Los Angeles, CA (April 18, 2016) – The Los Angeles Philharmonic today announced a residency with Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA) at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) that will culminate in a world premiere of a Tania León co-commission Pa’lante which she will conduct at the 2016 Ojai Music Festival (June 12).

As part of ICE’s new program, EntICE, a series of new commissions from acclaimed composers for performances by youth ensembles and ICE playing side-by-side, YOLA at HOLA Symphonic Winds (YHSW) and ICE will perform León’s Pa’lante. This process involves four ICE musicians and thirty-five members of YHSW bringing a new work to life over three residencies in Los Angeles, with all musicians playing parts written for their respective skill levels and ICE musicians having featured roles.

The YOLA/ICE residency builds on existing work at YOLA in developing skills for young musicians to be self-sufficient and to collaborate with others. The approach is process and results driven: it introduces contemporary music through the exercise of developing a new work, and students work toward a prestigious final performance.

During the residencies held in Los Angeles, YHSW and the musicians from ICE will create a second piece to be presented in Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of a concert for YOLA students, friends and families on April 28, 2016.

At the Ojai Music Festival free community performance on June 12, 2016, ICE will also premiere a new work they commissioned from 17-year-old Sharon Hurvitz, a Senior Fellow of the LA Phil’s Composer Fellowship Program (CFP). Sharon has participated in two years of intensive study in the Composer Fellowship Program and is spending a senior fellow year studying privately with CFP Director Andrew Norman. 

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

Thursday, April 28, 2016, 7:00-8:15pm
Walt Disney Concert Hall
FREE - LIMITED TICKETS WILL BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC (contact box office 323.850. 2000)

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) & YOLA (Youth Orchestra LA) at HOLA (Heart of Los Angeles) Symphonic Winds

CHARLES R. YOUNG: Tempered Steel
ICE/YOLA: Untitled Co-Composition

YOLA (Youth Orchestra LA) at EXPO (Expo Center) Symphony Orchestra
Juan Felipe Molano, conductor

GIOACHINO ROSSINI:William Tell Overture
NIKOLAY RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol

Sunday, June 12, 2016, 1:00-2:00pm
Libbey Bowl, Ojai
FREE – RESERVATIONS REQUIRED (reservations open in spring 2016)

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) & YOLA (Youth Orchestra LA) at HOLA (Heart of Los Angeles) Symphonic Winds
Tania León, conductor

TANIA LEÓN: Pa’lante – World Premiere
SHARON HURVITZ: New work TBA – World Premiere

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Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA)
Since it was established in fall of 2007, YOLA has grown to serve 700 students, ages 6-18, in South L.A., the Rampart District and East L.A. YOLA partners share costs and program management responsibilities. The YOLA initiative currently consists of three programs: YOLA at EXPO, YOLA at HOLA, and YOLA at LACHSA.

Part of Exposition Park in South L.A., YOLA at EXPO has grown to include three orchestras, mentorship, group lessons, chamber music, and parent ensembles. The program serves hundreds of students who attend four days each week. In addition, students perform annually at Walt Disney Concert Hall and have appeared multiple times on the iconic stage of the Hollywood Bowl. YOLA at EXPO is a partnership of the LA Phil, Harmony Project, and EXPO Center, a City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks facility.

YOLA at Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), located in the Rampart District, serves hundreds of students with intensive after-school orchestral instruction five days a week. Classes include music creativity, singing and solfège, ensemble rehearsals, and academic tutoring daily. This holistic approach fosters a sense of community and provides the students with the opportunity to take advantage of HOLA’s exceptional programs and resources. YOLA at HOLA is a partnership between the LA Phil and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA).

YOLA at LACHSA engages 140 students, ages 8-11. High school students at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts act as mentors to their younger YOLA counterparts. YOLA at LACHSA is a partnership between the LA Phil and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
Founded in 2001, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced. With a modular makeup of 34 members performing in forces ranging from soloists to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. ICE redefines concert music as it brings together new work and new listeners in the 21st century.

The ensemble has premiered more than 750 works, having launched and sustained innovative efforts in commissioning music (ICElab), presenting music through free concerts (OpenICE), and HD digital dissemination of its performances (DigitICE). The group was named 2014 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America and, since 2009, has been the ensemble-in-residence at the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Claire Chase, the company’s co-artistic director and founding flutist, is a 2012 MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellow.

Ojai Music Festival
From its founding in 1947, the Ojai Music Festival has created a place for groundbreaking musical experiences, bringing together innovative artists and curious audiences in an intimate, idyllic setting 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The Festival presents broad-ranging programs in unusual ways with an eclectic mix of rarely performed music, refreshing juxtapositions of musical styles, and music by today’s composers. The four-day festival is a complete immersive experience with concerts, free community events, symposia, and gatherings. Considered a highlight of the international music summer season, Ojai has remained a leader in the classical music landscape.

The Ojai Music Festival attracts the world’s greatest musical artists. Through its unique structure of the Artistic Director appointing an annual Music Director, Ojai has presented a “who’s who” of music including: Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez, John Adams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David Robertson, eighth blackbird, George Benjamin, Dawn Upshaw, Leif Ove Andsnes, Mark Morris, Jeremy Denk, and Steven Schick. Following the upcoming 70th Festival with Peter Sellars, Ojai will welcome MacArthur Fellow Vijay Iyer in 2017 and Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2018 as its music directors.

Follow Festival updates at OjaiFestival.org, Facebook (Facebook.com/ojaifestival), and Twitter (@ojaifestivals).

Sharon Hurvitz
Seventeen-year-old Sharon Hurvitz has been part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Composer Fellowship Program (CFP) since 2013. In the last three years she has written three pieces for full orchestra, four short chamber works, a string quartet for the Calder Quartet, and a choral work. During her tenure as an LA Phil Composer Fellow, she has studied under James Matheson, A.J. McCaffrey, and Sarah Gibson. Now, under the guidance of CFP Program Director Andrew Norman, Sharon continues to hone her compositional skills for a third year as a Senior Composer Fellow. As a composer, Sharon has garnered numerous accolades, including First Place two years in a row at the Music Teacher’s Association of California Composers Today State Contest, and she has been granted the Association’s highest honor for high school and college-age composers – a five-year honorary membership in The Young Composers Guild.