Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour Solos on Glass’ Violin Concerto

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008, AT 8 PM

Media Sponsor: Time Warner Cable

Los Angeles native Leonard Slatkin spends a summer evening at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Tuesday, August 12, at 8 p.m. The former Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and champion of American composers leads a program of Philip Glass’ Two Interludes from the CIVIL warS and his Violin Concerto featuring the LA Phil’s Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour as soloist. The concert concludes with one of the classical repertoire’s most popular works, Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Glass’ opera, the CIVIL warS, was originally conceived as part of Robert Wilson’s multi-composer epic for the 1984 Olympic Games. The composer’s Violin Concerto was written in 1987 for Glass’ friend and collaborator on the piece, Paul Zukovsky.

The Enigma Variations, comprised of 14 variations on a theme, put Elgar on the international map of composers in 1899. Each segment is nicknamed for his friends and acquaintances. The beautiful and picturesque ninth variation, Nimrod, is by far the most loved and recognizable.

Denied the job of an usher as a teenager, Slatkin’s wish of working for the Bowl was realized in 2004 with his appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, a position he held until last summer.

Internationally recognized American conductor LEONARD SLATKIN becomes Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2008/09, after having completed 12 seasons as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in 2007/08. Slatkin will continue as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. His performances throughout North America, Europe and the Far East have been distinguished by imaginative programming and highly praised interpretations of both the standard and contemporary symphonic repertoire. Additionally, he is well-known for his arts advocacy work on behalf of music education. Following a successful tenure as Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony from 1979 until 1996, Slatkin was named Conductor Laureate. He has served as Festival Director of the Cleveland Orchestra's Blossom Festival (1990-99), Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1997-2000), Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2000-2004), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (2004-2007). In addition to his conducting appearances, Slatkin is a frequent host of musical broadcasts, which include the BBC, lending his broad knowledge and expertise. Slatkin has made regular appearances with virtually every major international orchestra and leading opera companies around the world. His more than 100 recordings have been recognized with five Grammy awards and more than 60 other Grammy nominations. Demonstrating his commitment to arts education and reaching diverse audiences, he is the founder and director of the National Conducting Institute, an advanced career development program for rising conductors. Additionally, Slatkin founded the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and has also worked with student and youth orchestras across the U.S. He also reaches out to younger musicians and music teachers through the NSO American Residencies program and regularly addresses and mentors public and private school students of all ages. Slatkin has received many honors and awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Arts (the highest award given to artists by the U.S. Government), the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, the American Symphony Orchestra League's Gold Baton for service to American music, ASCAP awards with both the National and Saint Louis Symphonies, an honorary doctorate from his alma mater the Juilliard School, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the DC Mayor's Arts Awards, and the prestigious Declaration of Honor in Silver from the Austrian ambassador to the United States for outstanding contributions to cultural relations. Slatkin is the Arthur R. Metz Foundation Conductor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, and beginning with the 2007/08 season, the Distinguished Artist in Residence at American University.

MARTIN CHALIFOUR began his tenure as Principal Concertmaster (Marjorie Connell Wilson Chair) of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1995. The recipient of various grants and awards in his native Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at the age of 18 and then moved to Philadelphia to pursue studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 1986, Chalifour received a Certificate of Honor at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow; he was a laureate of the Montreal International Competition the following year. Since then he has concertized extensively, playing hundreds of concerto performances from a repertoire of more than 50 works. He has appeared as soloist with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Neville Marriner and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Outside the U.S., he has appeared as a guest soloist with the Auckland Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Malaysian Philharmonic, among others. Chalifour began his orchestral career in 1984 with the late Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony, playing as Associate Concertmaster for six years. Subsequently he occupied the same position for five years in the Cleveland Orchestra, where he also served as Acting Concertmaster under Christoph von Dohnányi. While in Cleveland, Chalifour taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a founding member of two chamber ensembles, Myriad and the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio. Chalifour is a frequent guest at several summer music festivals. Maintaining close ties with his native Quebec, he has returned there to teach and appear as soloist with the Quebec Symphony. He has also performed several chamber music concerts with cellist Lynn Harrell at the Amelia Island Festival in Florida and at the Madison Chamber Music Festival in Georgia. Chalifour and two of his Philharmonic colleagues, Joanne Pearce Martin and Peter Stumpf, recently joined forces and formed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Piano Trio to explore the wonderful repertoire written for this combination. All three artists met in 1981 while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The trio has performed Beethoven's Triple Concerto at the Hollywood Bowl. Chalifour is a professor at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.

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 40th 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 2008, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the fourth year in a row at the 19th 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:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2008, AT 8 PM

HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood



LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

LEONARD SLATKIN, conductor

MARTIN CHALIFOUR, violin



GLASS Two Interludes from the CIVIL warS

GLASS Violin Concerto

ELGAR Enigma Variations



Media Sponsor: Time Warner Cable

Tickets ($1 - $95) are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (Tuesday–Sunday, noon–6 p.m.), by phone 323.850.2000 or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details.

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