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  • LAPA
  • FREE NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERTS FEATURE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND CHAMBER MUSIC WITH YOLA STUDENTS
  • Apr. 6, 2015
  • DUDAMEL FELLOW GEMMA NEW CONDUCTS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AT WARNER GRAND THEATRE
    SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015, AT 5 PM

    CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT INCLUDES MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC WITH YOLA STUDENTS AT ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE CHURCH
    MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015, AT 7 PM  

    Leadership support for the LA Phil's Education and Community Initiatives is provided by the Peggy Bergmann YOLA Endowment Fund, Anonymous, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Lee and Hope Landis Warner YOLA Student Fund, Norma D. Kayser Trust, Max H. Gluck Foundation, Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, The Rose Hills Foundation, Walt Disney Company, Amgen Foundation, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc., and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

    Los Angeles, CA (April 6, 2015) – The Los Angeles Philharmonic continues its tradition of presenting free neighborhood concerts throughout Los Angeles County with an orchestral concert at the Warner Grand Theatre, Sunday, April 26, at 5 PM, and a chamber music concert at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Monday, May 11, at 7 PM

    Dudamel Fellow Gemma New leads the LA Phil in its return to Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. This one-hour concert, presented by Grand Vision Foundation, opens with two of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances and features his Symphony No. 9, the “New World” Symphony. The program also includes a short original composition by Max Lesser, a South Bay resident and participant in the LA Phil’s Composer Fellowship Program for high school students. 

    "Hosting one of the world's leading orchestras at the Warner Grand Theatre is an incredible honor," says Liz Schindler-Johnson, Grand Vision Foundation's Executive Director. "Thanks to the LA Phil's Neighborhood Concert Program, we can share this outstanding musical experience with our community's music lovers who could not normally afford to buy tickets or travel to the Walt Disney Concert Hall."

    The neighborhood chamber music concert at St. Thomas the Apostle Church features LA Phil members Mitchell Newman, violin; Vijay Gupta, violin; Hui Liu, viola; Ingrid Hutman, viola; and Jonathan Karoly, cello; alongside students from Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at Heart of Los Angeles (YOLA at HOLA) and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at EXPO Center (YOLA at EXPO). The program begins with the YOLA at HOLA Concert Wind Ensemble, led by YOLA at HOLA Teaching Artist Emily Kubitskey, and LA Phil musicians performing A.G. Villoldo’s El Choclo from Two South American Tangos and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 4. The LA Phil musicians will then perform the first movement of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Violins with graduating YOLA at EXPO violinists, Arlette Romero and Laura Alicia Garcia-Ceja. The concert concludes with the LA Phil musicians performing Mozart’s String Quintet in C Minor. 

    Named by WQXR in 2013 as one of the “Top Five Women Conductors on the Rise”, New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New serves as Associate Conductor for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and is the Founder and Director of the Lunar Ensemble, a contemporary music collective in Baltimore, Maryland. Under her direction, the Lunar Ensemble has premiered more than 30 works since 2011 and held composition residencies at several U.S. universities. Along with her appearances with the NJSO and the Lunar Ensemble, New has recently led concerts with a range of orchestras, among them, the Atlanta and Miami Symphony Orchestras as well as the Hamilton Philharmonic in Canada and Opus Orchestra in New Zealand. In 2013, New made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut, leading works by Adams, Norman and Ives on the American Soundscapes series, where she was mentored by John Adams and David Robertson. That same year, she was selected as the David A. Karetsky Conducting Fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival. 

    Since fall of 2007, YOLA (Youth Orchestra LA) 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. YOLA at HOLA is a partnership between the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Heart of Los Angeles, a non-profit organization that provides free academics, arts and athletics programs to underserved and at-risk youth in the Rampart District. YOLA at HOLA musicians first played a side-by-side concert with LA Phil musicians just months after the site opened in 2010. The YOLA EXPO Center Youth Orchestra program is a partnership of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Harmony Project, and the EXPO Center, a City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Park facility. The program has grown to include three orchestras, mentorship and leadership programming, group lessons, chamber music and parent workshops. This concert reflects the consistent progress of YOLA student musicians and demonstrates the ongoing, valuable interactions between YOLA at HOLA students and the LA Phil. LA Phil musicians enhance YOLA programming through teaching and performance opportunities at YOLA sites. 

