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  • WDCH
  • CANADA’S 18-MEMBER PERIOD ENSEMBLE, TAFELMUSIK, WITH DIRECTOR JEANNE LAMON, MAKE WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL DEBUT
  • Feb. 6, 2008
  • Performance is the First of Four Concerts Within the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2007/08 Baroque Variations Series

    Wednesday, February 6, 2008, 8 PM

    The famed 18-member period ensemble from Canada, Tafelmusik, makes its Walt Disney Concert Hall debut, Wednesday, February 6, at 8 p.m. Music Director and Concertmaster Jeanne Lamon leads the Baroque ensemble in a program featuring works by iconic Baroque composers Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and the lesser known Alessandro Marcello. The performance is part of the ensemble’s winter tour across North America and Puerto Rico.

    Tafelmusik members are specialists in historical performance practice, and perform on original instruments or modern replicas faithful in design and construction to the originals. The evening’s performance begins and ends with Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 1 opens the program, and Concerto in D Major for 3 violins, which is a transcription of the composer’s Concerto in C Major for 3 Harpsichords, is the concluding work. The version heard during this performance was transcribed by Tafelmusik’s librarian Charlotte Nediger in collaboration with many of their violinists who have performed the piece the last 10 years.

    Sandwiched between the Bach works are Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major for 4 violins, Op. 3, No. 1, Handel’s Concerto grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4, and Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D Minor. Vivaldi’s innovative concerto features the four soloists accompanied by two violists, a cellist and continuo while Handel’s, a reworking of previously used movements, follows the typical concerto grosso layout, with solos for violin and oboe pairs.

    Born in Venice, Alessandro Marcello was a cultured aristocrat not a professional musician, and therefore did not rely on composing for his livelihood. Although he has a small number of surviving works, he did have a key fan early on: J.S. Bach. Marcello’s Oboe Concerto is his best known work and has an important footnote - Bach transcribed the piece for harpsichord. Tafelmusik’s John Abberger is the oboe soloist.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association promotes music from the 17th through early 18th centuries in its Baroque Variations series. Tafelmusik begins the 2007/08 season series which then continues with: Hespèrion XXI (Jordi Savall, viola da gamba/director) on February 13, 2008; Europa Galante (Fabio Biondi, violin/director) on April 1, 2008; and Members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Thomas Adès, harpsichord/conductor) on May 21, 2008.

    Upbeat Live pre-performance discussions are free to ticket-holders, offered one hour prior in BP Hall. Russell Steinberg, composer, conductor and performer discusses the program. Steinberg is the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, and is on the faculty at UCLA.

    Hailed as “one of the world’s top baroque orchestras” by Gramophone magazine, TAFELMUSIK was founded in 1979. Under the inspired leadership of Music Director and concertmaster Jeanne Lamon since 1981, Tafelmusik has achieved international recognition for its concerts and recordings. The ensemble has 17 core members and is expanded as the need arises. Tafelmusik’s success has taken it around the world, with regular tours across North America, Europe and Asia. The 2007/08 season’s touring schedule has included appearances at summer festivals in Aspen, Ravinia and Dartmouth, a residency at the Klang und Raum Festival in Germany, and a fall tour to Asia, with stops in Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Seoul. The current tour includes stops in Oneonta, Wolf Trap, Puerto Rico, and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. This spring the orchestra will also undertake tours of northern and central Ontario. Tafelmusik performs over 50 concerts each season at its home base, the historic Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre in downtown Toronto. It also presents a three-concert series at the George Weston Recital Hall, and presents community concerts in various Toronto venues, notably the Royal Ontario Museum. The Tafelmusik Orchestra and Chamber Choir have a long-standing partnership with Toronto’s baroque opera company, Opera Atelier. Tafelmusik is the Baroque Orchestra-in-Residence at the Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto. The Faculty of Music is also home to the annual Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, an intensive two-week training program for senior students, pre-professional and professional musicians. Tafelmusik has released 76 CDs on the Analekta, Sony Classical, CBC Records, BMG Classics, Hyperion and Collegium labels, and has been awarded numerous international recording prizes, including nine Junos. This year Tafelmusik will record Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 with conductor Bruno Weil, to be released in the fall. Tafelmusik tours internationally with the support of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

    Music Director of Tafelmusik since 1981, violinist JEANNE LAMON has been praised by critics in Europe and North America for her strong musical leadership. In addition to performing with and directing Tafelmusik, Ms. Lamon regularly guest directs symphony orchestras in North America and abroad. Upcoming and recent engagements include the Detroit Symphony, l'Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia. She has won numerous awards for her work with Tafelmusik, including the Prix Alliance from the Alliance Française, the 1997 M. Joan Chalmers Award for Artistic Direction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from York University, and the prestigious Molson Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000, Lamon was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her work with Tafelmusik. Recent accolades include the Roy Thomson Hall Award of Recognition, and an honorary Doctorate from Mount Saint Vincent University. Lamon is passionate about teaching young professionals, which she does at the University of Toronto and at the Glenn Gould Professional School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

    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:

    Wednesday, February 6, 2008, at 8 PM


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



    Baroque Variations



    Tafelmusik

    Jeanne Lamon, director and violin



    BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066

    VIVALDI Concerto in D Major for 4 Violins, Op. 3, No. 1

    HANDEL Concerto grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4

    MARCELLO Oboe Concerto in D Minor

    BACH Concerto in D Major for 3 Violins, BWV 1064a

    Upbeat Live pre-performance discussions are free to ticket-holders and offered one hour prior in BP Hall. Russell Steinberg, composer, conductor and performer discusses the program. Steinberg is the Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, and is on the faculty at UCLA.

    Tickets ($15 - $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) are released for sale to selected Philharmonic, Colburn Celebrity Recital and Baroque Variations performances two weeks 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 information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3422, acrane@laphil.org; Photos, 213.972.3034