Works by Rachmaninoff, Kodály and Bartók are Featured

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, JANUARY 4 AND 5, 2007 AT 8 PM

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2007 AT 2 PM

Gustavo Dudamel, who made his U.S. conducting debut in 2005 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut Thursday, January 4, and Saturday, January 6, 2007 at 2 p.m. Internationally renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman performs Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. Also on the program is Kodály's Dances of Galánta and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra.

A Casual Friday performance takes place Friday, January 5, 2007 at 8 p.m., and features only the works by Kodály and Rachmaninoff. At this performance, audience and orchestra members alike come attired in comfortable clothes, and subscribers are invited to meet the musicians at a post-concert reception.

Gustavo Dudamel's first 2007 performances mark his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut. Named "one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation," he was recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Sweden, starting in 2007/2008. In September of 2006, he released his debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, conducting the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in of Beethoven's 5th and 7th Symphonies.

Bronfman, a Grammy and Avery Fisher Prize-winner, is known for his commanding technique and exceptional lyricism, which makes an "awe-inspiring performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3." Although Bronfman has played the piece over 100 times, Valerie Scher, music critic of the San Diego Union-Tribune, said "what made that performance so exciting...was its freshness, as if he were energized by the demands of one of the piano repertoire's most thrilling concertos." The Houston Chronicle described him as an "impressive soloist, full of speed, power, agile technique - and a determination to avoid finding any hint of sentiment in the work. "

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and are free to all ticket holders. Christopher Russell, conductor and music educator, is host.

Venezuelan conductor GUSTAVO DUDAMEL is an accomplished violinist and composer and the winner of the 2004 Bamberg Symphony Gustav Mahler-Conducting Competition, and the 2006 Pegasus Prize from the "Festival dei due Mondi," Italy. He was born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He studied violin, from the age of 10, at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory with José Luis Jiménez and since then has been studying with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin American Academy of Violin. In 1996 he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and during that same year he was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 he studied conducting with Jose Antonio Abreu. Since 1999 he has been Musical Director of the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, and later became Music Director of the Youth Orchestra of the Andean Countries. In his position with the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra, he conducts circa 90 performances per season which included Italy and Germany in 2006. Also in 2006, Gustavo Dudamel was guest conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Great Britain, the Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Gothenburg; and he made debuts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Foundation, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala and Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne. He returned to Israel in a 10-day tour with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and made an appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival. Opera engagements included Donizettis L'elisir d'amore at the Berlin State Opera and Mozart's Don Giovanni at La Scala. Dudamel regularly collaborates with Sir Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, and Daniel Barenboim. Gustavo Dudamel is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist.

Pianist YEFIM BRONFMAN was born in Tashkent, in the Soviet Union, on April 10, 1958. His family immigrated to Israel in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States he studied at Juilliard, Marlboro, and Curtis, and with Rudolf Firkusny, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. He became an American citizen in July 1989. His commanding technique and exceptional lyrical gifts have won him consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences worldwide, whether for his solo recitals, his prestigious orchestral engagements or his rapidly growing catalog of recordings. Highlights of Bronfman's 2005/06 season include a duo recital tour and recording for EMI with flutist Emmanuel Pahud, a tour of Germany with the Tonhalle Orchestra and David Zinman, a duo recording with Nikolaj Znaider for Sony BMG, and an appearance in Chicago with the Emerson Quartet. As a special project, he recorded Beethoven's 3rd and 4th Piano Concertos and the Triple Concerto with violinist Gil Shaham, cellist Truls Mork, and the Tönhalle Orchestra Zürich under David Zinman as the first in a series of the complete Beethoven concertos for the Arte Nova/BMG label. In 1991 he gave a series of joint recitals with Isaac Stern in Russia, marking Bronfman's first public performances there since his emigration to Israel at age 15. That same year he was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists. As an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist, he won a Grammy award in 1997 for his recording of the three Bartók Piano Concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music - Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association's involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2007at 8 p.m.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6, 2007at 2 p.m.

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, conductor

YEFIM BRONFMAN, piano

KODÁLY Dances of Galánta

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3

BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra

FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2007 at 8 p.m. (Casual Friday)

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, conductor

YEFIM BRONFMAN, piano

KODÁLY Dances of Galánta

RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and are free to all ticket holders. Christopher Russell, conductor and music educator, is host.

Tickets ($15 - 135) are on sale now online at LAPhil.com, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, 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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