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Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Announces 2008-09 40th Anniversary Season

March 28, 2008

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2008-09 40th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:

  • LACO Announces the Extension of Jeffrey Kahane’s Tenure as Music Director through the 2011-12 Season
  • 40th Anniversary Season Opening Gala Featuring LACO’s First Music Director Sir Neville Marriner
  • Three World Premieres and Two US Premieres Including, Sound Investment Commission from Christopher Theofanidis, Pierre Jalbert’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra, and Lalo Schifrin’s Tangos Concertantes
  • West Coast Premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul Performed by Cellist Yo-Yo Ma
  • Special Guest Performances by Makoto Nakura, Ingrid Fliter, Cho-Liang Lin, Joana Carneiro, David Fung and Jonathan Biss
  • A Celebration of LACO Musicians Including New Works and Solo Performances by Richard Todd, Damian Montano and David Shostac
  • The Return of the Complete Brandenburg Concertos with LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer
  • A New Chamber Music Series in Santa Monica
  • The 40 for 40 Program: LACO Gives Back

LOS ANGELES (March 28, 2008) — The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) has announced programming for the 2008-09 season, the Orchestra’s 40th subscription year, and its 12th under music director Jeffrey Kahane. Running September 27, 2008 through May 30, 2009, this 40th anniversary season celebrates the Orchestra’s past, present and future. This special season presents the opportunity to honor LACO’s roots and recognize an incredible 40-year journey for this renowned performing arts institution, witnessed through the music and artists of today and tomorrow that have defined the organization.

The season commences with the news that Jeffrey Kahane will continue to oversee the Orchestra through the 2011-12 season and begins its look back when LACO welcomes the Orchestra’s first music director, Sir Neville Marriner, as the special guest conductor for the Season Opening Gala. Throughout the 40th season, the organization continues to recognize milestones in its history, important “friends of LACO” and the Orchestra’s musicians. Highlights include performances of the complete Brandenburg Concertos performed by LACO soloists, a long-time tradition for the Orchestra, and guest performances by Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin and Makoto Nakura, among others.

“In planning our 40th anniversary season, we wanted to pay tribute to LACO’s historical role in helping shape the musical life of Los Angeles over the last several decades, and also to recognize the importance of looking forward to the Orchestra’s future. Our 40th season celebrates the depth and breadth of talent in this exceptional orchestra and shines a light on many of the musicians who have helped to make the Orchestra the remarkable ensemble that it is today. We look ahead to the next 40 years through a series of widely different commissions and the engagement of a broad range of guest artists, including several young musicians of extraordinary promise,” says Kahane.

Known for championing new music and young artists at the brink of major careers, a number of works and musicians make their debut in the 40th season. LACO presents three world premieres, two United States premieres and the west coast premiere of Golijov’s Azul with legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The Orchestra also welcomes new artists including pianists who have not played with LACO before, Ingrid Fliter, David Fung and Jonathan Biss, among others.

LACO commemorates this milestone season by introducing new programming and community initiatives. Highlights include a new chamber music series in Santa Monica and an exciting marketing initiative thematically tied to this important season, allowing the Orchestra the opportunity to partner with other Los Angeles-based non-profit organizations.

JEFFREY KAHANE CONTRACT EXTENSION
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Kahane will continue on as music director with LACO through the 2011-12 season. Having overseen the Orchestra since the 1997-98 season, Kahane’s tenure has been marked by incredible highlights that include a successful five-country, two-week European tour in spring 2008; an equally successful tour to the East Coast culminating with performances at Carnegie Hall in 2002; the performance of all 23 of Mozart’s piano concertos with Kahane conducting from the piano in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth; the founding of LACO’s Family Concert Series and the expansion of LACO’s Meet the Music program. Kahane also introduced LACO’s Sound Investment program which invites individuals to pool their resources to commission a new work each year. To conclude the 2007-08 season, he leads the Orchestra in the world premiere of the seventh Sound Investment commission, a piano concerto by the American composer Kevin Puts written specifically for Kahane to conduct from the piano. Under his leadership, the Orchestra received the prestigious First Place Award for Adventurous Programming, bestowed by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the League of American Orchestras (LAO) in 2005 and 2007.