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s neighborhood concerts in the community include free orchestra, chamber music and jazz concerts in churches, community centers and other local venues around Southern California. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has been presenting free neighborhood concerts for over 20 years, as part of the organization’s dedication to making music accessible to the widest possible audience. 

    Grand Vision Foundation (GVF) is the official City of Los Angeles Friends Group to the Warner Grand Theatre, a historic art deco movie palace in the heart of downtown San Pedro’s Arts District. GVF was founded in 1996 to save the Theatre from destruction. Grand Vision spearheaded the campaign to convince the City of Los Angeles to buy and operate the Theatre. Since then, GVF has restored key elements and transformed it into an anchor for community arts. Today, Grand Vision has three primary projects: supporting the Warner Grand Theatre with promotion, event production and preservation activities; presenting an annual calendar of professional music and other artistic productions at the Grand Annex, a cabaret style 150-seat performance venue on the same block as the Warner Grand Theatre; and operating “Meet the Music,” an in-depth youth music education which provides over 1,200 Harbor Area 4th and 5th graders with free in-school music lessons and live concert experiences.

    The Warner Grand Theatre is located at 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro, CA. Free parking on Sundays on the street and at public parking lots around the Warner Grand Theatre. Concert admission is free with a $1 service charge per seat reservation. Tickets can be reserved by calling 310-833-4813 or visiting grandvision.org

    St. Thomas the Apostle Church is located at 2760 West Pico Boulevard (Pico and Mariposa). Free parking is available at 2727 West Pico Blvd. (Pico and Fedora), and at the corner of 15th Street and Mariposa. Admission is free, and no tickets are required. More information may be obtained by calling the church at 323.737.3325.

    For more information, please visit: laphil.com

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2015 AT 5 PM
    Warner Grand Theatre
    478 W. 6th St.
    San Pedro, CA 90731

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
    Gemma New, conductor

    DVORAK        Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, Nos. 1 and 8
    Max LESSER   At the End of the Sidewalk
    DVORAK        Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”

    The concert is free with a $1 service charge per seat reservation. There is a four ticket maximum per person and seating is assigned. Call 310-833-4813 or visit Grandvision.org to reserve seats or arrange for group reservations. Free parking is available on the street and at public parking lots around the Warner Grand Theatre. Additional parking is available two short blocks away in the Topaz Building Parking Structure for $3 per car. Enter on Centre Street between 5th and 6th Streets. Between 3-10pm, a trolley will shuttle patrons to and from the Topaz parking structure to the Theatre. For a downloadable parking map, see Grandvision.org and click on Locations-Directions.  

    MONDAY, MAY 11, 2015 AT 7 PM
    St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church
    2760 W Pico Blvd.
    Los Angeles, CA 90006  

    Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic:
    Mitchell Newman, violin
    Vijay Gupta, violin
    Hui Liu, viola
    Ingrid Hutman, viola
    Jonathan Karoly, cello

    YOLA at HOLA concert winds
    Emily Kubitskey, conductor

    Members of YOLA at EXPO Symphony Orchestra:
    Arlette Romero, violin
    Laura Alicia Garcia-Ceja, violin

    A.G. VILLOLDO         El Choclo from Two South American Tangos with YOLA at HOLA concert winds
    BEETHOVEN             Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 4 (arr. Kubitskey) with YOLA at HOLA concert winds
    VIVALDI                  Concerto in A minor for 2 Violins, Mvt. 1
    MOZART                  String Quintet in C minor

    The concert is free and seating is General Admission. No tickets are required. Free parking available at 2727 West Pico Blvd. (Pico and Fedora) and at the corner of 15th St. and Mariposa. More information is available by calling 323.737.3325.

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  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213.972.3034
    Andrew Schwartz, aschwartz@laphil.org, 213.972.3406
    For photos: 213.972.3034