Concert Features Highly Regarded Baroque Violinist Giuliano Carmignola

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2007, AT 7:30 PM

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association presents the Venice Baroque Orchestra, one of Europe's premier ensembles devoted to period-instrument performance, on Sunday, February 18, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. This second program of the Philharmonic's 2006/2007 Baroque Variations Series features the orchestra with violin soloist Giuliano Carmignola, violin, performing three concertos by Vivaldi and one by Tartini.

The Venice Baroque Orchestra, led by conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and Baroque music scholar Andrea Marcon, has received wide critical acclaim for its concert and opera performances throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Japan. Marcon, who founded the ensemble in 1997, is widely recognized as a leading interpreter of the Baroque and Classical periods and has led the group to international renown. Carmignola, equally accomplished on modern and Baroque violin, is highly regarded for his broad repertoire, which encompasses Baroque, Romantic, Classical, and 20th-century works.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's four-concert Baroque Variations series offers presentations of Baroque music on both period and modern instruments performed by some of the world's most admired ensembles and soloists. Additional concerts during the 2006/07 season include the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell (March 20, 2007) and Il Giardino Armonico with Giovanni Antonini (April 26, 2007).

Musicologist Thomas Neenan discusses the concert program at "Upbeat Live," a free event in BP Hall, open to all ticket holders and held one hour before the performance.

The VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA, founded in 1997, is committed to the rediscovery of first-rate Baroque opera. Director Andrea Marcon has led the ensemble in modern-day premieres of Francesco Cavalli's L'Orione, Vivaldi's Atenaide, and Benedetto Marcello's La Morte D'Adone and Il trionfo della poesia e della musica. With Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the orchestra staged Handel's Siroe in 2000, followed with equal success by Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade in 2001. In April 2004, the orchestra revived Siroe in its first full staging in the United States at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. In 2004, it also gave the modern-day premiere of Andromeda liberata, a Venetian serenata recently discovered to have been written in part by Vivaldi, at the Venice Music Festival. In 2003, the orchestra signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The orchestra has also recorded on Sony Classical and has been honored with the Diapason D'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and Echo Award.

GIULIANO CARMIGNOLA's career began with awards at the "Premio Città di Vittorio Veneto" in 1971 and the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1973. He quickly secured his status as a leading soloist under Claudio Abbado, Eliahu Inbal, Peter Maag, and Giuseppe Sinopoli, appearing at Royal Albert Hall, La Scala, Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, and Tchaikovsky Hall. He also toured extensively with I Virtuosi di Roma, and gave the Italian premiere of the Dutilleux violin concerto. Today, Carmignola enjoys a uniquely diverse career, with repertoire ranging from Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn to Debussy, Stravinsky, and Schnittke. Carmignola's extensive discography includes six recordings with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, including two albums of previously unrecorded Vivaldi concertos, The Four Seasons, and a collection of Locatelli violin concertos, as well as the complete Bach sonatas for violin and harpsichord (with Andrea Marcon), all recorded for Sony. Carmignola now records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon; the first release, Concerto Veneziano, a collection of concertos of Tartini, Locatelli, and Vivaldi, has been followed by a disc of previously unrecorded concertos of Vivaldi that was recently awarded both the Diapason D'Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique. In the performance of Baroque music, and of Classical music with period-instrument ensembles, Carmignola plays a 1739 Floreno Guidantus.

Conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and scholar ANDREA MARCON is a leading specialist and performer of early music. Born in Treviso, Marcon received a diploma in Early Music from Basel's Schola Cantorum Basiliensis for his organ and harpsichord studies with Jean-Claude Zehnder. He then won first prize in the organ competition at Innsbruck in 1986 and, in 1991, first prize for harpsichord at Bologna. Today, Marcon is widely recognized as a leading interpreter of the Baroque and Classical periods. In 1997, he founded the Venice Baroque Orchestra (VBO) and has since led the group to international acclaim. His dedication to the rediscovery of Baroque opera masterpieces led to the first modern-day stagings of Francesco Cavalli's L'Orione (1998), Handel's Siroe (2000), and, at Venice's Teatro Malibran, Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade (2001). In April 2004, Marcon conducted the VBO in the United States premiere of Siroe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Marcon is professor of harpsichord, organ, and interpretation at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He was founding harpsichordist and organist for the Treviso-based early music ensemble, Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca (1983-1997). He also founded, and served as artistic director of the International Organ Festival "Città di Treviso," where he helped facilitate the restoration of the city's historic organs. Marcon's teachers included Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Hans van Nieuwkoop, Jesper Christensen, Harald Vogel, and Ton Koopman.

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:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2007, AT 7:30 PM

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

Baroque Variations

VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA

ANDREA MARCON, director

GIULIANO CARMIGNOLA, violin

Tickets ($33 - $86) 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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