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  • BRAMWELL TOVEY LEADS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN BEETHOVEN'S FIFTH SYMPHONY AND BERLIOZ' SYMPHONIE FUNÈBRE ET TRIOMPHALE WITH PACIFIC CHORALE
  • Aug. 1, 2006
  • GRANADA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLANDER MARCHING BAND, POSSIBLY THE LARGEST BAND EVER TO PERFORM AT THE BOWL, JOINS ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS FOR THE RARELY PLAYED BERLIOZ WORK

    TUESDAY AND THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 AND 3, 2006, AT 8 P.M.

    Tuesday's Concert is Sponsored by Fidelity Investments; Thursday's Concert is a Lexus "Passionate Performance"; Media Sponsor for both concerts is K-Mozart 105.1

    Popular British conductor Bramwell Tovey returns to the Hollywood Bowl for a program of Beethoven and Berlioz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Tuesday and Thursday, August 1 and 3, 2006, at 8 p.m. Beethoven's triumphant Fifth Symphony is paired for the concert with Berlioz' rarely played Symphonie funèbre et triomphale. The Pacific Chorale, John Alexander, artistic director, and Granada Hills Charter High School Highlander Marching Band, Al Nelson, director, join the orchestra for the rousing Berlioz work. The San Fernando Valley-based student band, 120 strong, is possibly the largest ever to perform at the Hollywood Bowl.

    Tovey joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as music director in 2000, and since 2002, he has also been chief conductor and music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. From 1989 to 2001 he was artistic director of the Winnipeg Symphony where he established the WSO's New Music Festival as one of the premier new music events in North America. The internationally acclaimed Pacific Chorale last appeared at the Bowl for Tosca with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in July, and the Marching Band last appeared at the Bowl in 2004 for Bernstein's Mass with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    British conductor BRAMWELL TOVEY works internationally with a prestigious list of orchestras. In the last few years, he has made his debut with the New York Philharmonic and worked with the London Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. During his time as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Tovey founded the New Music Festival and was its Artistic Director for ten years. Tovey has premiered new choral works including the oratorio Resurrection by Canadian composer Victor Davies. In the opera house he has conducted operas by Puccini, Strauss, Mozart, Menotti, Poulenc, Britten, and most recently Stravinsky, when he conducted The Rake's Progress with the Edmonton Opera. Tovey has conducted orchestras across Canada, and in the U.K., he has performed with the London Symphony and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Belgian National Orchestra, the Israel Sinfonietta, the Leipzig Radio Orchestra, and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. Tovey is also a composer; his Cello Concerto was premiered at the New Music Festival in Winnipeg in January 2001. He has also composed for brass band and enjoyed great success with his Requiem, premiered by the Hannaford Street Silver Band in Toronto in 2000 and recorded in 2001. Tovey is also an accomplished jazz pianist. His work for television includes two documentaries with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a special production of Sleeping Beauty for British television.

    Founded in 1968, PACIFIC CHORALE, John Alexander, artistic director, is internationally recognized for exceptional artistic expression, stimulating American-focused programming, and influential education programs. Pacific Chorale presents a substantial performance season of its own at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and is sought regularly to perform with the nation's leading symphonies. Under the guidance of Alexander, Pacific Chorale has infused an Old World art form with California's hallmark innovation and cultural independence. Pacific Chorale is comprised of 170 professional and volunteer singers. In addition to its long-standing partnership with Pacific Symphony, the Chorale has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Walt Disney Concert Hall on numerous occasions. Other noted collaborations include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the National Symphony, and the Long Beach, Pasadena, Riverside, and San Diego symphonies. John Alexander and the Chorale have toured extensively in Europe, South America, and Asia. Pacific Chorale, the seventh largest-budgeted chorus in the United States, has received numerous awards, including Chorus America's prestigious "Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence" and the first national "Educational Outreach Award." Most recently, Pacific Chorale received the 2005 ASCAP Chorus America Alice Parker Award for adventurous programming.

    The GRANADA HILLS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLANDER MARCHING BAND, Al Nelson, director, has performed on radio and television, in films such as Ben Stiller's Dodgeball and Adam Sandler's Water Boy, in front of 65,000 people at KIIS FM's Wango Tango festival, at the Portland Rose Festival, the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, and twice before at the Hollywood Bowl as well as a range of other events and concerts. The ensemble is under the instruction of teachers in both music and dance and performs in a variety of uniforms, costumes, and colors.

    One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 38th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2006, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the second year in a row at the 17th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    TUESDAY, AUGUST 1 at 8 p.m.

    THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, at 8 p.m.


    HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    BRAMWELL TOVEY, conductor

    PACIFIC CHORALE, John Alexander, artistic director

    GRANADA HILLS CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLANDER MARCHING BAND,

    Al Nelson, director

    BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

    BERLIOZ Symphonie funèbre et triomphale

    Tuesday's Concert is Sponsored by Fidelity Investments; Thursday's Concert is a Lexus "Passionate Performance"; Media Sponsor for both concerts is K-Mozart 105.1

    Tickets ($1 - $93) 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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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3034; Rachelle Roe, 213.972-7310; For photos: 213.972.3034