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  • WDCH
  • PIERRE BOULEZ LEADS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN PROGRAM OF MAHLER AND WAGNER
  • Nov. 28, 2003
  • Mezzo-Soprano Violeta Urmana, Tenor Thomas Moser,

    And Baritone Willard White Featured


    FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 AND 29 AT 8 PM

    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30 AT 2 PM


    Media support for November 30 provided by KCET

    Renowned composer Pierre Boulez returns to Los Angeles to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program of Mahler and Wagner on Friday and Saturday, November 28 and 29 at 8 p.m., and on Sunday November 30 at 2 p.m. The program includes Gustav Mahler's Adagio from Symphony No. 10 and Act II from Richard Wagner's Parsifal. Mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana makes her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Kundry, with tenor Thomas Moser as Parsifal and baritone Willard White as Klingsor. The performance also features six singers as Flowermaidens (Patricia Andress, Carolyn Betty, Kishna Davis, Nicolle Foland, and Twyla Robinson, sopranos, and Jennifer Roderer, mezzo soprano).

    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place one hour prior to each concert in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and are free to all ticket holders.

    Mahler's last work for orchestra is a controversial one. Though there are several "performing versions" of the Tenth Symphony, Mahler actually completed only the first and third movements from that planned five-movement work before his death in 1911. The Adagio on this program was the intended opening movement.

    Wagner's last masterpiece was the opera Parsifal, written for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Premiered at Bayreuth in 1882, the work was a magnificent success.

    Composer and conductor PIERRE BOULEZ, one of the most influential musical figures of the past century, was born in 1925 and began composing in the mid-1940s. His innovative compositions are performed worldwide. A decade later, Boulez became sought after as a conductor, specializing in 20thcentury music. He founded the Domaine Musical in Paris, and eventually became music director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1970s. He later reduced his conducting schedule to concentrate on the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music (IRCAM), which he founded and directed until 1991. Boulez formed close relationships with several American and European orchestras, being appointed principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1995, touring with the London Symphony Orchestra, and collaborating on several dramatic works by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Bartók with choreographer Pina Bausch. He currently records for Deutsche Grammophon and his recordings have garnered 24 Grammy awards.

    American tenor THOMAS MOSER studied at The Curtis Institute of Music and the Music Academy of the West. He made his European operatic debut in Austria in 1975. In 1977, he made his debut with the Vienna State Opera, where he is now a member of the company and Kammersänger. He is a regular guest artist at the opera houses of Munich, Berlin, New York, Geneva, San Francisco, and London. He has appeared in recital at La Scala, the Vienna Musikverein, and the Châtelet, Paris. Moser has sung Fidelio with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and recorded Berlioz' The Damnation of Faust (Erato), Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and Bizet's Carmen (both Teldec).

    Lithuanian mezzo-soprano VIOLETA URMANA made her opera debut during the 1993/1994 season in Munich and at La Scala in Milan as Fricka in Wagner's Die Walküre with Riccardo Muti conducting. Since then, she has gained renown in the operas of Wagner, having appeared in Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde, and Götterdämmerung, and has expanded her repertoire to include concert and recital works, as well as other operas. She has sung leading roles in Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Geneva, Paris, and Barcelona. Her first appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Pierre Boulez, will be in the role of Kundry in Act II from Wagner's Parsifal, the same one in which she made her debut at both the Metropolitan Opera and Royal Opera Covent Garden last year.

    Jamaican bass-baritone WILLARD WHITE studied at The Juilliard School and made his debut with the New York City Opera. He has since sung in the opera houses of San Francisco, London, Munich, Amsterdam, Geneva, Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, Los Angeles, and Brussels, as well as at the Glyndebourne, Aix en Provence, and Salzburg festivals. His repertoire includes operas by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Debussy, Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Gershwin. White has appeared with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, Royal Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, La Scala Orchestra, the Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and The Cleveland Orchestra. Recent engagements include St. François d'Assise in San Francisco, Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan, Khovanshchina for English National Opera, and Parsifal at the Paris Opera, Bastille. He appeared in the role of Porgy in the television film, Porgy & Bess.

    Since 1968, the PACIFIC CHORALE has been providing national and international audiences with great choral music performed at the highest musical standards. Under John Alexander's direction, Pacific Chorale produces its own series of concerts each year at Southern California's Orange County Performing Arts Center. The Pacific Chorale also performs regularly with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony. In addition, the Chorale has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and the Ojai Festival Orchestra. John Alexander and the Chorale have toured extensively in Europe, South America, and Asia, performing with orchestras in London, Paris, Belgium, Estonia, Brazil, Argentina, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2003 AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2003 AT 8 PM

    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2003 AT 2 PM

    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    PIERRE BOULEZ, conductor

    VIOLETA URMANA, mezzo-soprano

    THOMAS MOSER, tenor

    WILLARD WHITE, baritone

    WOMEN OF THE PACIFIC CHORALE

    MAHLER Adagio from Symphony No. 10

    WAGNER Act II from Parsifal

    Media support for November 30 provided by KCET

    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place one hour prior to each concert in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and are free to all ticket holders.

    Tickets ($15 - $120) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For further information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Elizabeth Hinckley, 213.972.3034; Ryan Jimenez, 213.972.3405