![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_3826-2-676x1200.jpg\")
Credit: Yeva Ohanjanyan<\/p>\nInside the Aug. 1 live orchestra performance at the Greek Theatre.<\/p>\n
The applause at the Greek Theatre Saturday night wasn\u2019t just for La La Land \u2014 but for a pianist the audience didn\u2019t know they had come to hear.<\/p>\n
Ten years after Damien Chazelle\u2019s Oscar-winning musical premiered, audiences gathered beneath the stars to celebrate the film with La La Land in Concert, featuring Academy Award-winning composer Justin Hurwitz conducting a live orchestra and jazz ensemble performing the beloved score in sync with the film.<\/p>\n
But before the music began, Hurwitz shared with the audience that one of the things he loves most about the concert is its unpredictability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show is never the same twice. It\u2019s one of the things I love about the show,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
What followed proved exactly that.<\/p>\n
Hurwitz introduced 21-year-old Sterling Nasa, an Australian university student whose remarkable journey from audience member to concert pianist felt almost too fitting for a film built around chasing impossible dreams.<\/p>\n
Just months earlier, Nasa attended La La Land in Concert in Sydney as a fan. During intermission, the production\u2019s keyboardist had to leave, forcing Hurwitz to ask the audience an unlikely question: Could anyone sight-read the score?<\/p>\n
Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n
Nasa volunteered.<\/p>\n
Despite never having performed the music before, he stepped onto the stage and finished the concert alongside the orchestra.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving never played that music before, he blew everybody away,\u201d Hurwitz recalled.<\/p>\n
The experience left a lasting impression on the composer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got to thinking about it, and I found I was very moved by what had happened,\u201d Hurwitz said. \u201cIn a lot of ways, it was like the story of La La Land. You have this kid who is in school studying something that is not music. He\u2019s not studying music because he doesn\u2019t know he has what it takes to do it. Then there\u2019s this opportunity, and he takes it, and he shows everybody \u2014 and himself \u2014 that he can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Credit: Yeva Ohanjanyan<\/p>\n
Rather than letting that extraordinary moment end in Sydney, Hurwitz decided to give Nasa an even bigger stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I kept wanting to encourage Sterling by giving him a bigger stage,\u201d Hurwitz explained. \u201cSo I invited him here tonight, where he is playing his first-ever full \u2014 not half \u2014 concert. Sterling Nasa.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the audience erupted in applause, Nasa took his place behind the keyboard \u2014 not as the emergency substitute who unexpectedly saved a concert months ago, but as a featured member of the production for one of the film\u2019s biggest anniversary celebrations.<\/p>\n
For a movie that has always championed ambition, perseverance and saying \u201cyes\u201d before knowing exactly where the opportunity will lead, Nasa\u2019s story became something more than an introduction.<\/p>\n
It became a real-life continuation of La La Land itself.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_3825-2-1200x991.jpg\")
Credit: Yeva Ohanjanyan<\/p>\n
While audiences watched Sebastian chase his dream on the screen overhead, another young pianist was quietly living out his own just below it.<\/p>\n
Ten years after La La Land reminded audiences that extraordinary opportunities often arrive without warning, the Greek Theatre offered proof that its message still resonates \u2014 not just in the music, but in the lives it continues to inspire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the Aug. 1 live orchestra performance at the Greek Theatre. The applause at the Greek Theatre Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26284,48,52,72416,51,47,50,49,34604],"class_list":["post-423947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-greek-theatre","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-la-land","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-piano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}