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  • ACCLAIMED NORWEGIAN PIANIST LEIF OVE ANDSNES JOINS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC FOR TWO-WEEK ON LOCATION RESIDENCY AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
  • Nov. 29, 2005
  • Andsnes' Versatility Showcased In Chamber, Orchestral and Green Umbrella Programs Including Piano Concertos by Mozart and Grieg, Piano Pieces by Dalbavie and Kurtág, and Chamber Music by Mozart

    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2005, AT 8 PM – Chamber Music


    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1 & FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005, AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2005, AT 2 PM – Grieg Piano Concerto


    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2005, AT 8 PM – Green Umbrella


    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9; SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2005, AT 8 PM; SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2005, AT 2 PM – Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14 and Kurtag “…quasi una fantasia…”


    The performance on November 29 is sponsored by Smith Barney and the Michael J. Connell Foundation

    Acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes makes his first American appearances this season at a two-week On Location residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The young artist's versatility is showcased in chamber, orchestral and new music programs during ten concerts in November and December 2005 as well as a final performance in May 2006. Andsnes, whose career has attracted considerable interest and excitement since his international debut in the early 1990s, has been described by The New York Times as “the most accomplished pianist of the new generation.”

    Andsnes' Los Angeles Philharmonic On Location activities begin on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 8 p.m., with a chamber music concert featuring the pianist and members of the orchestra performing works by Mozart; the program also includes music by Shostakovich. Three performances of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Philharmonic, led by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, follow on Thursday, December 1 and Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, December 3, at 2 p.m. This program also includes repertoire by two other Scandinavian composers: Sibelius (Finlandia) and Stenhammar (Serenade).

    On Tuesday, December 6 at 8 p.m., Andsnes joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group for a Green Umbrella program of works by Marc-André Dalbavie and György Kurtág. Salonen leads Andsnes and the Philharmonic again on Thursday, December 8, Friday, December 9 and Saturday, December 10 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, December 11 at 2 p.m., for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 and works by Kurtág and Richard Strauss. Andsnes completes the residency in spring 2006 at a joint recital with his frequent performing and recording partner, English tenor Ian Bostridge, in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's Colburn Celebrity Series.

    “It’s very exciting to spend a concentrated period with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, showing many different sides of my musical interests, from the Grieg Concerto – my debut work with many orchestras – to contemporary works I feel strongly about, such as the pieces by Kurtág and Dalbavie," says Andsnes. "It’s also thrilling to be working again with Esa-Pekka Salonen in such an incredible hall and with this great orchestra. My reaction after my first concert at Disney Hall was that it is the best modern concert hall – that’s how strongly I felt! My Los Angeles recital last January was my first performance in the hall, and I’m very eager to return.”

    On December 1, 2 and 3, musicologist Michael Steinberg discusses the concert program at Upbeat Live, a free event in BP Hall open to all ticket holders held one hour before each performance.

    On Location, the Philharmonic’s annual artist residency program, features some of the world's most distinguished artists participating in a special project including orchestral appearances as well as Green Umbrella new music performances, chamber music concerts and other activities. The series continues during the 2005/2006 season with composer Thomas Adès, one of the most celebrated young composers in the world today, who joins the Philharmonic for a residency that spans two seasons, extending into 2006/2007. In February 2006, Adès conducts the orchestra in the U.S. premiere (co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Berlin Festival) of his Violin Concerto as well as the U.S. premiere of music from his opera The Tempest. Adès also joins members of the Philharmonic at the piano for a chamber music concert featuring music by Schubert and Beethoven and conducts/performs a Green Umbrella concert which includes four of his own works: the Five Eliot Landscapes, Piano Quintet (West Coast premiere), The Origin of the Harp (U.S. premiere), and Chamber Symphony (West Coast premiere). Previous Philharmonic On Location residencies have welcomed artists such as Alfred Brendel, Thomas Quasthoff and Midori.

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is currently in his 14th season as Music Director. He made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the orchestra every season since. His current tenure is the second-longest in Philharmonic history, and he recently extended his contract through the 2007/08 season. Alongside his activities as a conductor, Salonen has also won acclaim for his work as a composer. Among the many highlights of Salonen's activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of works by composers John Adams, Franco Donatoni, William Kraft, Witold Lutoslawski, Magnus Lindberg, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, Tan Dun, and Augusta Read Thomas, as well as his own works. He has led critically acclaimed festivals of music by Ligeti, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Berlioz, and has served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival. He and the Philharmonic have toured extensively since 1992, including extended residencies at the Salzburg Festival and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Salonen's latest orchestral work, Wing on Wing, received its world premiere in June 2004 as part of the Philharmonic's Building Music Festival. In March 2003 Salonen signed an exclusive four-year recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon; in February 2005, the label released Wing on Wing, a disc devoted to his recent works. Before signing with DG, Salonen recorded regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Sony Classical. A Sony disc of Salonen's compositions, including LA Variations, Five Images After Sappho, Giro, Gambit, and Mania, has garnered critical acclaim throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Salonen and the Philharmonic's discography also includes the debut recording of John Adams' Naive and Sentimental Music - a work that the orchestra premiered - for the Nonesuch label. Salonen was born in Helsinki in 1958, and after studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and with private teachers Franco Donatoni and Niccolò Castiglioni in Italy, he made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979. He is the recipient of many major awards including the Siena Prize from the Accademia Chigiana in 1993, the first conductor ever to receive the prize; the Royal Philharmonic Society's Opera Award in 1995; and their Conductor Award in 1997. In 1998 he was awarded the rank of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government; in 2003 he received an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Finland.

    ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE is the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recently appointed Assistant Conductor. Mickelthwate was born in Germany, where he played piano, organ, and cello in various ensembles. He earned his bachelor’s degree in conducting and piano performance while in Germany and won a scholarship to attend the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. Upon continuing his musical studies in the United States he studied with many master conductors like Frederik Prausnitz, Robert Spano, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Seiji Ozawa. Following his graduate studies he conducted many orchestras including the Eos Orchestra in New York, Newark Youth Orchestra, Scarsdale (New York) Youth Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, Florida Grand Opera, El Paso Opera, Baltimore Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and served as the Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the beginning of its 2004 season.

    Norwegian pianist LEIF OVE ANDSNES, a multiple Gramophone Award-winner, is now firmly established as one of the most compelling artists on the international concert circuit. Last season Andsnes was chosen as the youngest ever Carnegie Hall “Perspectives” artist, performing there in recital, in concert with the San Francisco Symphony, and in collaborations with Christian Tetzlaff and with Ian Bostridge. Andsnes records exclusively for EMI Classics. He is the recipient of three Gramophone Awards, most recently in the Best Concerto category for his recording of Grieg and Schumann Piano Concertos with the Berlin Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons. His wide-ranging discography includes sonatas by Haydn, Schubert, Chopin and Schumann, Liszt piano works, the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, and piano concertos by Shostakovich and Britten. His recordings of Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 18 with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Schubert’s Winterreise with Ian Bostridge were released in Autumn 2004; both were listed among the best CDs of the year by The New York Times. In June 2005, Andsnes recorded Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic and Antonio Pappano for release this autumn. In August 2005, Andsnes gave the world premiere performance of Marc-André Dalbavie’s Piano Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Andsnes is co-artistic director of his own festival in Risør, an event which every year draws some of the most esteemed classical performers to Norway, and features artists such as Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, Matthias Goerne, Barbara Hendricks, Gidon Kremer, and Maxim Vengerov. He is a regular guest at such leading summer festivals as Aspen, Ravinia, Saratoga, Verbier, Tanglewood, and New York City’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Andsnes has been the subject of a number of television documentaries including “The South Bank Show,” which traveled and filmed with him throughout the autumn of 2001. In September 2002 he was the soloist at the “Last Night of the Proms” with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, playing the Grieg Piano Concerto, and in December 2003 he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, which was televised worldwide.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music — Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association’s involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles


    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2005, AT 8 PMbr>
    Chamber Music Society

    MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano

    SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet No. 15

    MOZART Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat, K. 452

    MOZART Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478


    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2005, AT 8 PM

    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2005, AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2005, AT 2 PM

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano

    SIBELIUS Finlandia

    STENHAMMAR Serenade

    GRIEG Piano Concerto

    Musicologist Michael Steinberg discusses the December 1, 2 and 3 concert program at Upbeat Live, a free event in BP Hall open to all ticket holders, one hour before each performance.


    TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2005, AT 8 PM

    Green Umbrella

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, conductor

    LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano

    KURTÁG Játékok

    DALBAVIE Axioms

    KURTÁG Grabstein für Stephan

    KURTÁG Homage à R. Sch.

    DALBAVIE Tactus

    Composer Steven Stucky discusses the December 6 concert program at Upbeat Live, a free event in BP Hall open to all ticket holders, one hour before each performance.


    THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005, AT 8 PM

    FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2005, AT 8 PM

    SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2005, AT 8 PM

    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2005, AT 2 PM

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    LEIF OVE ANDSNES, piano

    STRAUSS Don Juan

    KURTÁG ...quasi una fantasia...

    MOZART Piano Concerto No. 14, K. 449

    STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel


    Upbeat Live, a free event in BP Hall open to all ticket holders, takes place one hour before each performance.

    The performance on November 29 is sponsored by Smith Barney and the Michael J. Connell Foundation

    Tickets ($15-$129) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For all information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3422; Rachelle Roe, 213.972.7310; Photos: 213.972.3034