“We are thrilled and honored Jeffrey Kahane will continue this exciting journey with the Orchestra though 2012. As the recent glorious European tour has shown, our Orchestra under Jeffrey’s artistic leadership is on a successful trajectory, which will no doubt soar even higher in the upcoming seasons,” comments LACO executive director Andrea Laguni.

40th ANNIVERSARY SEASON OPENING GALA
Jeffrey Kahane and LACO are proud to have Sir Neville Marriner, LACO’s first music director, as a guest conductor for their 40th Anniversary Season Opening Gala on September 27, 2008 at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, where the Orchestra performed for many years. Sir Neville began his tenure at LACO in 1969 as the Orchestra’s first music director, and he served in the position for nine years. He began the exploration of the wide range of music written for chamber orchestra, from Baroque to newly commissioned works, which LACO has continued to this day. The Orchestra’s inaugural season featured repertoire ranging from Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart to Stravinsky, Walton and Tippett. During Marriner’s tenure, the Orchestra commissioned ten new works by composers Grant Beglarian, Paul Chihara, Frank Campo, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, Gerhard Samuel, Leonard Rosenman and Henri Lazarof; and performed world premieres by Ramiro Cortés, Thea Musgrave and Robert Linn; US premieres by Henri Lazarof, Frank Martin, William Walton, Kazimierz Serocki and Benjamin Britten; the West Coast premiere of Tommaso Giordani’s Keyboard Concerto in C major; and Los Angeles premieres by Hans Werner Henze, Wallingford Riegger, Bohuslav Martinú, Ernst Toch, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Dimitri Shostakovich.

The 40th Anniversary Season Gala features a program that is reflective of the Orchestra’s rich history and incredible talent. The evening’s repertoire opens with Schumann’s rarely performed Overture, Scherzo and Finale—the piece with which Jeffrey Kahane closed his first season—and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, a signature work of the Orchestra. Appropriately symbolizing this evening’s connection between the present and the past, Jeffrey Kahane joins Sir Neville and the Orchestra on stage as the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major. This is the first occasion on which Kahane, an LA native who attended LACO concerts conducted by Sir Neville in his youth, has had the opportunity to work with the legend. In keeping with the celebratory atmosphere of this monumental occasion, the evening concludes with Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, a perfect foil for the virtuosic and joyful music-making that is LACO’s trademark.

40th Anniversary Season Gala — September 27, 2008

Program:
Sir Neville Marriner, conductor
Jeffrey Kahane, piano

Schumann Overture, Scherzo and Finale
Beethoven Piano Concerto No 1 in C major
Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite
Kodály Dances of Galánta

PREMIERES
LACO’s 2008-09 season is highlighted by performances of new works, as well as some highly anticipated west coast, US and world premieres. “Enabling the creation and first performances of new works is a core element of our mission, and our commissions and performances of new music continue to surprise and delight our audiences year after year. Enlarging and enriching the repertoire for chamber orchestra is, and always has been, a central aspect of our work. This has broadened the horizons of musicians and music-lovers not only in Los Angeles and Southern California, but around the country and the world,” remarks Kahane.

WORLD PREMIERES: The Orchestra premieres works by two of its current members – Richard Todd and Damian Montano. Principal French horn Richard Todd has been with LACO since 1980. An orchestra and recording industry star with an impressive reputation in both the classical and jazz worlds, Richard Todd premieres his new work in the season opening concerts of LACO’s Orchestral Series on October 4 and 5, 2008. Bassoonist and composer Damian Montano premieres his Overture on the Orchestra’s January 24 and 25, 2009 concert set.

The third world premiere is a commission from Christopher Theofanidis and is part of LACO’s Sound Investment program, an initiative that allows patrons to take an active role in commissioning a new work. A highly acclaimed composer, Theofanidis has won numerous prestigious awards, including the 2004 BBC Masterprize. He has been a recipient of the Rome Prize; a Guggenheim Fellowship; the Barlow Prize; six ASCAP Morton Gould Prizes and Fulbright, Tanglewood and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives fellowships. His works have been performed internationally by the London Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Moscow Soloists, the Atlanta and Houston symphonies and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, among others. Kahane describes Theofanidis’ compositions as “very colorful and lyrical.” Currently on faculty at Peabody Conservatory of Music, Theofanidis will be in Los Angeles when his work premieres May 16 and 17, 2009.

