Miguel Harth-Bedoya Leads the Orchestra in Music by Tchaikovsky, Holst, and Matthews
Renowned Violinist Cho-Liang Lin Plays Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, AT 8 PM
September 7 media support provided by K-MOZART 105.1 FM
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major is a staple of the violin concerto repertory. Inspired by the subtle innovation of Èdouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Tchaikovsky wrote a vivacious concerto and imbued it with material from Russian folk idioms. Reviewing Lin's performance of the concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, The Washington Post raved, "Lin…had all the fire and technique required for the showy passage work, in the first and last movements. But he was at his best in the gentle, warmhearted melodies of the slow movement, and particularly gratifying in the golden tones he drew from the lower strings."
Gustav Holst's The Planets marked a major turning point in the British composer's career. Until then regarded as a school teacher whose music received frequent local exposure, Holst composed The Planets in his spare time. The piece had not even been commissioned, yet it would soon catapult him onto the international music scene. Astrology and archaic cultures had long fascinated Holst, and they served as the primary inspiration for The Planets, each movement of which Holst intended as a musical characterization not of the planets, but of the human personalities associated with each astrological sign. Eight decades later, the British composer Colin Matthews composed Pluto to be an addition to Holst's suite. Matthews wrote it for the Hallé Orchestra, which premiered the work in 2000 and recorded it for the first time in 2001, along with The Planets, on the Hyperion label.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Associate Conductor MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA is Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony, a title he also holds with the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand. As one of the most exciting young conductors in America, he has an active guest-conducting schedule, which includes appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Quebec Symphony, and the Mexico National Symphony. Festival appearances include Grant Park, Tanglewood, Rencontres Musicales d'Evian in France, the Domaine Forget International Festival in Quebec, and the Musicarchitettura International Festival in Italy. Born in 1968 in Lima, Peru, Miguel Harth-Bedoya holds degrees in conducting from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.
Taiwanese-American violinist CHO-LIANG LIN is lauded the world over for the eloquence of his playing and for the superb musicianship that marks his performances. His virtuosity has been acknowledged with 2 Grammy Award nominations and Gramophone's Record of the Year. He founded the Taipei International Music Festival in 1997, the first large-scale international music festival in the history of his native country, and he serves as the artistic director of SummerFest LaJolla. Lin has been a member of The Juilliard School's faculty since 1991.
The CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY CHOIR is a select group of 100 singers chosen from all departments of the university that has performed and recorded extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. The choir is featured in the motion picture Sister Act II and its soundtrack. In January 2004 the choir appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta in performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in January 2004. The group recently returned from a sold-out performance of the Berlioz Requiem conducted by Music Director William Hall at the Sydney Opera House on July 4, 2004. Elite ensembles such as the Chapman University Singers and the CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY CHOIR WOMEN are premier groups of vocal artists selected from the choir. Many of these ensembles have been acclaimed in performances throughout the United States and abroad.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
Tuesday, September 7, 2004 at 8 PM
HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
MIGUEL HARTH-BEDOYA, conductor
CHO-LIANG LIN, violin
CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY CHOIR WOMEN
WILLIAM HALL, director
TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
HOLST The Planets
MATTHEWS Pluto
September 7 media support provided by K-MOZART 105.1 FM
Tickets ($1 - $78) are on sale now at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office, by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, at all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons May, Tower Records, and Ritmo Latino locations), or online at HollywoodBowl.com. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details.
For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.
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Rachelle Roe, 213.972.7310; for photos: Amanda Ishak, 213.972.3409