JULIA SWEENEY PERFORMS EXCERPT FROM HER ONE-WOMAN SHOW SET TO A NEW SCORE, AND PIANISTS JOANNE PEARCE MARTIN AND GAVIN MARTIN JOIN NARRATOR PERI GILPIN IN A NEW TAKE ON CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 and SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 AT 8:30 P.M.

August 25 Sponsored by Fidelity Investments

Lucas Richman, Music Director and Conductor of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, makes his Bowl debut on August 25 and 26 at 8:30 p.m. when he leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic with special guests the Smothers Brothers, comedienne Julia Sweeney, narrator Peri Gilpin, and pianists Joanne Pearce Martin with Gavin Martin in the Comedy Tonight programs. Richman replaces conductor Leonard Slatkin, who was originally scheduled to lead these programs; Slatkin is replacing an ailing Sir Andrew Davis on the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's European Festival tour.

The Smothers Brothers, members of the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, have been called 'National Treasures,' an endearing title earned by wooing three generations of audiences. Sweeney presents a new piece, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, from her hysterical one-woman show In the Family Way, about the adoption of her Chinese child, performed with a new orchestral score by composer Anthony Marinelli.

Joanne Pearce Martin and Gavin Martin perform Saint-Saëns' classic Carnival of the Animals, with a new narration written by Brian Hargrove and Greg Pierce. The new version has a Hollywood take -- it's the story of Cathy B. Simon, who arrives in Los Angeles on a bus to become a star, and all the Hollywood cliches she meets -- agents, managers, press agents, actors, etc. Actress Peri Gilpin (Frasier) narrates.

LUCAS RICHMAN has been Music Director and Conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra since 2003. Mr. Richman has appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Delaware Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, the SWR Radio Orchestra of Kaiserslautern (Germany), the Tiroler Kammerorchester InnStrumenti (Austria) and the Zagreb Philharmonic (Croatia). Mr. Richman served as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Assistant and Resident Conductor between 1998-2004 and, from 1988 to 1991, he was the Assistant Conductor for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, he has conducted for notable soloists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Garrick Ohlsson, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Gil Shaham, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, André Watts and Radu Lupu.

PERI GILPIN starred as Roz Doyle, the producer of Dr. Frasier Crane's talk radio show, on NBC's long-running, Emmy award-winning show, Frasier. Gilpin most recently starred in the Lifetime Television original movie For The Love Of A Child. Her film credits include roles in the following: How To Kill You Neighbor's Dog, opposite Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright Penn; the digitally-animated feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, with voices also provided by Alec Baldwin, Ming-Na, Ving Rhames and Donald Sutherland; the independent film Spring Forward with Liev Schreiber, Ned Beatty, Campbell Scott, and Lili Taylor; and Neil Simon's Emmy-nominated film for Showtime, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, starring opposite Nathan Lane. From the age of eight, Gilpin knew that she wanted to pursue acting and was enrolled in the Dallas Theater Center, which she likened to "summer camp -- you never wanted it to end." During the ten years (age 8-18) she spent at the DTC, Gilpin performed in various stage productions while simultaneously enjoying a successful career in television commercials. Gilpin attended the University of Texas in Austin where she studied Drama, as well as the British-American Academy in London. Upon returning to the States, set off for Williamstown where she entered the apprenticeship program and was later invited back for three consecutive summers as a non-equity actor. While there she appeared in productions of The Crucible, Hawthorne Country, and Peer Gynt. It was at Williamstown that she befriended actress Blythe Danner who would later serve as a great supporter of her work, helping her land a part in the off-off Broadway production of Lucky Lucy and the Fortune Man. Gilpin also managed to fit in an internship at Massachusetts' Stage West Theater where she appeared in productions of Guys and Dolls, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. More recently she has appeared in east coast productions of Midsummer Night's Dream, as Helena, at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, as well as As Bees in Honey Drown, playing Alexa Ver de Ver, at the Lucille Lortell Theatre. Gilpin relocated to Los Angeles and landed roles on such television shows as Cheers, Wings, and Designing Women. Her first venture into series television was Flesh 'N' Blood, which led to her subsequent casting in Local Heroes. Her additional television credits include the NBC film The Secret She Carried, opposite D.W. Moffett and Jere Burns, and the NBC film Fight for Justice: The Nancy Conn Story, opposite Marilu Henner. She also starred in an episode of the wildly popular series The Outer Limits entitled "Etherically Yours." On the Los Angeles stage, Gilpin appeared in The Maderati at the Tiffany Theater while also serving as Associate Producer. She also performed in the Ensemble Theater Production of Women of Manhattan. Gilpin currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and twin daughters.

