On the Program are Grieg's Piano Concerto, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3, "Organ"

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, APRIL 17 AND 18, 2008, AT 8 PM

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 19 AND 20, 2008, AT 2 PM

The April 17 Concert is Generously Sponsored by Breguet, Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Media Sponsor for the April 20 Concert is KCET

Internationally acclaimed conductor Charles Dutoit leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in four performances featuring virtuoso pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet on Thursday and Friday, April 17 and 18, at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20, at 2 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Thibaudet performs Grieg's Piano Concerto in a program that also includes Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3, "Organ."

Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite began in 1908 with the creation of a single movement for piano duet, Sleeping Beauty’s Pavane. Four more duets followed in 1910 immediately before the Suite received its premiere. After a request for a ballet score, the composer orchestrated the originals and expanded the work, adding a prelude, several connection sections and one entirely new episode, as well as revising the sequence of the five original scenes, resulting in this enchanting work. Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, “Organ” share a Franz Liszt influence. It was the piano virtuoso’s interest and encouragement that resulted in Grieg’s showing him his score and Liszt’s immediate flawless reading of the piece. Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony, a remarkable example of scoring for keyboard instruments, was dedicated to the memory of Liszt, whose promotion of the concept of cyclical thematic transformation, the extended development and variation of a single movement source across all movements or sections of a work, greatly influenced the composer.

Dutoit, recently appointed chief conductor and music advisor of the Philadelphia Orchestra as well as artistic director and principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, regularly collaborates with the world's preeminent orchestras and soloists. Since his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980, he has been invited each season to conduct other major orchestras of the United States, including those of Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. He has also performed regularly with the great orchestras of Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as with the leading London orchestras and the major orchestras of Japan, South America and Australia.

Thibaudet is sought after by orchestras, conductors, festivals and fellow musicians alike for his versatility and artistic sensitivity and is equally prolific in the performance and recording arenas. He continues to be hailed by the press as "one of the best pianists in the world."

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Veronika Krausas, composer and Professor at Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.

For 25 years, 1977- 2002, conductor CHARLES DUTOIT was artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a dynamic musical partnership recognized all over the world. Renowned for polished and idiomatic interpretations of an eclectic array of musical styles, he has also been closely associated with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1990 as artistic director and principal conductor of the orchestra's summer festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate New York, leading the orchestra in a series of distinctive recordings. From 1991-2001, he was music director of the Orchestre National de France, with which he made a number of critically lauded recordings and toured extensively. In 1998, he was appointed music director of the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), with which he has toured Europe, the United States, China and Southeast Asia, and is today music director emeritus. When still in his early 20s, Dutoit was invited by Herbert von Karajan to lead the Vienna State Opera. He has since conducted regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Deutsche Opera, Berlin. He also led a highly acclaimed new production of Berlioz' masterpiece, Les Troyens, at the Los Angeles Opera. In 2003, he began a series of Wagner operas – Der fliegende Holländer and the complete Ring Cycle – at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Dutoit's interest in working with student orchestras has led to frequent collaborations with major music institutes and youth festivals in America, Europe and Asia. He was artistic director for three seasons of the Sapporo Pacific Music Festival and he is presently music director of the Miyazaki International Music Festival in Japan as well as artistic director of the Canton International Summer Music Academy (CISMA) in Guangzhou (Canton), China. He also participated in a series of educational documentary films entitled Cities of Music, produced by NHK Television of Tokyo and featuring 10 musical capitals in the world. In 1995, the government of Québec named Dutoit Grand Officier de l'Ordre national du Québec, and in 1996, he was invested as Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France. He is the recipient of two awards by the Canadian Conference of the Arts and, in 1998, he was invested as Honorary Officer of the Order of Canada, the country's highest award of merit, whose other honorary recipients include John Kenneth Galbraith, James Hillier, Nelson Mandela, the Queen Mother, Vaclav Havel and Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Dutoit's extensive musical training included history of music, composition, violin, viola, piano and percussion at the conservatoires of Geneva, Siena, Venice and Boston. Dutoit has recorded extensively for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Philips, CBS and Erato, among other labels, with American, European and Japanese orchestras. His more than 170 recordings, half of them with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, have garnered over 40 awards and distinctions around the world.

Pianist JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET continues to bring joy to audiences around the globe with his elegant style, depth of color, and brilliant technique. His interpretations combine a masterful virtuosity with lyric and poetic expressiveness, with which he makes each composer's work his own. Highlights of Thibaudet's 2007/08 season in the U.S. include three performances at New York's Carnegie Hall - with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Takács Quartet. Additional orchestral appearances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Internationally, the season takes Thibaudet to 16 countries spanning five continents, with appearances including tours with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, as well as concerts with such world-renowned ensembles as London's Philharmonia Orchestra, the NHK and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Valencia Orchestra. A vivid recitalist, for the 2007/08 season Thibaudet performs at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Carnegie's Zankel Hall and Chicago's Symphony Hall. Additional recitals take him to Japan, Germany, Spain and several U.S. cities. An active chamber musician, Thibaudet collaborates regularly with other notable artists, and tours with Takács Quartet in the spring of 2008. Thibaudet is an exclusive recording artist for Decca, which has released over 30 of his albums, earning the Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d'Or, Choc de la Musique, a Gramophone Award, two ECHO awards and the Edison Prize. His latest recording, Saint-Saëns Piano Concerti Nos. 2 & 5, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, released in 2007, follows the album Aria - Opera Without Words, which was released earlier last year. Thibaudet was the soloist on the 2005 Oscar-nominated soundtrack of Universal Pictures Pride and Prejudice and, in 2005, released his recording of Strauss' Burleske with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Among other recordings are Satie: The Complete Solo Piano Music and the jazz albums Reflections on Duke: Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays the music of Duke Ellington and Conversations with Bill Evans. Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, began his piano studies at age 5, made his first public appearance at age 7, and at 12, entered the Paris Conservatory to study with Aldo Ciccolini and Lucette Descaves, a friend and collaborator of Ravel. At age 15, he won the Premier Prix de Conservatoire and three years later, won the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York City. In 2001, France awarded Thibaudet the prestigious Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and, in 2002, he was awarded the Premio Pegasus from the Spoleto Festival in Italy for his artistic achievements and his longstanding involvement with the festival. His most recent accolade is the 2007 Victoire d'Honneur, a lifetime career achievement award and the highest honor given by France's Victoire de la Musique.

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:

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2008, at 8 PM

FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008, at 8 PM

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008, at 2 PM

SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2008, at 2 PM

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



LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

CHARLES DUTOIT, conductor

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET, piano



RAVEL Mother Goose Suite

GRIEG Piano Concerto

SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, “Organ”



The April 17 concert is generously sponsored by Breguet, Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The media sponsor of the April 20 concert is KCET.

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Veronika Krausas, composer and professor at Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.

Tickets ($40 - $142) 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) are released for sale to selected Philharmonic, Colburn Celebrity Recital, and Baroque Variations performances two weeks 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 10 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For information, please call 323.850.2000.

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