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  • WDCH
  • JAMES CONLON CONDUCTS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN PROGRAM FEATURING WORKS BY ZEMLINSKY AND STRAUSS
  • Apr. 16, 2004
  • FRIDAY, APRIL 16, AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, APRIL 17, AT 2 PM; AND SUNDAY, APRIL 18, AT 2 PM

    AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

    James Conlon, the internationally acclaimed conductor and the newly appointed Music Director of Ravinia, leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program of works by Richard Strauss and Alexander Zemlinsky on Friday, April 16, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, April 17, at 2 p.m.; and Sunday, April 18, at 2 p.m.

    This program celebrates Strauss with music from two of his most notable operas: the Sextet from Cappriccio and the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier. The program opens with Die Seejungfrau by Alexander Zemlinsky, a composer highly championed by Conlon, which sets the tone for a concert exploring 20th-century Romanticism.

    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. Los Angeles Philharmonic President Deborah Borda hosts a conversation with conductor James Conlon.

    JAMES CONLON, one of today's pre-eminent conductors, is in his sixth season as Principal Conductor of the Paris Opera. He has also been Music Director of the Cincinnati May Festival since 1979. Since his New York Philharmonic debut in 1974 at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, Conlon has appeared with nearly every major North American and European orchestra, and served as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 1983 to 1991. In the United States, he has led the Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh Symphonies, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Washington's National Symphony. In Europe, he has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Santa Cecilia, and the Kirov Orchestra, among many others. Conlon has conducted more than 200 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut there and has appeared with many of the world's major opera companies, including Teatro alla Scala, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He also served as Chief Conductor of the Cologne Opera for seven years. Among the highlights of his tenure with the Paris Opera, are four Wagner operas (Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, Der fliegende Holländer, Parsifal), six Verdi operas (Falstaff, Don Carlo, La traviata, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Macbeth), and highly praised new productions of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann. He led the French premiere of Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg as part of a double bill with Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, as well as the Paris Opera's first production in nearly 20 years of Britten's Peter Grimes. A native of New York, James Conlon is a graduate and former faculty member of the Juilliard School of Music. He made his professional debut in 1971 conducting Boris Godunov at the Spoleto Festival, and his New York debut the following year while still a student, leading a production of La bohème on the recommendation of Maria Callas at the Juilliard School. Conlon was named an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1996, and this past year was awarded France's highest distinction, the Légion d'Honneur.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    FRIDAY, APRIL 16, AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, APRIL 17, AT 2 PM

    SUNDAY, APRIL 18, AT 2 PM

    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    JAMES CONLON, conductor

    ZEMLINSKY Die Seejungfrau

    STRAUSS Sextet from Capriccio

    STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

    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. Los Angeles Philharmonic President Deborah Borda hosts a conversation with conductor James Conlon.

    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. When available, choral bench seats ($15), will be released for sale to selected Philharmonic, Colburn Celebrity Recital, and Baroque Variations performances beginning at noon on the Tuesday of the second week prior to the concert. 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 all information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Rachelle Roe, 213.972.7310; Ellie Lloyd, 213.972.3448; for photos: Beth Norber, 213.972.3409