UNITED STATES PREMIERES: LACO’s December 13 and 14, 2008 concerts focus on winds, brass and percussion and feature acclaimed marimbist Makoto Nakura performing Pierre Jalbert’s Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. One of the greatest masters of the marimba, Nakura is known for his unique and expressive performances, which showcase his incredible range. The piece was commissioned by the ISGM New Music Commissioning Fund for him, and Makoto Nakura and Ensemble Kobe first played it on March 19, 2005 at Matsukata Hall in Japan. This performance also celebrates Pierre Jalbert, who served as LACO’s composer-in-residence from 2002-03 to 2004-05.

On February 21 and 22, 2009, special guest Cho-Liang Lin performs Lalo Schifrin’s Tangos Concertantes. Named as Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year” in 2000 and founder of the Taipei International Music Festival, Lin performs this Argentine-influenced piece based on the tango of Schifrin’s homeland. The concerto is a co-commission of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Norway’s Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aspen Music Festival and School and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Schifrin, whose career spans the concert hall, film and television, received a Grammy for his score for the Mission: Impossible TV series and was nominated for Academy Awards® for Cool Hand Luke and The Competition, among others. The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra first performed a Schifrin work in 1981 when it presented the US premiere of his Capriccio for Clarinet and Strings under the baton of then music director Gerard Schwarz.

WEST COAST PREMIERE: The Orchestra welcomes renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma as the guest artist for a special one-night-only performance on January 11, 2009 of the west coast premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul. Golijov’s goal when composing this piece was to establish an environment conducive to communal silence, where the music on stage ebbs and flows through “emergences and submersions” and suggests different levels of focus on the part of the listener. Commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Azul received its world premiere with Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood in August 2006; Golijov subsequently reworked the piece, which premiered at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival in August 2007 with cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Kahane notes that performing the work calls for “super-human virtuosity.” The work also features percussionist Jamey Haddad and hyper-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman.

World Premiere Dates:

  • October 4 and 5, 2008 – Richard Todd, ceLebrACiOn
  • January 24 and 25, 2009 – Damian Montano, Overture
  • May 16 and 17, 2009 – Christopher Theofanidis, World Premiere of Sound Investment commission

US Premiere Dates:

  • December 13 and 14, 2008 – Pierre Jalbert, Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra (special guest: Makoto Nakura)
  • February 21 and 22, 2009 – Lalo Schifrin, Tangos Concertantes (special guest: Cho-Liang Lin)

West Coast Premiere Date:

  • January 11, 2009 – Osvaldo Golijov, Azul (special guest: Yo-Yo Ma)

GUEST ARTISTS
Continuing to bring the best of today and the brightest of tomorrow, LACO’s season is marked with highly anticipated guest soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Makoto Nakura and Cho-Liang Lin, as well as some of today’s most brilliant emerging performers from the classical music world.

Credited by Kahane as being “as great a pianist as is out there,” Ingrid Fliter performs with the Orchestra on January 24 and 25, 2009. Winner of the 2006 Gilmore Artist Award, the Argentine pianist has performed with some of the most internationally respected orchestras such as the Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis and National symphonies; the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Los Angeles and Royal Liverpool philharmonics. Illustrating her status as the next superstar pianist, Fliter participated in several of “The World Pianist Series” in Tokyo with renowned contemporaries Alfred Brendel, Maurizio Pollini and Martha Argerich and in March 2006 substituted for Argerich for concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Fliter performs Chopin’s beautifully melodic Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, and as Kahane notes, “Chopin is such a special language…very few pianists have as innate a sense of the composer as Ingrid does.”

LACO’s April 18 and 19, 2009 concerts also present two rising young talents, with Joana Carneiro as the evening’s guest conductor and pianist David Fung. Considered one of today’s most outstanding young conductors, Carneiro previously served as assistant conductor for LACO and currently serves as assistant conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2005-06, Carneiro took up a position as principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon, and in 2006-07, she was named official guest conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra. As a finalist in the prestigious 2002 Maazel-Vilar Conductor’s Competition at Carnegie Hall, Carneiro was recognized by the jury for demonstrating a level of potential that holds great promise for her future career. Since then, her profile has grown quickly both in the United States and in Europe, and recent engagements include performances with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Algarve Symphony, the Mancini Institute Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

David Fung was on his way to becoming a medical doctor at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, when he recommenced his piano studies following a considerable hiatus. Having rediscovered his love of piano, he went on to pursue his musical career full-time. Fung was the recipient of the prestigious Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year Award, and in 2007, he was part of the first graduating class of the prestigious Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles. As part of his flourishing career, Fung has performed with the Colburn Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa of Japan, the Queensland Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Kahane believes he is the perfect choice to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. “Specifically written for a chamber orchestra, this piece is a fusion of the spirit of Mozart and early jazz, which showcases the virtuosity of our Orchestra as well as the brilliance of David.”

