Up close with KUSC's Brian Lauritzen

Lauritzen is portrayed as "a laid-back evangelist of the classical radio world" in a short Times feature by Scott Timberg. "He produces a Saturday-morning culture show, 'Arts Alive,' that looks at such diverse subjects as filmmaker Jonathan Demme on Neil Young or the mess at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and he hosts 'Baroque and Beyond' on Sunday mornings as well as numerous broadcasts for the Los Angeles Phil. (Next up, Saturday's Bernstein-Ravel-Gershwin program.) He's also recently taken over a weekday-afternoon hosting slot. But in other ways, he's recognizably the same kid who came to town in 2006. Despite his public role, he's reflective, even bashful in conversation; he still has something of the Southerner's slightly formal good manners."

Lauritzen's delivery is generally polished and persuasive National Public Radio standard: It often sounds as if it could have a harpsichord playing softly behind it. But his taste, and his way of getting his message out, is youthful and unorthodox. Get him talking about, say, Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique," and he gets going on the lurid elements behind the romantic war horse — its combination of unrequited love, opium trip and concluding beheading.

He's a witty and energetic tweeter, and his blog is smart and generally unpredictable as it ranges across music and visual art. He continues to play cello gigs at places such as Origami Vinyl and the Hotel Café.

KUSC photo of Lauritzen