LEADING ARTISTS DISCUSS THE ROLE OF THE LATINO ARTIST

 
Saturday, April 13 at 2 PM, The Autry Museum

 
On Location with Osvaldo Golijov

On Saturday, April 13 at 2 PM, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will present, in collaboration with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, The Latino Artist in the Community: Multiple Identities, a panel of four world-class Latino artists discussing their roles in their community and the topic of multiple identities. The panel includes composer Osvaldo Golijov, mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán, actor/director Tony Plana, and visual artist Frank Romero. Gregorio Luke, director of the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), moderates the discussion.

The event takes place in Heritage Court at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 4700 Western Heritage Way in Griffith Park, across from the Los Angeles Zoo. Those wishing to attend should call to make reservations, as seating is limited. Admission to both the museum and panel discussion is free with reservation only. Free parking is available. For reservations or more information, call 213.972.0704.

The group will discuss the various ways in which Latino artists from different backgrounds and cultures define themselves and their art. The panelists will also speak about how their many identities affect their work as they cross community boundaries, and their attitudes about the importance of community engagement in the arts.

Composer OSVALDO GOLIJOV was born in 1960 in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Golijov studied music and composition with leading composers in both Argentina and Israel. In the mid-80s, he came to the United States and studied with George Crumb at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990, he was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he began an artistic relationship with the Kronos Quartet, who later recorded his music. He is acclaimed for his ground breaking work, La Pasión Según San Marcos, which had its premiere in Stuttgart in 2000.

Mezzo-soprano SUZANNA GUZMÁN has sung in many Los Angeles Opera productions and has appeared with opera companies both in the U.S. and internationally. Devoted to arts education, she has performed for thousands of local students and is on the board of Design for Sharing, a UCLA outreach group that brings live performing arts to inner-city communities.

Actor/Director TONY PLANA is well-known for his role as Roberto Santiago on the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd., and is co-founder and executive artistic director of the East L.A. Classic Theater, a group of Hispanic theater professionals who serve the Latino community through educational programs in primary and secondary schools.

In the 1970s, artist and muralist FRANK ROMERO founded an art collective, Los Four with Carlos Almaraz, Gilbert Lujan and Roberto de la Rocha. They collaborated on numerous murals and other public works throughout California for over a decade, having a major influence on defining Chicano art. His work has been exhibited all over the United States, as well as in Mexico, Japan, and Europe.

Lecturer, Hispanic art expert, and director of MoLAA, GREGORIO LUKE previously worked for the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles, organizing major art exhibits featuring works by Hispanic visual artists.

More About On Location:

On Location, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's residency program, with Osvaldo Golijov, a Music Alive Composer-in-Residence, occurs over three weeks with the music departments of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and California State University, Los Angeles. High school students, under the guidance of Mr. Golijov, are composing original works to be performed by the university students at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Neighborhood Concert on April 12, 2002. Mr. Golijov is working with the students in person and via internet technology, guiding them through the process of writing for small instrumental ensembles and voice. In addition, Mr. Golijov attended rehearsals and met with the members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic who performed his work at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and in a chamber music concert, as well as for an upcoming Green Umbrella concert.

This event is part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's On Location residency with Osvaldo Golijov, made possible through Music Alive, a residency program of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet The Composer. This national program is designed to provide orchestras with resources and tools to support their presentation of new music to the public and build support for new music within their institutions. Funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellow Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

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