Saturday, December 6, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Saturday, December 13, 2014

Los Angeles, CA (Friday, November 21, 2014) – The renowned International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) will lead its first education residency with YOLA at HOLA, a program of the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra LA program, which provides free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support to students from underserved neighborhoods. YOLA at HOLA is a partnership between the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), located in L.A.’s Rampart District.

Three days of workshops led by ICE musicians with 45 YOLA at HOLA students, ages 12 – 15, will culminate in a free community concert. The workshops will be held on Dec. 6, 12 & 13; the community concert will also be held on Dec. 13 at 2:30 p.m. All events will take place at HOLA: 600 S. La Fayette Park Place, 3rd floor, Los Angeles, CA 90057. 

During the workshops, ICE musicians will instruct YOLA at HOLA musicians in activities that will hone improvisation skills and introduce different aspects of American experimental composition:

• Master improviser and ICE member Peter Evans (trumpet) will lead a composition workshop with Levy Lorenzo, a percussionist and inventor of electronic instruments. 
• An ICE-commissioned piece, Christian Wolff’s Microexercises (2006), will test students’ flexibility to work with the same musical material in different instrumental guises. 
• ICE teaches Artificial Life 2007, a piece of structured improvisation by George Lewis, a Columbia University composition professor and frequent ICE collaborator. Comprised of inspiring text directives (and no notated music), Artificial Life 2007 encourages students to explore chamber music energies within a subset of the HOLA wind band, and spontaneously create music at rapid-fire pace.
• All students will participate in Frederic Rzewski’s Les Moutons de Panurge (The Sheep of Panurge) (1969), in which players methodically create a melody from a long series of notes. The entire ensemble starts in unison, and everyone continues the process—even when they get lost!

ICE musicians participating in this education residency include:

David Byrd-Marrow, French horn
Claire Chase, flute
Peter Evans, trumpet
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Levy Lorenzo, ICE electronics engineer and percussionist
Joshua Rubin, clarinet

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), described by The New York Times as “one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music,” is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. With a modular makeup of 33 leading instrumentalists performing in forces ranging from solos to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. ICE redefines concert music as it brings together new work and new listeners in the 21st century.

ICE recently performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the LA Phil’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival in April 2014 in a Green Umbrella concert led by John Adams.

Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA)

Since Fall of 2007, YOLA has grown to serve 700 students, ages 6-18, in South L.A., the Rampart District and East L.A. YOLA partners share costs and program management responsibilities. The YOLA initiative currently consists of three programs: YOLA at EXPO, YOLA at HOLA, and YOLA at LACHSA.

Part of Exposition Park in South L.A., YOLA at EXPO has grown to include three orchestras, mentorship, group lessons, chamber music, and parent ensembles. The program serves hundreds of students who attend four days each week. In addition, students perform annually at Walt Disney Concert Hall and have appeared multiple times on the iconic stage of the Hollywood Bowl. YOLA at EXPO is a partnership of the LA Phil, Harmony Project, and EXPO Center, a City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks facility.

YOLA at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), located in the Rampart District, serves hundreds of students with intensive after-school orchestral instruction five days a week. Classes include music creativity, singing and solfège, ensemble rehearsals, and academic tutoring daily. This holistic approach fosters a sense of community and provides the students with the opportunity to take advantage of HOLA’s exceptional programs and resources. YOLA at HOLA is a partnership between the LA Phil and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA).

YOLA at LACHSA engages 140 students, ages 8-11. High school students at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts act as mentors to their younger YOLA counterparts. YOLA at LACHSA is a partnership between the LA Phil and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

As of January 2013, YOLA is engaged in two new initiatives both through the YOLA at HOLA program: USC Brain and Creativity Institute’s 5-year longitudinal brain study to track brain, emotional and social development in students participating in intensive music study, providing insight into the “musical mind”; and a Masters of Arts in Teaching Music through Bard College and Longy School of Music with its LA-based campus at YOLA at HOLA, allowing musicians with a desire to respond to today’s educational needs, and who aspire to participate in the growing El Sistema movement in the U.S., to earn a teaching degree and credential.

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