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  • SALONEN LEADS PROGRAM OF PREMIERES IN "CROSSING BORDERS: LATIN-AMERICAN VISIONS" FESTIVAL
  • Jan. 23, 2003
  • WORLD PREMIERE OF GABRIELA ORTÍZ' PERCUSSION CONCERTO AND SILVESTRE REVUELTAS' REDES, WITH FILM, FEATURED

    Members Of Swedish Percussion Group Kroumata Are Soloists

    Thursday & Saturday, January 23 & 25 AT 8 PM; Sunday, January 26, 2:30 PM

    Programs presented in collaboration with the Latin-American Cinemateca of Los Angeles.

    Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program that serves as the centerpiece of the Association's Crossing Borders: Latin-American Visions festival, which takes place in January and March 2003. Featured on the January 23, 25, and 26 programs are the world premiere of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz' Percussion Concerto, Altar de Piedra (Altar of Stone), a Philharmonic commission with members of the Swedish percussion group Kroumata as soloists; and the Philharmonic's first performance of Silvestre Revueltas' complete film music for Redes (The Wave). The Latin-American Cinemateca collaborates with the orchestra to present the film, Redes, which accompanies the performance. Copland's El salón México opens the program with the musical flavor of Mexico.

    Upbeat Live, a free pre-concert discussion featuring conductor Eduardo Diazmuñoz interviewing Gabriela Ortíz, takes place one hour before each performance in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion's Grand Hall.

    Gabriela Ortíz grew up immersed in the sounds of Mexican vernacular music. She was also trained at some of Mexico's and Europe's most esteemed music schools, ultimately obtaining a doctorate from London's City University. The interaction of street and academy, of improvised traditional music and rigorous electronic formulas, has been crucial in much of her work. "I have been very interested in writing different pieces that would involve two contrasting sides of my own musical background," Ortíz says. "As a composer working with computers and electronics, I have experienced a considerable change in the way I approach musical creation. On the other hand, the fact of being born in a country with an enormous cultural heritage of popular and ethnic music has motivated me to try to be fair to the different worlds existing inside myself."

    Altar de piedra caps a cycle of musical altars, including Altar de neón (1995) for percussion quartet and chamber orchestra and Altar de muertos (1996) for string quartet and tape. It is cast in the three movements of concerto tradition, fast-slow-fast. The trio of soloists play a large percussion battery, including instruments from every continent. There is also a prominent part for timpani, particularly in the outer movements. The piece was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    Redes, a docu-drama film on the struggles for social and economic justice by the Veracruz fishing village of Alvarado, was created in 1935 by photographer Paul Strand. Redes (released in the U.S. as The Wave), was filmed on location with a handful of professional actors and most of the cast made up of untrained fishermen and their families. Redes depicts the hard and inequitably rewarded work of the fishermen; Revueltas composed much of the score before the film was finished.

    KROUMATA (John Eriksson, Johan Silvmark, Anders Loguin, Anders Holdar, Roger Bergström, and Leif Karlsson) was formed in 1978 and is today a unique ensemble in Sweden with international tours to over 35 countries. The ensemble, a vision of the Swedish Concert Institute, commissions and performs more than 200 works by Swedish as well as international composers.
    Over the years, Kroumata has recorded several CDs, on their own as well as in collaboration with other artists. The group has received many prizes and awards, among them the Positive Sweden Foundation Award, which honors Swedes who have made a significant contribution to the country's international reputation and standing. nearly 200 works. Kroumata often performs at official functions together with the King and Queen of Sweden and the ensemble was honored by the presence of the royal couple at Kroumata's 20th-anniversary concert in 1998. During the 2002 season, Kroumata performed at Lincoln Center, and participated in celebrations for Stockholm's 750-year anniversary. In a spectacular performance on the grounds of the Royal Palace, Kroumata, accompanied by 40 drummers, used their instruments to tell the history of the city of Stockholm. Messrs. Loguin, Karlsson, Silvmark, and Holdar take part in the January, 2003, performances.

    A composer of wide-ranging interests, GABRIELA ORTÍZ has written music for dance projects and sculpture installations, for electronic media, and for traditional instruments ranging from solo recorder to full orchestra. Her parents were folk musicians, and Ortíz first began strumming popular rhythms on the guitar and charango. She studied composition in Mexico with Mario Lavista and Federico Ibarra, and in England with Robert Sexton.

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, began his tenure as Music Director in October 1992. Salonen made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the orchestra every season since. Among the many highlights of Salonen's activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of new works by composers John Adams, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, and Salonen himself, well-received Ligeti and Stravinsky Festivals, appearances at the Ojai Festival, eight critically acclaimed international tours since 1992, and his extensive discography with the Philharmonic for Sony Classical. Salonen was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1958. He made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979, and he has been one of the world's most sought-after conductors since his debut in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra in September 1983. He served as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1994 and as principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1995.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    Thursday, January 23, 8 PM

    Saturday, January 25, 8 PM

    Sunday, January 26, 2:30 PM


    Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor

    Members of Kroumata, percussion

    COPLAND: El salón México

    ORTÍZ: Altar de Piedra ("Altar of Stone") (Percussion Concerto - World Premiere) Los Angeles Philharmonic commission

    REVUELTAS: Redes (with film)

    Tickets: $14 - $82

    Upbeat Live, a free pre-concert discussion featuring Eduardo Diazmuñoz interviewing Gabriela Ortíz, takes place one hour before each performance in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion's Grand Hall.

    These programs are presented in collaboration with the Latin-American Cinemateca of Los Angeles.

    Tickets ($14 - $82) for both concerts are on sale now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.com. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available two hours prior to the performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts. For further information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Elizabeth Hinckley, 323.850.2047; Rachelle Roe, 323.850.2032; for photos: Scalla Sheen, 323.850.2027