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  • WDCH
  • CONDUCTOR ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE LEADS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN FREE NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT
  • Feb. 28, 2004
  • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, AT 8 PM

    WILSHIRE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

    Conductor Alexander Mickelthwate leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a free neighborhood concert at Wilshire United Methodist Church on Saturday, February 28, at 8 p.m. The concert features performances of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, and Mozart's Symphony No. 35, Haffner. The program is performed without intermission.

    Los Angeles Philharmonic Neighborhood Concerts are given free of charge and take place in schools, churches, and other local community venues. The February 28 neighborhood concert at Wilshire United Methodist Church is the sixth time the Philharmonic has performed at the venue since the orchestra's first concert there in 1993.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Neighborhood Concert series was inaugurated in May 1991 with concerts at the Hsi Lai Temple, Young-Nak Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, Wilfandel House, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church, and Trinity Baptist Church. Designed to meet the orchestra's mission to be a cultural resource responsive to the total community, the concerts are planned jointly by the Philharmonic and concert hosts, and are presented free of charge. To date, more than 65 neighborhood concerts and more than 20 neighborhood chamber music concerts have been performed at venues including East Los Angeles College, Holman United Methodist Church, Wilshire United Methodist Church, San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, St. Lucy's Church, and in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music.

    As the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Assistant Conductor, ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE conducts Classical Season, Young People's, touring, and parks concerts. In addition to his ASO duties he serves as co-artistic director and conductor of the Atlanta-based contemporary music ensemble "Bent Frequency," which he co-founded in May 2003. Last summer he was Conductor in Residence and Director of Conducting Studies for the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and he is a member of the conducting faculty at Kennesaw State University in Georgia and artist in residence at Georgia State University. Though still in the early stages of his career, Mickelthwate has already toured America conducting the American-Russian Young Artist Players. He has conducted the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, New Jersey, and Oregon, as well as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Eos Orchestra, and Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and worked as cover conductor for the Boston Symphony. He began as a coach, pianist, and conductor at New York's Amato Opera and an assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and El Paso Opera. After winning a Peabody merit scholarship, Mickelthwate came to America to study at Baltimore's Peabody Institute of Music with Frederik Prausnitz and Gustav Meier. As the recipient of the Emory and Geraldine Ford Foundation sponsorship, he became a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center (studying with Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, and André Previn) and at the National Conducting Institute in Washington, where he was recognized by National Symphony Orchestra music director Leonard Slatkin, who engaged him the following season as cover conductor.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    Saturday, February 28, 2004 at 8 PM

    Wilshire United Methodist Church


    4350 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor

    BEETHOVEN Coriolan Overture

    WAGNER Siegfried Idyll

    MOZART Symphony No. 35, Haffner

    This program is performed without intermission.

    The program is free of charge; tickets are required. For tickets or for more information, please call (323) 931-1085.

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    2/04/04

  • Contact:

    Ryan Jimenez, 213.972.3405