We’ve got rhythm, we’ve got music – the Los Angeles Philharmonic performs three of the 20th century’s greatest examples of dance music for orchestra as they continue the 2001/2002 season at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on November 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. and November 11 at 2:30 p.m. Under the baton of Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, the orchestra plays Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances.

On Friday, November 9, the Philharmonic will play the Bernstein and Rachmaninoff without intermission in casual attire as part of the orchestra’s new “Casual Fridays” concerts; audience members are invited to dress casually as well. A special reception with members of the orchestra follows the concert at Otto’s Restaurant at street level on the Grand Avenue side of the Music Center.

Bartók composed his Dance Suite in 1923 at the close of a period that also saw the completion of two ballets, The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin. Bartók was famous not only as a composer, but also as a collector of folk music, an endeavor that took him from the forests of Eastern Europe to the deserts of North Africa and that increasingly influenced his style. The tunes in the Dance Suite are actually all of Bartók’s own invention but sound undeniably folk inspired. The program continues with Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, which were arranged with the composer’s approval to introduce his 1957 Broadway musical to the concert hall. The Dances contain many of the favorite numbers from the show in a bracing sequence that makes virtuoso demands on the orchestra.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, composed in 1940, are lean and spare compared to the lush Romanticism that made the composer famous. The work was the last he wrote, and it revisits many of Rachmaninoff’s preoccupations, with echoes of his First Symphony, his Vespers, and the medieval chant Dies irae (which Rachmaninoff used in other works) offering a finale of sorts to his life as a musician.

Tickets ($12-$78) are available at the Philharmonic’s Music Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, Tu Música, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.org. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount; call 323/850-2050. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available 2 hours prior to the performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person. For further information, please call 323/850-2000.

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, began his tenure as Music Director in October, 1992. Salonen made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the Orchestra every season since. Among the many highlights of Salonen’s activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of new works by composers John Adams, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, and Salonen himself, well-received Ligeti and Stravinsky Festivals, appearances at the Ojai Festival, seven critically acclaimed international tours since 1992, and his extensive discography with the Orchestra for Sony Classical. Salonen was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1958. He made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979, and he has been one of the world’s most sought-after conductors since his debut in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra in September 1983. He served as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia of London from 1985 to 1994 and as principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 1995.

EDITORS - PLEASE NOTE:

Thursday, November 8, 8 PM

Friday, November 9, 8 PM

Sunday, November 11, 2:30 PM

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Los Angeles Philharmonic

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

BARTÓK: Dance Suite, (Except 11/9)

BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story


RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances

Upbeat Live, free pre-concert discussion by Tom Neenan, takes place one hour prior to performances on November 8 and 11, and by Sandra Tsing Loh on Casual Friday, November 9.

Single tickets ($12-$78) are available at the Philharmonic’s Music Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino, Tu Música, and selected Wherehouse locations), and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.org. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount; call 323/850-2050. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available 2 hours prior to the performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person. For further information, please call 323/850-2000.