TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2010, AT 8 PM

The Concert is Generously Sponsored by Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts; Media Sponsor: KUSC

WHAT:

Twenty-nine-year-old Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen makes his Hollywood Bowl debut as he leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program of music by Sibelius, Ravel and Tchaikovsky, Tuesday, August 17, at 8 p.m. The concert also features veteran American pianist Leon Fleisher performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.

Pietari Inkinen is Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic. As a guest conductor he has already worked with some of the world’s major orchestras including Dresden Staatskapelle, Deutsche Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bayerische Rundfunk, WDR Cologne, Maggio Musicale, La Scala, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and CBSO; in future seasons he will make his debuts with orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris. As guest conductor, Inkinen enjoys successful collaborations with soloists such as Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, Pinchas Zukerman, Nikolaj Znaider, Jean Yves Thibaudet, Alexander Toradze and Elisabeth Leonskaya, and in the operatic pit, has conducted three productions at the Finnish National Opera including Eugene Onegin. In the studio, his recordings for Naxos with the New Zealand and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras including Rautavaara’s Manhattan Trilogy and the Brahms Violin Concerto have been greeted with critical acclaim.

Pianist Leon Fleisher – whose musical lineage links him to Beethoven by way of his instructor, Artur Schnabel – gave his first public recital at the age of 8, made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 16, and secured his place in the pianistic pantheon by becoming the first American to win the internationally respected Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. And then, at age 36, he was struck down in his prime, suddenly and mysteriously losing the use of two fingers on his right hand. In the nearly 40 years since his career was suddenly curtailed by the neurological affliction focal dystonia, he has followed two parallel careers – as conductor and teacher – while learning the extraordinary but limited repertoire for piano left-hand. Treatments including a regimen of rolfing and Botox injections finally restored the mobility in Fleisher’s hand, and for several years he has played with both hands, winning enormous acclaim for his 2004 'two-hand' recording aptly titled Two Hands. At the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, he was recognized as "a consummate musician whose career is a testament to the life-affirming power of art." Fleisher's story is the subject of the 2006 Oscar- and Emmy-nominated documentary film of the same name, written and directed by Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect).

Complete Program:

SIBELIUS Finlandia

RAVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

WHO:

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

PIETARI INKINEN, conductor

LEON FLEISHER, piano

WHEN:

Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 8 PM

WHERE:

HOLLYWOOD BOWL

2301 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90068

HOW TO PURCHASE:

Tickets are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (12pm – 6pm, Tues. – Sun.), via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000, or through Ticketmaster. Groups of 10 or more may call 323.850.2050 for information about special rates, subject to availability.