LACO also welcomes the outstanding young pianist, Jonathan Biss, for the May 16 and 17, 2009 performances. “Jonathan is one of my favorite young pianists. His performances are thoughtful and expressive, and he truly has tremendous talent,” says Kahane. In addition to performing with renowned international orchestras and participating in prestigious festivals around the world, Biss has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award and the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust. He was the first and only American chosen to participate in the BBC’s New Generation Artist programme, and in 2005, he received the Leonard Bernstein Award presented to him at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Most recently, Biss’s recording of Schumann sonatas was awarded the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, in the “Jeune Talent” category. He is performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with LACO.

Performances:

  • December 13 and 14, 2008 – Jalbert, Marimba Concerto (special guest: Makoto Nakura)
  • January 24 and 25, 2009 – Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (special guest: Ingrid Fliter)
  • February 21 and 22, 2009 – Schifrin, Tangos Concertantes (special guest: Cho-Liang Lin)
  • January 11, 2009 – Golijov, Azul (special guest: Yo-Yo Ma)
  • April 18 and 19, 2009 – Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major (special guests: conductor Joana Carneiro and pianist David Fung)
  • May 16 and 17, 2009 – Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor (special guest: Jonathan Biss)

FOCUS ON LACO MUSICIANS
Reflecting what makes LACO a unique organization, the 40th Anniversary Season showcases the depth of talent of its own Orchestra members through the new works of Todd and Montano, noted earlier, as well as solo performances by other members of the Orchestra.

The November 1 and 2, 2008 concerts feature the Orchestra’s virtuosic players performing all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. These particular concerts are also a celebration of an early LACO tradition as the complete Brandenburg Concertos were performed regularly in the 1980s and early 90s.

LACO’s concertmaster Margaret Batjer serves as the evening’s special guest conductor. Equally respected as a soloist and chamber musician, Batjer has performed with the Philadelphia and New York String orchestras and the St. Louis, Seattle, San Jose and Dallas symphonies and has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout her career, including the G.B. Dealey Award in Dallas. “Margaret is the glue that holds the Orchestra together,” remarks Kahane. “This evening spotlights her personal musicianship and rapport with her colleagues and also shows the virtuosity and finesse of all of our Orchestra members.”

LACO’s principal flute David Shostac takes center stage on February 21 and 22, 2009, when he performs his Carmen Fantasy. Composed and arranged by Shostac, the piece emphasizes the Gypsy-Flamenco style typical of southern Spain and features new virtuoso variations for the flute on several well-known themes from Bizet’s beloved opera which do not appear in other “Carmen” fantasies. An alumnus of the Juilliard School and Tanglewood program and recipient of two Rockefeller performance grants, Shostac has served as principal flute of the St. Louis, Milwaukee and New Orleans symphony orchestras, in addition to his long tenure with LACO.

Concerts:

  • November 1 and 2, 2008 – Margaret Batjer, LACO soloists, Brandenburg Concertos
  • February 21 and 22, 2009 – David Shostac, Carmen Fantasy

40th ANNIVERSARY COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
LACO also celebrates its 40th anniversary by giving back to the community through 40 for 40. LACO is partnering with other not-for-profit organizations in the greater Los Angeles area to give the gift of music to Angelenos who rarely get the opportunity to experience live orchestral music. Through 40 for 40, the Orchestra makes transportation and 40 complimentary tickets per concert available to each of the 14 concerts on its Orchestral Series and the season opening gala with Sir Neville, as well as to its three Family Concerts. LACO patrons will be asked to nominate not-for-profit organizations to be considered. The program expresses LACO’s gratitude for the support it has enjoyed from Los Angeles over the past 40 years and illustrates the Orchestra’s commitment to sharing its talent with all members of the community.

