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  • MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA CONDUCTS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN WEST COAST PREMIERE OF OSVALDO GOLIJOV’S CHAMBER OPERA AINADAMAR
  • Feb. 29, 2004
  • Soprano Dawn Upshaw Featured

    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29, AT 7:30 PM AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella new music series continues as Associate Conductor

    Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the West Coast premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's chamber opera, Ainadamar, on Sunday, February 29, at 7:30 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The performance features soprano Dawn Upshaw and the Vocal Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center.

    An Upbeat Live pre-concert event takes place one hour prior to the concert in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and is free to all ticket holders.

    Ainadamar received its world premiere at the Tanglewood Music Festival in August 2003, where The New Yorker lauded its music as "sensationally beautiful throughout." The piece was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO's summer academy for advanced musical study. Golijov composed the opera to playwright David Henry Hwang's text, which depicts the last days of the life of Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.

    Ainadamar tells the story of an aging actress, Margarita, who is about to take the stage for her final performance as she recalls her successful career as the foremost interpreter of works by the celebrated playwright. The actress, based on the real life Margarita Xirgu, who was a close friend and collaborator of Lorca's, is preparing to perform the title role of Mariana Pineda, a part that she premiered in 1927. Thoughts of Pineda, who was killed for her liberal beliefs and her own connection to the play, bring back a flood of memories for the actress. Full of guilt over Lorca's death at the hands of Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War (at a spot called "Ainadamar," or "Fountain of Tears"), Margarita eventually realizes that her long career as the premier interpreter of his work has, in fact, kept the poet alive.

    Ainadamar is a co-production of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The opera will be directed by Chay Yew, with sets designed by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Anita Yavich, and lighting by Kevin Adams.

    Los Angeles Philharmonic Associate Conductor MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA is Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Auckland Phiharmonia in New Zealand. As one of the most exciting young conductors in America, he has an active guest conducting schedule, which includes appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Quebec Symphony, and the Mexico National Symphony. Festival appearances include Grant Park, Tanglewood, Rencontres Musicales d'Evian in France, the Domaine Forget International Festival in Quebec, and the Musicarchitettura International Festival in Italy. Born in 1968 in Lima, Peru, Harth-Bedoya holds degrees in conducting from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.

    DAWN UPSHAW has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of opera and concert repertoire ranging from the sacred works of Bach to the freshest sounds of today. Her performances on the opera stage comprise the great Mozart roles (Pamina, Ilia, Susanna, Despina) as well as modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc, and Messiaen. From Salzburg and Paris to the Metropolitan Opera, where she began her career in 1984 and has since made nearly 300 appearances, Upshaw has also distinguished herself in opera of today. In the past four years, she has championed four new stage works created for her: John Harbison's The Great Gatsby; Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de loin; John Adams' El Nino; and Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. This season Dawn Upshaw becomes the first vocal artist to be featured in a Carnegie Hall "Perspectives" Series. She performs in recital with pianist Gilbert Kalish and in a world premiere by Osvaldo Golijov at Zankel Hall. Other season highlights include a tour of the European capitals with longtime recital partner Richard Goode; Golijov's Ainadamar at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's new Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Green Umbrella series; a U.S. tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra in music of Bach and Bartók; and her San Francisco Opera debut as Janácek's Cunning Little Vixen. In July 2004, Upshaw will star in the New York premiere of Saariaho's Grawemeyer Award-winning L'Amour de loin, presented at the Metropolitan Opera by the Lincoln Center Festival. A two-time Grammy Award-winner, Upshaw is featured on more than 50 recordings, including the million-selling Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Górecki. Her discography also includes full-length opera recordings from Mozart to Messiaen, over a dozen recital recordings, and several beloved Nonesuch discs of music theater repertoire, which she has performed with the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, as well as at London's Proms Festival and on radio and television.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29, AT 7:30 PM

    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles


    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA, conductor

    DAWN UPSHAW, soprano

    VOCAL FELLOWS OF THE TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER

    CHAY YEW, director

    DANIEL OSTLING, set designer

    ANITA YAVICH, costume designer

    KEVIN ADAMS, lighting designer

    GOLIJOV Ainadamar

    An Upbeat Live pre-concert event takes place one hour prior to the concert in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and is free to all ticket holders.

    Tickets ($15 - $40) 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. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.

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    01/16/04

  • Contact:

    Elizabeth Hinckley, 213.972.3034; Ryan Jimenez, 213.972.3405; For photos: Beth Norber, 213.972.3409