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  • WDCH
  • CONDUCTOR EDO DE WAART LEADS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN WORKS BY TCHAIKOVSKY AND SCHUMANN
  • Mar. 21, 2008
  • Program Features the Los Angeles Philharmonic Debut of Acclaimed Violinist Janine Jansen

    THURSDAY AND SATURDAY, MARCH 20 AND MARCH 22, 2008, AT 8 PM; FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2008, AT 11AM

    The Saturday Concert is Generously Sponsored by

    Breguet: The Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

    Edo de Waart, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chief Conductor of the Santa Fe Opera and Conductor Laureate of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program featuring virtuoso violinist Janine Jansen, Thursday and Saturday, March 20 and 22, at 8 p.m. as well as Friday, March 21, at 11 a.m. The performance marks Jansen’s Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as she performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The program also features Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish.”

    Tchaikovsky composed his Violin Concerto during a stay in Switzerland in 1878 and completed it in less than a month. After his original muse, Josef Kotek, began to cool toward the work, Tchaikovsky sought the use of a famous name for the work's title page to guarantee performances in Western Europe and America. Hungarian violinist Leopold Auer declined the dedication offer, declaring the work too long and the solo part unplayable, but eventually Russian-born violinist Adolph Brodsky mastered the Concerto's technical challenges well enough to premiere it in Vienna. The first movement combines lyricism with nobility, as the violin spins out the movement's two themes over an ever-shifting accompaniment. The slow movement, which Tchaikovsky labeled Canzonetta (Little Song), opens with a delicate woodwind introduction, before the violin's melancholy entry. The movement leads without pause to the rondo-finale, a movement with rhythmic abandon and a folk-like flavor. The rondo, which alternates a main theme with contrasting episodes, gives the violinist a chance for reckless bravura display.

    Schumann composed his Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish" in Düsseldorf, where he had accepted a position as the city's music director. In 1850, the composer visited Cologne to see its cathedral, and was so impressed with the recently-completed structure on which construction had started more than 600 years earlier that he was moved to commemorate the solemn splendor of the place in the fourth movement of the "Rhenish" Symphony. The Symphony as a whole, completed in a mere five weeks, captures Schumann's response to the Rhineland at its most euphoric. There are two forces at work in the Symphony – an essential formal conservatism and an exuberant rhythmic and melodic inventiveness. Schumann led the first performance of the Symphony on his sixth subscription concert in Düsseldorf on February 6, 1851, and the work was such a success that he repeated it on March 13.

    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to the Thursday and Saturday concerts, and on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage an hour and 15 minutes prior to the Friday concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Alan Chapman, KUSC-FM radio host, composer-lyricist and pianist, hosts.

    EDO DE WAART was born in Holland and studied oboe, piano, and conducting at the Music Lyceum in Amsterdam. Following graduation, de Waart took up the position of Associate Principal Oboe of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Two years later, at the age of 23, he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York, which resulted in his appointment for the 1964/65 season as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic. On his return to Holland he was appointed assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1967, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra appointed him permanent guest conductor and six years later chief conductor and artistic director. Since then, de Waart has also been artistic director of the Netherlands Radio and Television Music Center, leader of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and music Director of the San Francisco Symphony and of the Minnesota Orchestra. Guest conducting highlights of the 2006/07 season included performances with the Detroit Symphony and Minnesota Orchestras; the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra; and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Europe. In the 2007/08 season de Waart has returned to the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Mozarteum and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras. His debut performance as Chief Conductor of the Santa Fe Opera in summer 2008 will be Britten’s Billy Bud.

    JANINE JANSEN is internationally recognized as one of the great violinists. Her London debut, in November 2002, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, was quickly followed by invitations with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and Sydney Symphony. She has worked with such eminent conductors as Sir Andrew Davies, Mark Elder, Valery Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Sakari Oramo, Mikhail Pletnev and Edo de Waart. In September 2003, she received the Dutch Music Prize from the Ministry of Culture – the highest distinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands. In the 2007/08 season Janine Jansen makes U.S. debuts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director Lorin Maazel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under guest conductor Edo de Waart, and returns to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra and Toronto Symphony.

    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:

    THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2008, at 8 PM

    FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2008, at 11 AM

    SATURDAY, MARCH 22, at 8 PM


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



    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    EDO DE WAART, conductor

    JANINE JANSEN, violin



    TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto

    SCHUMANN Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish”

    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall one hour prior to the Thursday and Saturday concerts, and on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage an hour and 15 minutes prior to the Friday concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Alan Chapman, KUSC-FM radio host, composer-lyricist and pianist, hosts.

    The Saturday concert is generously sponsored by Breguet: The Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    Tickets ($40 - $142) 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; Lisa White, 213.972.3408; lwhite@laphil.org; Photos: 213.972.3034