The Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by guest conductor Alan Gilbert, performs Anton Webern’s transcription of J. S. Bach’s Ricercare and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Thursday, February 21; Friday, February 22; and Saturday, February 23 at 8 p.m. Concertmaster Martin Chalifour is the soloist for Offertorium by Sofia Gubaidulina in its Los Angeles premiere. The concerts also feature Upbeat Live, a pre-concert discussion with the Philharmonic’s Consulting Composer for New Music Steven Stucky, in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Grand Hall one hour before each performance.

Tickets ($12-$78) are available at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, Tu Música, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at laphil.com. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount; call 323/850-2050. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available 2 hours prior to the performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for special discounts. For further information, please call 323/850-2000.

Both familiar and well-loved compositions by Bach and Tchaikovsky bracket a stunning work by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina in this series of concerts. In 1747, J.S. Bach created a “Musical Offering,” for Frederic the Great of Prussia, whom he had visited in Berlin earlier that year. The king had given Bach a tune that he had made up and requested that Bach compose a fugue upon the melody. The Ricercare, for six voices, is the culminating piece in the “Offering” and was transcribed for orchestra by Schoenberg student and composer Anton Webern.

Violinist Gidon Kremer’s performances and recording of Sofia Gubaidulina’s concerto Offertorium, which the composer wrote for him, helped to bring her works to international attention during the 1980s. Tchaikovsky finished his Sixth Symphony in fall of 1893 and conducted its premiere just 8 days before his death. The work renewed Tchaikovsky’s faith in his abilities as a composer, after he had feared he was played out artistically. The piece quotes from the Russian mass for the dead in the first movement and culminates in a mood of despair. Just prior to sending it to the publisher, the composer renamed the symphony, appropriately, “Pathétique” and it remains one of his masterworks.

American conductor ALAN GILBERT is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he assumed in January of 2000. Last season, he made debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto and Vancouver symphonies. He continues long-standing relationships with the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore and Houston and has conducted the Boston, St. Louis and San Francisco symphonies. Equally active in Europe, Gilbert regularly conducts the Stockholm Philharmonic, Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France and the Tonhalle Orchestra among others. He travels annually to Asia and has conducted the NHK Symphony, as well as the Tokyo and Sapporo symphonies. He was born in New York and began playing the violin at a young age. Gilbert studied at Harvard, Curtis and Juilliard. He was Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1995-1997.

MARTIN CHALIFOUR began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the 1995/96 season. He made his first solo appearances with the orchestra in Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, conducted by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, in April 1996 at the Music Center. Before coming to Los Angeles, Chalifour joined the Cleveland Orchestra in 1990 as Associate Concertmaster and later held the position of Acting Concertmaster for two seasons. Prior to that, he served as Associate Concertmaster and Acting Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Chalifour appears frequently as a soloist and in recital, and he has toured with chamber ensembles throughout North America and Europe. He has been a concerto soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Montreal and Quebec Symphony Orchestras, L'orchestre du Capitole in Toulouse, and the Ohio Chamber Orchestra. He regularly performs in a number of summer music festivals including San Diego's Mainly Mozart Festival and Florida's Sarasota Music Festival. Born in Montreal, Canada, Chalifour graduated at the age of 18 with a unanimous First Prize from the Montreal Conservatory, and is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music.

EDITORS - PLEASE NOTE:

Thursday, February 21, 8 PM

Friday, February 22, 8 PM

Saturday, February 23, 8 PM

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION, 135 N. Grand Ave in Los Angeles

Los Angeles Philharmonic

ALAN GILBERT, conductor

MARTIN CHALIFOUR, violin

BACH/WEBERN: Ricercare

GUBAIDULINA: Offertorium

TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, Pathétique

Upbeat Live, a free pre-concert discussion with the Philharmonic’s Consulting Composer for New Music Steven Stucky, takes place in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Grand Hall one hour prior to performances.

Single tickets ($12-$78) are available at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, Tu Música, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.com. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available 2 hours prior to the performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for special discounts. For further information, please call 323/850-2000.