Conductor Reinbert De Leeuw Leads the La Phil New Music Group in a Louis Andriessen-Focused Green Umbrella Series Concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Concert Features Violinist Monica Germino and Soprano Cristina Zavalloni and Marks the First Public Access to “Betty Freeman MUSIC PEOPLE,” An Exhibit of the Philanthropist’s Photography

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2012, AT 8 PM

Media Sponsor: Los Angeles Times

WHAT:

Conductor Reinbert de Leeuw returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the LA Phil New Music Group in a concert focused on music by leading European minimalist, Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, Tuesday, February 28, at 8 pm. The concert is the third event in the LA Phil’s 2011/12 Green Umbrella series.

The concert opens with the 2009 work Life with film by Marijke van Warmerdam. The program continues with La Girò for violin and ensemble, featuring violinist Monica Germino, and closes with the 2010 work Anaïs Nin, the music theater piece written for and performed by soprano Cristina Zavalloni.

One hour prior to the concert and 45 minutes following the concert, the public is invited to tour Betty Freeman MUSIC PEOPLE, an exhibit of the photography of Betty Freeman, located in the Ernest Fleischmann Gallery, adjacent to Walt Disney Concert Hall. Betty Freeman (1921 –2009) was an American photographer and philanthropist. As an individual patron of contemporary composers she was perhaps the most generous and influential force during the second half of the 20th century. This exhibit focuses on her images of musicians who were part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic family. The exhibit is open to the public before and after most Philharmonic concerts from February 28 through March 18. Access to the Fleischmann Gallery is from the Artists’ Entrance at the corner of 2nd Street & Grand Avenue. Ushers will be on hand to direct patrons.

Remaining concerts for the 2011/12 Green Umbrella series are: LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams leading the New Music Group in a program featuring the world premiere of the LA Phil-commissioned Livre des Sauvages for percussion and ensemble by Oscar Bettison (April 10, 2012); and LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel leading the New Music Group and the Foundry Steel Pan Ensemble in a program featuring the world premiere of LA Phil Principal Timpanist Joseph Pereira’s LA Phil-commissioned Percussion Concerto with soloist Colin Currie (May 8, 2012).

Reinbert de Leeuw regularly conducts Holland's foremost orchestras and ensembles, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Residentie Orchestra The Hague and ensembles such as the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the ASKO and the Netherlands Wind ensembles and the orchestras of the Dutch Radio. He has toured and performed in festivals throughout the world. De Leeuw is a regular guest with most of the major orchestras in Europe and the United States and served as artistic advisor for the contemporary music series of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2004. He was also been involved in various opera productions at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam. His recent productions were Stravinsky (a.o. The Rake’s progress), Andriessen (Rosa, a Horse drama) Ligeti (Le Grand Macabre), Vivier (Rêves d’un Marco Polo) and Rob Zuiddam’s opera Rage d‘Amours.

Violinist Monica Germino (USA/NL) is on the cutting edge of new music. Hailed by The Sunday Times (UK) as a ‘striking presence’ whose ‘virtuosity was exhilarating’, she has collaborated with such composers as Louis Andriessen, John Cage, Heiner Goebbels, Michael Gordon, György Ligeti and Julia Wolfe. Together with sound engineer Frank van der Weij, she presents revolutionary recitals. Her performances often feature singing and playing, a skill she developed in recent years. Monica plays a Joannes Baptista Ceruti violin, on permanent loan from the Elise Mathilde Foundation, and a custom-made 'Violectra’. She is co-founder of the international four-member ensemble ELECTRA.

Cristina Zavalloni, who has a strong background in jazz and classical music, has sung under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, Stefan Asbury, Reinbert de Leeuw, Oliver Knussen, David Robertson, Jurjen Hempel and Georges-Elie Octor among others. She has also soloed with ensemble such as London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Rai (Torino), Schoenberg Ensemble and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1993, Zavalloni began a collaboration with Louis Andriessen, who wrote several works for her: Passeggiata in tram per l’America e ritorno, La Passione, Inanna, Letter from Cathy, Racconto dall’Inferno (the recording of which awarded her a Diapason d’or in 2008) the leading role (Dante) in La Commedia (Amsterdam 2008) and the role of Anais Nin in his new opera, Anais, premiered in July 2010. She has also collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Cornelis De Bondt, Paolo Castaldi, Gavin Bryars, Carlo Boccadoro, Fabrizio Cassol, Luca Mosca, Emanuele Casale. Her repertoire includes 20th century chamber music (Cage, Berio, Ravel, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Satie, De Falla, Montsalvatge), Mozart (Idamante) and baroque music (Drusilla in Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea and Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda). She has recently premiered Francis Poulenc La Voix Humaine at Teatro Comunale di Bolzano.

Complete Program:

ANDRIESSEN Life (with film by Marijke van Warmerdam)

ANDRIESSEN La Girò for violin and ensemble (U.S. premiere)

ANDRIESSEN Anaïs Nin for singer, ensemble, and film (U.S. premiere)

An Upbeat Live pre-concert event takes place in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s BP Hall one hour prior to the concert, and is free to all ticket holders. Los Angeles Philharmonic VP of Artistic Planning Chad Smith hosts.

WHO:

LA PHIL NEW MUSIC GROUP

REINBERT DE LEEUW, conductor

MONICA GERMINO, violin

CRISTINA ZAVALLONI, soprano

WHEN:

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at 8 PM

Betty Freeman MUSIC PEOPLE will be open one hour prior to the concert and 45 minutes following the concert

WHERE: WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

Betty Freeman MUSIC PEOPLE:

Ernest Fleischmann Gallery, Alfred E. Mann LA Phil Center

151 S. Grand Avenue (adjacent to Walt Disney Concert Hall – please enter through the street level doors and take the elevator to the 2nd floor)

HOW TO PURCHASE:

Subscriptions and single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2011/12 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase, please visit LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet. To order by phone with credit card, please call the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office at 323.850.2000, or Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.