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  • ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE LEADS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN A TOYOTA SYMPHONIES FOR YOUTH CONCERT SHOWCASING THE MUSIC OF BRAHMS
  • Mar. 17, 2007
  • SATURDAY, MARCH 17, AT 11 AM and

    SATURDAY, MARCH 24, AT 11 AM

    PRE-CONCERT WORKSHOPS FOR CHILDREN AT 10 AM

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association's 2006/07 Toyota Symphonies for Youth (TSFY) concert series at Walt Disney Concert Hall continues on Saturday, March 17, at 11 a.m. with The Music of Brahms, an original production designed especially for young audiences, with the script written by Bryan Davidson. Associate Conductor Alexander Mickelthwate leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic, accompanied by a cast of prominent local thespians, including Louis Lortoto and Cheyenne Haynes, in an imaginative story about living in someone else's shadow, and moving from intimidation to inspiration. The program repeats on Saturday, March 24, at 11 a.m.

    The story begins with a young girl who prefers to daydream rather than do her homework, a task that includes writing a book report about the life of composer Johannes Brahms. Daunted by her over-achieving brother, she makes a modest effort and skims through the book. She discovers a section about Brahms' struggle trying to live up to Beethoven, and realizes she is not the only one living in someone else's shadow. As the composer then appears before her, both embark on a musical journey of self-discovery. Along the way, audience members are treated to excerpts from Brahms' Symphony Nos. 1, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.

    On Saturday, May 19 and May 26, the 2006/07 Toyota Symphonies for Youth concert series concludes with the most theatrical concert of the TSFY season, A Medieval Journey: Knights, Troubadours and Princesses. Before every concert, Walt Disney Concert Hall becomes a musical playground with hands-on art making, musical activities, dance, and storytelling or theater. All pre-concert activities take place in the lobby spaces one hour prior to the performance, from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.

    ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE is the newly appointed Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and was recently promoted to Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2006/2007 season. As Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the past two years, Mickelthwate led the orchestra in programs at Walt Disney Concert Hall, appearing on the Green Umbrella new music series, in education and community concerts, and at the Hollywood Bowl. In January 2006, following a performance of Boulez's "Le Marteau Sans Maître" with the Philharmonic's New Music Group, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Alexander Mickelthwate has been a fearless assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mickelthwate conducted very much in the Boulez manner: calm under pressure, sure of ever-changing meters…" As a guest conductor, Mickelthwate has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, New Jersey, Oregon, and Toronto; the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Eos Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa). Abroad, Mickelthwate made his European debut with the Hamburg Symphony in April 2006. During his tenure as assistant conductor with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which he completed at the end of the 2003-04 season, he co-founded the new music ensemble, Bent Frequency, which was hailed by Gramophone magazine as "one of the brightest ensembles on the scene." Always striving to engage young people in music, he conducted more than 60 Young People's Concerts with the Atlanta Symphony, and organized an exchange between the Atlanta Youth Symphony and Berlin Youth Orchestra during the summer of 2003, hosting concerts in both cities.

    BRYAN DAVIDSON is a Los Angeles-based playwright and teacher. His play War Music premiered in 2002 at Los Angeles Theatre Center, produced by Echo Theatre Company and Playwrights' Arena, and was subsequently produced at the Geffen Playhouse in 2004. The play was named as one of the top ten "Notable Shows of 2002" by the L.A. Times and received three Ovation awards, including World Premiere Play. Other recent productions include Banned and Burned in America, a commission from the Greenway Court Theatre about censorship in the United States; and Reflecting Back, a commission for young audiences from Cornerstone Theater Company to accompany the touring American Originals exhibit from the National Archives; and a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic to create a theater piece to accompany Wing on Wing, composed by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In Spring 2005, Davidson wasPlaywright in Residence at the William Inge Festival in Independence, Kansas, where he developed an adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper. As an arts educator, Davidson is Program Director for Playwrights in the Schools, an arts residency program that teaches playwriting to at-risk youth, and a recipient of two City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Artist in Residence grants. He is also Literary Manager for the Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena.

    LOUIS LOTORTO has appeared on the Colony stage as Robert in Stage Struck, Simon in I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda, Dr. Watson in Sherlock's Last Case, Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Indoor/Outdoor appearing as a cat, a mouse, a 4- year old boy, several women, and Michael Jackson, as well as 2004's The Ladies of the Camellias in the role of Worms. Other local credits include roles at the Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, the Ahmanson in the Royal National Theatre tour of An Enemy of the People (with Sir Ian McKellen), International City Theatre, The Odyssey, Taper, Too, and six seasons at A Noise Within, earning an Ovation nomination for his portrayal of Camille in A Flea in Her Ear, and appearing as Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost, both Dromios in The Comedy of Errors, Harlequin in The Triumph of Love, Cleante in The Imaginary Invalid, Vince in Buried Child (Garland Award for Best Ensemble), among others. Regional credits include The Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. (Helen Hayes Award Nominee for Best Supporting Actor as Ariel in The Tempest), two seasons in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, four seasons at the California Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep, Berkeley Rep, Portland Rep. (Drama Critics' Award for Best Supporting Actor as Rodolpho in A View from the Bridge), Artists Rep, Portland CenterStage, and A.C.T. in Seattle. Film and television credits include Fire in the Sky, Nowhere Man, Under Suspicion, Body Language, Fade to Black, and The Marla Hanson Story, as well as numerous commercials and industrial films.

    LAURIE WOOLERY is the Associate Artistic Director of the renowned Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles. She has worked at South Coast Repertory (most recently as Director of the Theatre Conservatory), Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles Theatre Center, Deaf-West Theatre, and the Sundance Children's Theatre, among many others. As a director and playwright, she has created and collaborated on many new works. Woolery directed Amor Eterno - Six Lessons in Love (an anthology by six Latino playwrights) for the grand opening of the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Los Angeles. She also directed Bryan Davidson's Reflecting Back at the Los Angeles Central Library as part of the national tour of the American Originals exhibit.

    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:

    SATURDAY, MARCH 17, at 11 AM

    SATURDAY, MARCH 24, at 11 AM


    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

    Toyota Symphonies for Youth: The Music of Brahms

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ALEXANDER MICKELTHWATE, conductor

    BRYAN DAVIDSON, writer

    LAURIE WOOLERY, director

    CAROLYN PALMER, producer

    KRISTIE ROLDAN, lighting designer

    CHEYENNE HAYNES, actress (Maxine)

    LOUIS LOTORTO, actor (Brahms)

    JUDI GARRATT, activities coordinator

    BRAHMS  

    Excerpts from Symphony No. 1

    Lullaby, Op. 49, No. 4

    BEETHOVEN  

    Excerpts from Symphony No. 9

    This concert is sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., Marie Baier Foundation with additional support from Gordon & Adele Binder Foundation, Employees Community Fund of Boeing California, Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, Citigroup Foundation, Edison International, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Philharmonic Affiliates, B.C. McCabe Foundation, MetLife Foundation, David and Linda Shaheen Foundation, and State Street Corporation.

    Tickets ($18) 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. For all information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, acrane@laphil.org, 213.972.3422; Lisa Bellamore, lbellamore@laphil.org, 213.972.3689