Pianist Rohan De Silva Joins the Performance, Part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association’s 2007/08 Colburn Celebrity Recital Series

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2008, AT 7:30 PM

Series Endowed by a Generous Grant from the Colburn Foundation

Celebrated violinist Itzhak Perlman performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association’s Colburn Celebrity Recital series on Sunday, January 20, at 7:30 p.m. He is joined by pianist Rohan De Silva, with whom he performs and tours frequently, in De Silva’s Walt Disney Concert Hall debut. The program includes Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in E Major, Strauss’ spirited Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major and Poulenc’s tragic Sonata for Violin and Piano.

Perlman and De Silva recently performed at the State Dinner for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, hosted by President George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush at the White House. The duo regularly tours Japan and in August 2002, their tour of the Far East included performances in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In spring of 2006, they toured with Pinchas Zukerman with stops in Chicago, Boston, New York and Washington DC. Perlman’s recordings regularly appear on best-seller charts and have garnered 15 Grammy awards. His latest Grammy was awarded for the American Album with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Colburn Celebrity Recitals offer virtuoso performances by world-renowned artists. Remaining performances include: pianist Lang Lang (March 4, 2008), violinist Midori (April 13, 2008), violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter (April 8, 2008).

Undeniably the reigning virtuoso of the violin, ITZHAK PERLMAN enjoys superstar status rarely afforded a classical musician. Born in Israel in 1945, Perlman completed his initial training at the Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and went on to study at the Juilliard School. Following his studies there with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, Perlman won the prestigious Leventritt Competition in 1964, which led to a burgeoning worldwide career. Since then, he has appeared with every major orchestra and in recitals and festivals around the world. From 2002 to 2004 Perlman was Music Advisor of the St. Louis Symphony where he made regular conducting appearances, and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Detroit Symphony from 2001 to 2005. During the 2007/08 season he conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the New World Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. Internationally, Perlman has conducted the Berlin Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic. As soloist, he continues to visit major centers throughout the world. Highlights of his 2007/08 season include summer performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center and Saratoga Performing Arts Center and with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood; recitals throughout Europe and the United States including London, Paris, Brussels, Zurich, Boston and Los Angeles; and a tour of Japan where he will be heard both in recital and with orchestra. Perlman also appears with students from the Perlman Music Program in a three-concert series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A major presence in the performing arts on television, Perlman has been honored with four Emmy Awards and has entertained and enlightened millions of TV viewers of all ages on popular shows as diverse as The Late Show with David Letterman, Sesame Street, and the Grammy awards telecasts. In March 2006, a worldwide audience in the hundreds of millions saw him perform live on the 78th Annual Academy Awards telecast, playing a medley from the five film scores nominated in the category of Best Original Score. His most recent releases include an all-Mozart recording with the Berlin Philharmonic (EMI) with Perlman as both soloist and conductor, and a recording for Deutsche Grammophon for which he conducts the Israel Philharmonic. Over the past decade he has become more actively involved in educational activities teaching full time at the Perlman Music Program each summer since it was founded and currently holding the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair at the Juilliard School. Harvard, Yale, Brandeis, Roosevelt, Yeshiva and Hebrew universities are among the institutions that have awarded him honorary degrees, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate and a centennial medal on the occasion of Juilliard’s 100th commencement ceremony in May 2005. In December 2000, President Clinton awarded Perlman the National Medal of Arts. His presence on stage, on camera and in personal appearances of all kinds speaks eloquently on behalf of the disabled, and his devotion to their cause is an integral part of his life.

ROHAN DE SILVA’s partnerships with violin virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Joshua Bell, Benny Kim, Kyoko Takezawa, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Julian Rachlin have led to highly acclaimed performances at recital venues all over the world. With these and other artists he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, La Scala in Milan and in Tel-Aviv, Israel. His festival appearances include the Aspen, Interlochen, Manchester, the Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein festivals, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Wellington Arts Festival in New Zealand. De Silva, a native of Sri Lanka, began his piano studies with his mother, the late Primrose De Silva, and with the late Mary Billimoria. He spent six years at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a student of Hamish Milne, Sydney Griller and Wilfred Parry. While in London, he received many awards including the Grover Bennett Scholarship, the Christian Carpenter Prize, the Martin Music Scholarship, the Harold Craxton Award for advanced study in England and, upon his graduation, the Chappell Gold Medal for best overall performance at the Royal Academy. De Silva was the first recipient of a special scholarship in the arts from the President’s Fund of Sri Lanka. This enabled him to enter the Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, studying piano with Martin Canin, chamber music with Felix Galimir, and working closely with violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay. He was awarded a special prize as Best Accompanist at the 1990 Ninth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and also received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award presented to him by Itzhak Perlman at the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Awards Ceremony at Carnegie Hall. De Silva joined the collaborative arts and chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School in 1991, and in 1992 was awarded honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2001, he joined the faculty at the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan, where he gives masterclasses in collaborative piano. Radio and television credits include The Tonight Show with Midori, CNN’s Showbiz Today, NHK Television in Japan, National Public Radio, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Berlin Radio. He has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS/SONY Classical, Collins Classics in London and RCA Victor.

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:

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2008, at 7:30 PM

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



Colburn Celebrity Recitals

ITZHAK PERLMAN, violin

ROHAN DE SILVA, piano



Program includes:

BACH Sonata No. 3 in E Major

STRAUSS Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major

POULENC Sonata for Violin and Piano

Additional works announced from the stage



Series endowed by a generous grant from the Colburn Foundation.

Tickets ($35 - $88) are on sale now online at LAPhil.com, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. When available, choral bench seats ($15) will be released for sale to selected Philharmonic, Colburn Celebrity Recital and Baroque Variations performances, beginning at noon on the Tuesday of the second week prior to the concert. 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 10 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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