Acclaimed Theater Company A Noise Within Performs
A Midsummer Night's Dream on July 13

International Opera Stars Heidi Grant Murphy and Stephanie Blythe Perform Mahler's Resurrection Symphony on July 15

TUESDAY AND THURSDAY, JULY 13 AND 15, AT 8 PM

July 13 Sponsored by Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts;
Media support provided by K-MOZART and KCSN
July 15 Sponsored by United Airlines; media support provided by K-MOZART

Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in two event performances. On Tuesday, July 13, at 8 p.m., Salonen conducts Mendelssohn's complete score to A Midsummer Night's Dream. For this one night only, the Philharmonic joins forces with Southern California's preeminent classical theater group,
A Noise Within. Directed by Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez Elliott, the production recalls the landmark 1934 Max Reinhardt production of Shakespeare's play at the Hollywood Bowl, which integrated incidental music and dramatic performance as Mendelssohn intended. A Noise Within presents Shakespeare's play replete with elaborate costumes in a fully staged production.

Salonen also leads the Philharmonic on Thursday, July 15, at 8 p.m. in Mahler's Second Symphony, "Resurrection," with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe take part in the program as the two vocal soloists. This program is dedicated to the memory of Robert Harth, the Philharmonic's former General Manager, and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall, who passed away suddenly earlier this year. The selection of Mahler's Resurrection for this program is also symbolic of the newly-revitalized Hollywood Bowl, which underwent a construction project that included building a new shell and stage for the venue.

The young American mezzo-soprano STEPHANIE BLYTHE debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1994/1995 production of Wagner's Parsifal. Soon after, she became a much sought-after vocalist, performing many roles at the Metropolitan Opera. Her performance at the Met as Cornelia in Handel's Giulio Cesare was praised by The New York Times as "Magnificent. In everything she does, she combines poignancy with stateliness... bringing forward a remarkable range of vocal colors." Having sung operatic debuts across Europe and America, Blythe received her Bachelor's degree in Music from the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, in 1993 and completed a two-year Tanglewood summer fellowship. In 1994, she was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and in 1995 she was the recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant and an Opera Index award. She is also a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist Program and is the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Music Foundation award.

A Midsummer Night's Dream directors GEOFF ELLIOTT and JULIA RODRIGUEZ ELLIOTT are the founders and Artistic Co-Directors of A Noise Within, widely recognized as one of the region's finest repertory companies. The Elliotts' directing accomplishments, either as co-directors or separately, include the acclaimed Our Town (1992); All My Sons (1993); Of Mice and Men and The Three Sisters (1994); Great Expectations (1995); The Glass Menagerie (1996); Buried Child (1997); The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, and Heartbreak House (1998); A Christmas Carol (1999); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2000); The Skin of Our Teeth and Life is a Dream (2001); Trelawny of the "Wells" (2002); Macbeth and O Pioneers! (2003); and Coriolanus, The Price, and The Matchmaker (2004). Geoff Elliott is an award-winning actor, having performed major roles for some of the leading regional theaters in America, including the American Conservatory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and Arizona Theatre Company. In the upcoming 2004/2005 season at A Noise Within, the Elliotts will team up to restage William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, George Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear, and Eugene O'Neill's epic Mourning Becomes Electra.

Soprano HEIDI GRANT MURPHY began vocal studies while attending Western Washington and Indiana Universities. Her graduate studies were interrupted when she was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and engaged by James Levine to participate in the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist Development Program. Murphy has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Paris Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. She has been engaged as soloist with the Vienna, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonics; the Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras; and the Chicago, Boston, National, and Dallas Symphonies. She has worked with esteemed conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Christoph von Dohnányi, David Zinman, and the late Robert Shaw.

A NOISE WITHIN is one of only a handful of companies in America performing great theater classics with a resident professional company on a year-round basis. In its 12-year history, ANW has enjoyed vast critical acclaim and garnered scores of awards and commendations for excellence - most recently the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's Polly Warfield Award - for their performances of more than 100 classics by Shakespeare, Miller, de la Barca, and Chekhov. ANW has performed for more than 100,000 patrons at its home theater in Glendale and on regional tours and serves thousands of young people through outreach and educational programs each year. The company has received invitations to perform and teach at the University of Beijing and other theaters in China and has started discussions with the Getty Museum to develop teaching and performance opportunities in 2005/2006. A Noise Within is led by Co-Founders and Artistic Co-Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez Elliott and by Managing Director Todd Dellinger.

Led by Music Director Grant Gershon, the LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE celebrated its 40th Anniversary this year with its inaugural season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Chorale has received accolades for its innovative programming and its commitment to commissioning new works including the prestigious ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming. Its groundbreaking 2003/04 season featured the largest number of concerts in the history of the chorus. Program highlights included two world premieres by Bobby McFerrin, Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert, and Beethoven's Missa solemnis. The Chorale also collaborates with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a Bach-Fest conducted by Helmuth Rilling. The Chorale has released three CDs under the baton of Music Director Emeritus Paul Salamunovich: the Grammy-nominated Lauridsen-Lux Aeterna, Christmas, and a recording of Dominic Argento's Te Deum and Maurice Duruflé's Messe "Cum Jubilo." The Chorale's first CD with Music Director Grant Gershon was released in September 2002 and features Esa-Pekka Salonen's first choral work, Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jäderlund, and Philip Glass' Itaipu. Waterworld.

Under the leadership of acclaimed Artistic Director John Alexander, PACIFIC CHORALE is one of America's most respected and accomplished professional choruses. Pacific Chorale is an Artistic Partner of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, presenting its 160-voice ensemble in Segerstrom Hall and its professional chamber ensemble, the John Alexander Singers, in the intimate setting of Founders Hall. Since taking the helm of the organization in 1972, John Alexander has consistently rewarded Pacific Chorale audiences with innovative programming that has included numerous World, U.S. and West Coast premieres. Today, Pacific Chorale is the "choir of choice" for Southern California's finest orchestras, frequently collaborating with Pacific Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and occasionally with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pasadena Symphony and the Long Beach Symphony.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 8 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

A NOISE WITHIN

GEOFF ELLIOT and JULIA RODRIGUEZ ELLIOT, artistic co-directors

PACIFIC CHORALE

JOHN ALEXANDER, artistic director

HEIDI GRANT MURPHY, soprano

STEPHANIE BLYTHE, mezzo-soprano

HOWARD Fanfare (world premiere of the orchestral version)

MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night's Dream

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

Thursday, July 15, 2004 at 8 PM

United's Thursdays

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

HEIDI GRANT MURPHY, soprano

STEPHANIE BLYTHE, mezzo-soprano

LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE

GRANT GERSHON, music director

MAHLER Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"

July 13 sponsored by Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts; media support provided by K-MOZART and KCSN
July 15 sponsored by United Airlines; media support provided by K-MOZART

Tickets ($5 - $40) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850-2050 for further details.
For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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