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  • MUSIC DIRECTOR ESA-PEKKA SALONEN CONDUCTS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN JOHN ADAMS' NAIVE AND SENTIMENTAL MUSIC AND BEETHOVEN'S SYMPHONY NO. 2
  • Jan. 19, 2007
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonic Debut at R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall for Sunday, January 21 Concert

    FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007, 8 PM

    SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2007, 8 PM

    SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2007, 3 PM (R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa)

    Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the orchestra in John Adams' masterpiece Naïve and Sentimental Music at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Casual Friday Series on January 19, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. In addition, Beethoven's heroic Symphony No. 2 is performed on Saturday, January 20, 2007, at 8 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Sunday, January 21 concert at 3 p.m. marks the Los Angeles Philharmonic's debut at the new R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall, in Costa Mesa, CA.

    American composer John Adams's Naïve and Sentimental Music received its world premiere in Los Angeles in February, 1999, to a rapturous audience response and was immediately hailed by critics as his most impressive orchestral score since Harmonielehre. The New York Times wrote that the new work "carries [the composer's] considerable art to a dazzling new level… Adams has created an impressive, fearless masterpiece that will stand out in an already distinguished career." Adams began writing this 48-minute, three-movement orchestral work, in the spring of 1998 and finished the piece in the winter. He dedicated the ambitious symphonic work to Esa-Pekka Salonen, due to his admiration for Salonen as both a composer and a conductor. Naïve and Sentimental Music was co-commissioned by the Philharmonic in collaboration with the Ensemble Modern, Sydney Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony. The orchestra and Salonen subsequently recorded the work for the Nonesuch label.

    Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, a piece of boundless humor and vitality, was written during the time the composer's hearing was deteriorating. It is said that "the piece's vitality might have provided Beethoven with comfort at a difficult time." The Symphony is an energetic, noble, and surprisingly humorous work, and was premiered in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on April 5, 1803, conducted by the composer.

    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. Robert Winter, UCLA performance practice professor is moderator.

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is currently in his 15th season as Music Director. He made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the orchestra every season since. His current tenure is the second-longest in Philharmonic history, and he recently extended his contract through the 2007/08 season. Alongside his activities as a conductor, Salonen has also won acclaim for his work as a composer. Among the many highlights of Salonen's activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of works by composers John Adams, Franco Donatoni, William Kraft, Witold Lutoslawski, Magnus Lindberg, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, Tan Dun, and Augusta Read Thomas, as well as his own works. He has led critically acclaimed festivals of music by Ligeti, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Berlioz, and has served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival. He and the Philharmonic have toured extensively since 1992, including extended residencies at the Salzburg Festival and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Salonen's latest orchestral work, Wing on Wing, received its world premiere in June 2004 as part of the Philharmonic's Building Music Festival. In March 2003 Salonen signed an exclusive four-year recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon; in February 2005, the label released Wing on Wing, a disc devoted to his recent works. Before signing with DG, Salonen recorded regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Sony Classical. A Sony disc of Salonen's compositions, including LA Variations, Five Images After Sappho, Giro, Gambit, and Mania, has garnered critical acclaim throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Salonen and the Philharmonic's discography also includes the debut recording of John Adams' Naive and Sentimental Music - a work that the orchestra premiered - for the Nonesuch label. Salonen was born in Helsinki in 1958, and after studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and with private teachers Franco Donatoni and Niccolò Castiglioni in Italy, he made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979. He is the recipient of many major awards including the Siena Prize from the Accademia Chigiana in 1993, the first conductor ever to receive the prize; the Royal Philharmonic Society's Opera Award in 1995; and their Conductor Award in 1997. In 1998 he was awarded the rank of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government; in 2003 he received an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Finland.

    JOHN ADAMS is one of America's most admired and respected composers. A musician of enormous range and technical command, he has produced works, both operatic and symphonic, that stand out among contemporary classical music for the depth of their expression, the brilliance of their sound world, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. His music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of musical aesthetics away from the theoretical principles of European modernism toward a more expansive and expressive language, so characteristic of his New World surroundings. Born and raised in New England, Adams learned the clarinet from his father and played in marching bands and community orchestras during his formative years. He began composing at the age of ten, and heard his first orchestral pieces performed while still a teenager. The intellectual and artistic traditions of New England, especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Harvard University, helped shape him as an artistic and thinker. After earning two degrees from Harvard University, he moved to Northern California in 1971, and has ever since lived in the San Francisco Bay area. Adams taught for ten years at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music before becoming Composer in Residence with the San Francisco Symphony (1982-85) and the creator of the orchestra's highly successful and controversial New and Unusual Music series. In April and May of 2003 Lincoln Center presented a festival entitled John Adams: An American Master, the most extensive festival ever mounted at Lincoln Center devoted to a living composer. Adams, who is the subject of three documentary films, has also served as Music Director of the Cabrillo Festival, as Artist in Association with the BBC Symphony, and as Creative Chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Cambridge University in England as well as an honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa. John Adams has twice been honored by California governors for his contribution to the culture of his state. Adams is currently working on a book of memoirs and commentary on American musical life. It will be released by Farrar Straus & Giroux in the U.S. and by Faber Ltd. in the UK. Just released is The John Adams Reader, Essential Writings on an American Composer, edited by Tom May and published by Amadeus Books.

    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:

    FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2007, at 8 PM

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

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    ADAMS Naïve and Sentimental Music

    SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 2007 at 8 PM

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

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    ADAMS Naïve and Sentimental Music

    BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2

    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. Robert Winter, UCLA performance practice professor is moderator.

    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.

    SUNDAY, JANUARY 21, 2007, at 3 PM

    R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    ADAMS Naïve and Sentimental Music

    BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 2

    Tickets for the R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall are $25 - $200. For information call 714-556-2787.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3408, acrane@laphil.org; Rachelle Roe, 213.972.7310, rroe@laphil.org; Photos: 213.972.3034