ANTHONY MARINELLI is a BMI composer who has scored the music for various films including Leaving Las Vegas, God Said," Ha!", The Man from Elysian Fields, and Mayor of the Sunset Strip. Orchestration for the new piece, In the Family Way, is by Marinelli and Jeffrey Schindler.

JOANNE AND GAVIN MARTIN began performing together in 1984, as fellow students at The Curtis Institute of Music. Married since 1990, they have made Los Angeles their permanent residence. They continue to explore both the piano duet and two-piano repertoire. As the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Principal Keyboardist, Joanne Pearce Martin performs with the orchestra on numerous keyboard instruments including the celesta and Macintosh computer, in addition to the ubiquitous piano. Born in Allentown, PA, she also performs as soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Last season, she made nine solo appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on piano, harpsichord, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ. Martin has performed at summer music festivals and on concert series around the world. Numerous Southern California appearances include those with the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella and Chamber Music series, Camerata Pacifica, South Bay Chamber Music Society, the Ojai, Mainly Mozart, and San Luis Obispo Mozart Festivals, and Pacific Serenades (with which she has premiered 13 new works).

Gavin Martin's musical endeavors brought him from India to the United States by way of the Royal College of Music in London. He considers his approach to music strongly influenced by the playing of the late Jorge Bolet, and of Gary Graffman, two pianists with whom he studied extensively. Martin has performed in solo recital on all five continents, in addition to touring extensively as a chamber musician. The conductors he has appeared with as soloist include Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Zubin Mehta, with whom he made his New York Philharmonic debut in 1985. He has toured under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, and has appeared on the television stations of the BBC, Suisse Romande, and ABC. The venues at which the Martins have performed on two pianos include Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, the Howard Haig Memorial Festival in Redlands, and the Teatro Nacional in Costa Rica, where they were invited to perform a recital at the hall's 100th anniversary celebration. In addition to their musical pursuits, Joanne and Gavin are both active aerobatic pilots and skydivers - they recently did their first BASE jumps off Angel Falls in Venezuela.

Time has been an essential ingredient in the success of the comedy team of the SMOTHERS BROTHERS. Considered ahead of their time, masters of timing, and practitioners of timeless comedy, they now mark over 48 years in show business. The Smothers Brothers are being saluted as time-honored legends whose lengthy career has surpassed all other comedy teams in history. The Smothers Brothers' first professional appearance was at the Purple Onion in San Francisco in 1958, and their first national television appearance was on The Jack Paar Show on January 28, 1961. Over four decades of audiences have seen the Smothers Brothers in their own primetime comedy series in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, guest appearances on numerous television programs, countless engagements as headliners in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, a hot-selling video, twelve top-selling albums, as well as continuous coast-to coast concert tours. The millennium has brought new honors for the legendary duo, including a reunion of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the USA Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, induction into the illustrious Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, an invitation to become Artist Members of the Board of Directors of the Wolf Trap Foundation, and Honorary Doctorate degrees from their alma mater, San Jose State University.

JULIA SWEENEY is a writer and actress most known for her years on Saturday Night Live (1989-1994) and for performing a one-woman show, God Said, "Ha!" on Broadway. On SNL, Julia's most famous character was "Pat," an androgynous person who puzzled people wherever he/she went. The movie It's Pat was released by Disney in 1996. The film of her monologue, God Said, "Ha!" was produced by Quentin Tarantino and released by Miramax in 1998. She has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies and was a consulting producer on Sex & the City and Desperate Housewives. Julia is currently finishing her book My Beautiful Loss-Of-Faith Story and taking her show Letting Go Of God to New York in the fall. Her saga of the highs and lows of becoming a mother is portrayed in her show In the Family Way.

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 38th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2006, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the second year in a row at the 17th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 AT 8:30 PM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 AT 8:30 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

LUCAS RICHMAN, conductor

THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS, special guests

JULIA SWEENEY, special guest

JOANNE PEARCE MARTIN AND GAVIN MARTIN, pianos

JIEBING CHEN, erhu

PERI GILPIN, narrator

Presenting The Smothers Brothers

Tickets ($5 - $111) are on sale now online at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records and Ritmo Latino locations). 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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