Alan Chapman [photo credit; Pasadena Senior Center]
Enter Alan Chapman — the man whose voice has narrated your weekdays, Saturday nights, and Sunday mornings on Classical California since 1992, back when your Discman still took double-A batteries.
The résumé does the heavy lifting here: a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale, an undergraduate degree from MIT, decades on the Occidental College faculty, and a current post at the Colburn Conservatory. He’s been unpacking the LA Phil’s programs for “Upbeat Live” audiences since 1984 and built the orchestra’s “Music 101” nights at Disney Hall from scratch.
But Chapman’s range doesn’t stop at the lecture podium. He’s also a composer-lyricist and pianist, with songs recognized by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets — the kind of credentials that don’t usually share a bio with a music theory doctorate. He and his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin, have taken that act to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Town Hall, which is a lot of marquee real estate for a guy who also spends his Tuesday afternoons in Pasadena.
This week he brings that same clarity to “Look to the North,” a lecture on northern musical traditions and the opener of his six-week “Alan Chapman LIVE” summer Masters Series at the Pasadena Senior Center — his forty-second summer with the program, which tells you something about the return customers.
The Masters Series itself is the Center’s flagship lifelong-learning offering, the kind of donor-supported program that keeps Pasadena’s older adults interested in art, science, and culture without a campus quad in sight. The spring 2026 term tackled the intersection of art and science; this summer, Chapman takes the reins solo for all six weeks, which means six Tuesdays of a Yale-trained ear making sense of things you didn’t know you wanted explained.
Full series tuition runs $90 for members, $108 for non-members — a bargain next to what a single Disney Hall ticket costs these days. Single lectures are $18 and $20 respectively, and while reservations are recommended, walk-ins are welcome, so there’s no excuse for skipping week one and slipping in for week three.
Bring your own AC. Chapman’s bringing the rest.
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St., Pasadena, CA 91103; Tues., July 7, 2 p.m.; full series $90 members / $108 non-members, single lecture $18 members / $20 non-members; reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome; registration: Annie Laskey, 626-685-6702; pasadenaseniorcenter.org
