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Press Release
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Friday, November 16, 2012
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN LEADS THE LA PHIL IN LUTOSŁAWSKI CENTENARY CONCERTS AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30 AND DECEMBER 1, 2012, AT 8 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2012, AT 2 PM
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012, AT 8 PM
Green Umbrella Concert Conducted by Lionel Bringuier
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 AND 8, 2012, AT 8 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2012, AT 2 PM
For the November 30 through December 2 Concerts, the Participation of Esa-Pekka Salonen is Supported by a Generous Grant from the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation
WHAT: Following his recent visit to Walt Disney Concert Hall with his Philharmonia Orchestra, LA Phil Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to lead the LA Phil in its celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the 20th century’s pre-eminent composers, Witold Lutosławski. The Lutosławski Centenary includes two orchestral concerts and one Green Umbrella event with the LA Phil New Music Group between November 30 and December 9.
The celebration begins with performances Friday and Saturday, November 30 and December 1, at 8 pm, as well as Sunday, December 2, at 2 pm, featuring the composer’s Symphony No. 1, which will be recorded live to complete a Salonen/LA Phil cycle of the composer’s four symphonies to be released on Sony Classical in January 2013. Also to be recorded is Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic, a short piece for brass and percussion, written by Lutosławski in celebration of the LA Phil’s 75th anniversary season. This quintessential Salonen program pairs Lutosławski with Beethoven, as he had done for his Beethoven Unbound festival in the 2004/05 season – this time with King Stephen Overture and Symphony No. 2.
The Green Umbrella concert, Tuesday, December 4, at 8 pm, led by LA Phil Resident Conductor Lionel Bringuier, continues the celebration of Lutosławski with the composer’s Partita and his magical song-cycle Chantefleurs et Chantefables on Robert Desnos’ enchanting poems for children. The latter work features soprano Laura Claycomb. Along with those pieces are works by two of Lutosławski’s most ardent advocates – Steven Stucky’s Ad Parnassum, which was inspired by a Paul Klee painting, and Salonen’s string quartet Homunculus.
The Lutosławski Centenary concludes with three LA Phil performances, Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8, at 8 pm, and Sunday, December 9, at 2 pm. The program features Lutosławski’s Les espaces du sommeil, his evocative interpretation of disordered sleep, which Salonen and the LA Phil recorded. Acclaimed Canadian baritone Gerald Finley performs the Surrealist vocal nocturne. The program also includes the West Coast premiere of Salonen’s Nyx, which was recently released along with his Violin Concerto on Deutsche Grammophon. Following is Schumann’s Piano Concerto, the composer’s ardently Romantic concerto written for his wife, Clara, and performed by young French pianist David Fray. The program closes with Tchaikovsky’s tone poem Francesca da Rimini.
As a cabaret pianist on the run from the Nazis in occupied Warsaw and then a staunchly independent composer denounced by Communist party apparatchiks, Witold Lutosławski survived some of the 20th-century’s grimmest years, and his cultural importance seems only to have grown since his death. Lutosławski became a close artistic associate of the LA Phil and Esa-Pekka Salonen in the last decade of his life.
Complete Programs:
Friday, November 30
Saturday, December 1
Sunday, December 2
BEETHOVEN King Stephen Overture
LUTOSŁAWSKI Symphony No. 1
LUTOSŁAWSKI Fanfare for Los Angeles Philharmonic
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2
Tuesday, December 4
LUTOSŁAWSKI Partita
STUCKY Ad Parnassum
SALONEN Homunculus
LUTOSŁAWSKI Chantefleurs et Chantefables
Friday, December 7
Saturday, December 8
Sunday, December 9
SALONEN Nyx (West Coast premiere)
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
LUTOSŁAWSKI Les espaces du sommeil
TCHAIKOVSKY Francesca da Rimini
Upbeat Live pre-concert events takes place in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s BP Hall one hour before each concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Composer, conductor, performer, and lecturer Russell Steinberg hosts the Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 events. Conductor, writer, lecturer, teacher and former LA Phil Consulting Composer for New Music Steven Stucky hosts the Dec. 4 and Dec. 7 – 9 events.
For full artist biographies, please visit: laphil.com/Lutoslawski
WHO/WHEN:
Friday, November 30, 2012, at 8 PM
Saturday, December 1, 2012, at 8 PM
Sunday, December 2, 2012, at 2 PM
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor
Tuesday, December 4, 2012, at 8 PM
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP
LIONEL BRINGUIER, conductor
LAURA CLAYCOMB, soprano
Friday, December 7, 2012, at 8 PM
Saturday, December 8, 2012, at 8 PM
Sunday, December 9, 2012, at 2 PM
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor
DAVID FRAY, piano
GERALD FINLEY, baritone
WHERE: WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles
HOW TO PURCHASE:
Subscriptions and single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2012/13 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.
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11.16.12