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  • YO-YO MA AND THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC SALUTE AWARD-WINNING CONDUCTOR/COMPOSER JOHN WILLIAMS IN HONOR OF HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY IN PROGRAM OF HIS MUSIC
  • Feb. 24, 2002
  • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 AT 1:30 PM AT THE DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

     
    Special Concert to Benefit the Musicians' Pension Fund

    On Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 1:30 p.m., the Los Angeles Philharmonic and world famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, celebrate composer and conductor John Williams on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Honoree John Williams is conducting the program, "A 70th Birthday Celebration," featuring Yo-Yo Ma in his only Los Angeles appearance this year. Celebrity guests are expected to attend.

    This performance is one of two this year for which the Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians donate their services to benefit the Musicians' Pension Fund. All ticket sale proceeds also aid the Fund.

    Single tickets ($20 - $105) go on sale January 20 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino and selected Wherehouse locations) and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.com.

    The program for this special event opens with For Seiji!, a collection of musical thoughts and jottings that form a orchestral tribute to this famed conductor. The piece was written for and dedicated to William's longtime friend and music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, in recognition of their twenty-five years of artistic collaboration.

    At the suggestion of Ozawa, William's created Concerto for Cello and Orchestra for Yo-Yo Ma, who gave its premiere in 1994 at the opening of Ozawa Hall at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home in Western Massachusetts.

    The program selections also include two pieces from Williams' Oscar-nominated score to Angela's Ashes, as well as Elegy for Cello and Orchestra and Pickin', the second movement from Three Pieces for Solo Cello.

    The program closes with three movements of Williams' American Journey - a score composed for Steven Spielberg's millennium film, The Unfinished Journey. The music will be enhanced by film clip images evoking the highlights and the spirit of the last century with narration of texts created by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove and Maya Angelou. This film and music collaboration was commissioned at the request of President Bill Clinton and former First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton.

    Composer/conductor JOHN WILLIAMS is one of the most respected and honored composers of film and concert music, and is Laureate Conductor of the Boston Pops, where he held the post of conductor for 14 seasons. He has composed the music and served as music director for more than 90 films, and has been honored with five Oscars (he is the most nominated living person with 39 Oscar nominations, most recently for The Patriot), three Golden Globes and 18 Grammys, as well as numerous gold and platinum records. In addition to his film music, John Williams has written many concert pieces, including symphonies and concertos. His bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, was given its West Coast premiere in April 1999 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and soloist David Breidenthal. Williams, who has conducted at the Hollywood Bowl nearly every season since his debut there in 1978, was one of the first two inductees into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000.

    The many-faceted career of cellist YO-YO MA is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, reaching out to young audiences or pursuing musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, this 14-time Grammy winner strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. Currently, Ma is very involved in the Silk Road Project, a program he established to promote the study of the cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    Sunday, February 24, 1:30 PM

    JOHN WILLIAMS: A 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION


    DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    JOHN WILLIAMS, conductor

    YO-YO MA, cello

    ALL WILLIAMS PROGRAM:

       For Seiji!

       Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

       Two pieces from Angela's Ashes

       Pickin' from Three Pieces for Solo Cello

       Elegy for Cello and Orchestra

       American Journey,
        accompanying The Unfinished Journey

    Single tickets ($20 - $105) go on sale January 20 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion box office, all Ticketmaster outlets (Robinsons-May, Tower Records, Ritmo Latino and selected Wherehouse locations) and by credit card phone order at 213/365-3500. Tickets are also available on-line at www.laphil.com.

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  • Contact:

    Elizabeth Hinckley, 213/972-3034; Melanie Gravdal, 323/850-2021