish recreational elements<\/a> (sometimes in conflict<\/a> over the vision). And recently, creatives and activists, who dream of transforming it into a hospitable greenway, have been hosting arts events.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwareness around the river itself is changing,\u201d said Maria Meija, executive director of L.A. River Arts<\/a>, one of the organizations bringing attention to its history and cultural significance through public programming. She sees the serpentine stretch of the river as a natural highway that connects Angelenos from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach. \u201cWe believe that if the river is properly activated as a green and cultural landscape, then Angelenos will fundamentally also get to experience Los Angeles in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

The River Solstice Festival was a family affair, with guests lounging on picnic blankets, watching puppet and opera performances and participating in birdwatching.<\/p>\n

(Ariana Drehsler \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Visions of those possibilities were realized on the summer solstice in mid-June at L.A. River Arts\u2019 inaugural River Solstice Festival at an Elysian Valley park abutting a soft-bottomed area of the river known as the Glendale Narrows.<\/p>\n

Children and parents applauded the performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and opera singer San Cha at Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park in what\u2019s otherwise known as Frogtown. Attendees also gathered for guided bird-watching along the bike path by the water. Four-year-old Juni Wahab was entranced by the sight of the swallows and cormorants swooping low overhead and the rushing twists of water.<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Three <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

4 <\/p>\n

\"Skateboarders <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Bob Baker Marionette Theater performs at the River Solstice Festival, clockwise from top left. Meanwhile, attendees enjoy the park and river as skateboarders roll down the bike path. (Ariana Drehsler \/ For The Times) <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going so fast,\u201d Wahab said, wiggling and pointing as her aunt held on tightly for safety. \u201cThere are so many waves.\u201d<\/p>\n

A quick stroll upstream, a group of DJs unaffiliated with the family-friendly festival hosted a day party aimed at Gen Z and millennial attendees, perched on one of the channel\u2019s outcrops. Roughly a dozen people at the if-you-know-you-know event grooved and shuffled to EDM music while kayak enthusiasts<\/a> paddled by and locals fished for carp.<\/p>\n

Dominic Tsoi drove from Orange County to spin at the open decks hosted by the DJ collective Helipad Society<\/a>. \u201cThis event really resonated with me, because it mixes two things that I really love, music and being a part of nature,\u201d said Tsoi, adding the commute was worth it. An indoors club setting can feel stifling, but outdoors is where Tsoi feels free.<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

DJs have been putting on pop-up events like this one at the L.A. River and sharing videos of their sets on TikTok.<\/p>\n

(Ariana Drehsler \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Just up the sloped bank, Antonio Solano and Erick Torres were sweeping outside their tent, where they live under the Glendale Freeway. Torres started noticing events at the river increase over the last three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets people together,\u201d said Torres, who\u2019s been living above the river for over a decade. The music is a source of pleasure even as Torres and Solano stay vigilant to avoid city encampment sweeps. \u201cIt\u2019s good, we enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media has driven interest in these DIY events as artists playing ambient music against a backdrop of verdant green have gone viral on TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attention has expanded to people who otherwise wouldn\u2019t have given the L.A. River a second thought,\u201d said Noah Klein, a lifelong Angeleno who has hosted popular river jams over the last two years through his Living Earth<\/a> public art series.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Erika Apelgren wears a flower crown that she made at the River Solstice Festival.<\/p>\n

(Ariana Drehsler\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t need approval to host these impromptu gatherings, said Dash Stolarz, director of public affairs at the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. The park agency oversees commercial use of the L.A. River recreation zones in Elysian Valley and the Sepulveda Basin, another section of soft-bottomed riverbed.<\/p>\n

In her 25 years on the job, this was the first time Stolarz had heard of people using the riverfront for mini concerts. She was excited by the ingenuity of artists; as long as people aren\u2019t charging for events, they don\u2019t need permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exactly how we envisioned people enjoying the river,\u201d Stolarz said. \u201cWe want people to use the river like a park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though unlike a regular park, the L.A. River is primarily treated as a flood control channel, so park rangers carefully monitor for rain when the recreation zones open for leisure, like kayaking, during the summer.<\/p>\n

