Los Angeles, CA (November 11, 2015) – The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2015/16 organ recital series begins with a performance from organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez on Sunday, November 22 at 7:30pm at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Making his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut, Prieto Ramírez will perform a wide-ranging program highlighted by Bach’s C-minor Passacaglia in addition to Franz Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz and other works transcribed for organ by Prieto Ramírez. He is the first Spanish organist in recent times to establish himself among the elite of the international concert scene. His powerful personality, passionate expressiveness, gift for communication, and outstanding technique make him shine in a wide range of repertoire and styles. Joey DiGuglielmo of the Washington Blade has described Prieto Ramírez as “the whole package – flawless technique and solid repertoire executed with the flair and bravado of a matador.”
Prieto Ramírez was appointed at age 27 as the first Organist-in-Residence of the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid – Spain’s National Concert Hall – a position that had never existed before. Within the first six months of his appointment, he increased attendance at the hall’s organ recitals by a multiple of 30, and critics hailed him as one of the most exciting talents in the music scene in Spain. Right after Madrid, he developed the most successful organ festival in his country and settled in Barcelona, where he fills the Basilica in Mataró with audiences of over a thousand. Prieto Ramírez is now a successful concert organist with a busy global schedule that takes him to major festivals and concert halls around the world. The premiere of many of his works have been recorded and broadcast in Spain, including chamber music, organ music, many pieces for solo instruments, and a concerto for organ and orchestra premiered in Barcelona during the City Festival.
Inaugurated in 2004 at the opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s second season in Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ’s striking visual design was a collaboration between Frank Gehry and organ builder Manuel Rosales. The organ is voiced with a wide dynamic range – from pianississimo to a breathtaking fortissimo that can obliterate the sounds of a full orchestra. The specially curved wood façade pipes are actual playing pipes that were made by Glatter-Götz Orgelbau in Germany and consist of the Violone and Bassoon basses. Behind the façade are three levels of pipes, including metal pipes made of tin and lead alloys and wood pipes made of Norwegian pine. The organ, affectionately called “Hurricane Mama,” was so named by musical visionary Terry Riley after a night of improvising.
See below for a full calendar of organ recital series programming at Walt Disney Concert Hall throughout the 2015/16 season:
ORGAN RECITAL SERIES
Sunday, November 22, 2015, at 7:30 PM
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/organ-recital-raul-prieto-ramirez/2015-11-22
Raúl Prieto Ramírez, organ
RITTER Sonata II in E minor, Op.19
SAINT- SAËNS (ARR. LEMARE) Danse macabre
FRANCK Pièce Héroïque
DURUFLÉ Prelude and Fugue on the Name ALAIN, Op.7
LISZT (ARR. RAMÍREZ) Mephisto Waltz No.1
BACH Passacaglia in C Minor, BMV 582
WAGNER (ARR. RAMÍREZ) Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Sunday, January 24, 2016, at 7:30 PM
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/organ-recital-jacobs-brewer/2016-01-24
Paul Jacobs, organ
Christine Brewer, soprano
BACH Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29, BWV 29
BACH Bist du bei mir
HANDEL But Oh! What Art Can Teach
FRANCK Panis Angelicus
Nadia BOULANGER Trois Pièces (organ solo)
Lili BOULANGER Pie Jesu
PUCCINI Salve Regina
REGER Toccata and Fugue, Op. 59
REGER Songs (after Hugo Wolf)
Nun wander, Maria
Führ’ mich, Kind, nach Bethlehem!
Gebet
GOUNOD Ave Maria (after J.S. Bach)
GOUNOD O Repentir!
WIDOR Toccata from Symphony No. 5, Op. 42
Sunday, April 3, 2016, at 7:30 PM
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/organ-recital-thomas-trotter/2016-04-03
Thomas Trotter, organ
BACH Toccata & Fugue in F, BMV 540
MOZART Adagio & Allegro, K. 594
SCHUMANN Two Fugues on B.A.C.H. (3 & 5)
DOVE The Dancing Pipes
WIDOR Symphony No. 5: 1. Allegro
DUKAS (ARR. TROTTER) The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
LISZT Fantasia & Fugue on B.A.C.H.
Sunday, May 29, 2016, at 7:30 PM
http://www.laphil.com/tickets/mozart-part-organ-works/2016-05-29
Aaron David Miller, organ
Damin Spritzer, organ
PÄRT Annum per annum
MOZART Fantasia in F minor, K. 608
MOZART Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546
GIGOUT Grand choeur dialogué
Subscriptions and single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2015/16 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase, please visit LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet. To order by phone with credit card, please call the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office at 323.850.2000, or Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres – orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop – at two of L.A.’s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil’s season extends from September through May at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.
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Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213.972.3422
Laura Cohen, lcmediapr@gmail.com, 310.867.3897
Photos: 213.972.3034