Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin to Be Broadcast on PBS&Rsquo; Great Performances January 6, 2012

Broadcast to Air at 9 – 10 PM (check local listings)

The LA Phil’s 2011/12 Season Opener Featured an All-Gershwin Program

On January 6, 2012, PBS’s Great Performances airs Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin, a live recording of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Opening Night Gala and Concert with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock. The concert was recorded on Tuesday, September 27, 2011.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin, featured the LA Phil under the baton of Dudamel performing two of the composer’s best-loved orchestral works: Cuban Overture and An American in Paris. Hancock delighted the audience when he took the stage before with his improvisations on Embraceable You and Someone to Watch Over Me. The concert closed with Rhapsody in Blue with Hancock as soloist.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin was recorded for telecast by Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images, THIRTEEN for WNET, WDR/Arte, C Major Entertainment and the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of the PBS performing arts series Great Performances. It airs in the U.S. Friday, January 6, 2012, at 9 p.m. (check local listings), and will be archived online at www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/ for seven days following the broadcast.

Great Performances is funded by The National Endowment for the Arts, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, Vivian Milstein, Jody and John Arnhold, The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, The Starr Foundation, the Filomen M. D’Agostino Foundation, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, public television viewers, and PBS.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin is directed by Enrique Sanchez Lansch. Producer: Bernhard Fleischer. Producer for WDR/ARTE: Lothar Mattner. For Great Performances, John Walker is producer; Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.

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The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres – orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop – at two of L.A.’s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com ) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil’s season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from October through May, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

About WNET

New York’s WNET is America’s flagship public media outlet, bringing quality arts, education and public affairs programming to over 5 million viewers each week. The parent company of public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, WNET produces such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Need to Know, Charlie Rose, Tavis Smiley and a range of documentaries, children’s programs, and local news and cultural offerings available on air and online. Pioneers in educational programming, WNET has created such groundbreaking series as Get the Math, Noah Comprende and Cyberchase and provides tools for educators that bring compelling content to life in the classroom and at home. WNET highlights the tri-state’s unique culture and diverse communities through SundayArts, Reel 13, NJ Today and the new online newsmagazine MetroFocus.

Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin



LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, conductor

HERBIE HANCOCK, piano



ALL-GERSHWIN



Cuban Overture

An American in Paris

Herbie Hancock improvises on Gershwin’s Embraceable You and Someone to Watch Over Me

Rhapsody in Blue