While appreciating the L.A. River can be a good thing, social media algorithms can flatten the context around the waterway, particularly when it comes to demographic changes in nearby neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City of L.A.\u2019s greatest skill is the erasure of its own history, and the L.A. River kind of feels like the perfect encapsulation of this,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

Once home to mostly working-class Latino families, neighborhoods along the river in northeast L.A. have seen home prices surge for years<\/a>. To preserve the history of these neighborhoods, Clockshop, an arts organization, has been collecting interviews with locals as part of a multimedia oral history project<\/a> since 2023. The project includes everything from videos of an Indigenous musician performing a song about water in the Tongva language to brothers worrying about the future of their family\u2019s 60-year-old pickle business in the face of gentrification.<\/p>\n

Jon Christensen, director of the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies at UCLA<\/a>, said river revitalization can be part of a \u201cgreen gentrification cycle\u201d as new development pushes out old communities. Like the chicken-and-egg paradox, it\u2019s hard to tell which comes first: the amenities surrounding the L.A. River or the more affluent people seeking them.<\/p>\n

\"Yo-Yo <\/p>\n

Yo-Yo Ma, who hosts a podcast called \u201cOur Common Nature,\u201d chats with attendees at his intimate river concert. Human connection to the natural world is among his passions.<\/p>\n

(Halline Overby for InsightLA)<\/p>\n

Christensen hopes artists engaging with the river spurs conversation for more equitable green investments that benefit communities and the environment. \u201cWhen people are more connected to nature, they want to support nature more,\u201d Christensen said of his studies on how people connect to the outdoors. \u201cIt\u2019s really kind of a virtuous cycle there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cindy Donis, a water organizer with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice<\/a>, said artwork can also raise awareness around inequities. While there are aspirations to turn the river into a greenbelt, nightmarish pollution incidents have still haunted Southeast L.A. communities.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019s performance was nearly canceled in May due to 25,000 gallons of crude oil<\/a> that spilled into the L.A. River after a pipeline rupture in Boyle Heights. Weeks later, the Lineage warehouse fire sent even more debris and pollution downstream<\/a>. Donis said multiple people reached out with complaints of a foul smell emanating from the river. Miles away, some at the River Solstice Festival wore masks due to poor air quality caused by the fire.<\/p>\n

\"Charles <\/p>\n

Charles Kelley with his daughter Zirah Kelley pose along the L.A. River bike path near the River Solstice Festival.<\/p>\n

(Ariana Drehsler\/For The Times)<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice held an exhibition at Art Space Huntington Park called \u201cWe Are Water\u201d to uplift local Indigenous artists. \u201cArt really allows and embraces healing,\u201d Donis said. \u201cIt\u2019s another tool that allows us to process these feelings and get closer to the solutions as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The L.A. River inspired Arturo Gonzalez to found his arts education nonprofit that focuses on gang intervention among young people in East L.A. As Ma performed in the park, Gonzalez stood in the river basin, spray-painting in neon-pink blockbuster letters the name of his organization<\/a>, East Side of the River, onto pillars under Slauson Avenue.<\/p>\n

As a teenager in the early 2000s, Gonzalez was involved in gangs that would tag the gray walls of the L.A. River, but his passion for graffiti and Chicano art eventually led him out of those circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe river was a safe place to paint, where you could sit and spend the day learning colors, composition,\u201d he said of illicit tagging as a teenager, which eventually led to his public art work. \u201cThere\u2019s a thin line between vandalism and art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Arturo Gonzalez spray-paints the name of his organization, East Side of the River, which focuses on gang intervention.<\/p>\n

(Halline Overby for InsightLA)<\/p>\n

This time, Gonzalez arrived with permission from the county and painted on a detachable fabric in case the mural needs to be removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to get into the river and paint again was like a dream,\u201d he said. He seeks the input of local residents in his planned projects so they can participate in beautifying their neighborhoods. \u201cWe call it wall medicine for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n