OTHER SERIES

New! Chamber Music Series in Santa Monica: This season, LACO announces the launch a new chamber music series in Santa Monica. Consisting of three chamber music concerts at the Broad Stage, the series is curated by concertmaster Margaret Batjer and explores the connections between music and other artistic expressions. In this inaugural season, the series explores the connection between music and poetry with poet Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, serving as literary adviser.

“Our hugely successful downtown chamber music series has made it clear to us that our Westside friends deserve an equally rich opportunity to explore with us the glorious repertoire of chamber music. The state-of-the-art Broad Stage at the new Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center gives us the perfect Westside venue to showcase the talents of our superb musicians in a very intimate setting. Following the intimate and interactive “conversations” format of our popular Baroque series at the Colburn School, this new series will give us an opportunity not only to explore the entire range of chamber music repertoire, but to expand the “conversations” to include distinguished guests from other artistic disciplines who will bring poetry, visual art, dance, and other art forms into the alchemical mix. It is an enormous honor and a great joy to welcome the distinguished American poet, and Chairman of the NEA, Los Angeles-born Dana Gioia, to help us launch this exciting new series as he shares with all of us his magisterial gifts as poet, reader and lecturer on poetry and the arts,” remarks Jeffrey Kahane.

Connections series performance dates:

  • Thursday, February, 12, 2009
  • Thursday, March 5, 2009
  • Thursday, April 23, 2009

BAROQUE CONVERSATIONS SERIES: In its third season, LACO’s Baroque Conversations series returns and, due to its popularity, expands to four concerts in the 2008-09 season. The series focuses on the genesis of orchestral repertoire from the Italian, French and German Baroque schools through the pre-classical period and includes repertoire by composers from Corelli, Handel and Bach to CPE Bach and early Haydn. Each concert is hosted by the conductor or a member of the Orchestra and highlights the players performing in the intimate and superior acoustical setting of Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. Following each performance, the division between performers and audience members is erased as the musicians serve as both hosts and panel members for a discussion with the audience. Warner and Carol Henry continue to sponsor Baroque Conversations for its third year.

Baroque Conversations series dates:

  • Thursday, January 22, 2009
  • Thursday, February 26, 2009
  • Thursday, March 19, 2009
  • Thursday, April 30, 2009

FAMILY SERIES: In its 11th season, LACO’s Family Series features short music programs designed to capture the imagination, and which include an opportunity for young ones to ask questions. The concerts are preceded by creative activities that amuse, enrich and involve young patrons. Children are given the opportunity to try out real instruments at the “instrument petting zoo” and enjoy crafts and interactive workshops geared toward learning and fun with a variety of partner organizations. The series is suggested for children age five and up and takes place at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. More details about concert partnerships and themes to be announced at a later date.

Family Series dates:

  • Sunday, February 8, 2009
  • Sunday, March 22, 2009
  • Sunday, May 3, 2009

MEET THE MUSIC
The Orchestra continues its highly successful Meet the Music program during the 2008-09 season with Uri Caine as composer-in-residence. Offered in cooperation with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Meet the Music fosters listening skills, encourages individual and group involvement in music-making and provides personal contact with musicians and composers. Through these interactive experiences, the Orchestra demonstrates to young audiences that classical music can be fun, interesting and rewarding—not intimidating or boring.
Reaching approximately 2,500 fourth – sixth graders from across the LAUSD annually, Meet the Music offers six performances at Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. Participating schools receive written curricula, CD samplers, and classroom visits from docents in advance of each concert.
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, in partnership with community organizations, also continues its Neighborhood Concerts program, which provides opportunities for audiences in areas of Los Angeles where live concert experiences are a rarity, to develop a love for orchestral music and performance.

Meet the Music dates:

  • Friday, December 12, 2008
  • Friday, February 20, 2009
  • Friday, April 17, 2009

Neighborhood Concerts dates:

  • Specific concerts dates to be released soon

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra recognizes Guggenheim Partners and Lufthansa German Airlines as official sponsors, and Pierre’s Fine Pianos and Fazioli as the organization’s official piano supplier and piano.

Press Contact: Misty Espinoza, Rogers & Cowan
310 854 8145
mespinoza@rogersandcowan.com