Skip to page content
  • WDCH
  • CONDUCTOR GUSTAVO DUDAMEL LEADS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN FOUR CONCERTS FEATURING GUEST VIOLINIST LEILA JOSEFOWICZ
  • Apr. 3, 2008
  • Southern California’s Pacific Chorale Also Included in Program Featuring Works by Debussy, Bartók and Ravel

    THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 4 AND 5, 2008, AT 8 PM; SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 2008, AT 2 PM

    The April 4 Concert is Generously Sponsored by Acura – All Acura Vehicles Park Free for the Evening. The April 5 Concert is Generously Sponsored by Breguet – the Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

    KCET is the Media Sponsor for the April 6 Concert

    Conductor Gustavo Dudamel concludes his LA PHIL 2007/08 residency with four concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 3, 4 and 5, at 8 p.m., as well as Sunday, April 6, at 2 p.m. The program of 20th century works features violinist Leila Josefowicz as soloist in Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The Thursday, Saturday and Sunday concerts open and close with French works – Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé – and also feature the Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director John Alexander. The Friday concert, part of the LA PHIL’s Casual Fridays series, includes the Debussy and Bartók works.

    Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 represents a compromise between the composer’s desire to create a single-movement variation form while Székely, the Hungarian violinist who commissioned the work, wanted a traditional Romantic concerto. The end result is the traditional three-movement form in which the second movement was a theme-and-variations and the third movement was a variation of the first. Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune was inspired by a poem written by close friend, Stéphene Mallarmé. The music – with its unprecedented haziness, elusive harmonies and ambiguous tonalities – so impressed the audience when it received its debut in Paris that they insisted the work be repeated immediately. Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, with its soaring lyricism, rhythmic variety, radiant evocations of nature and kaleidoscopic orchestration, was highly praised by composer Igor Stravinksy as “not only Ravel’s best work, but also one of the most beautiful products of all French music.”

    Dudamel, one of the most exciting young conductors today, takes over the helm as LA PHIL Music Director in the fall of 2009. He is currently Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra as well as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

    Josefowciz began studying the violin at the age of 3, and played with symphonic orchestras of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto, while still in her teens. She is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1994 as well as a 2007 United States Artists Cummings Fellowship. Josefowicz currently performs on a Del Gesù made in 1724.

    The Friday performance is part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Casual Fridays series. Casual Fridays series concerts, which encourage audience and orchestra members to attend attired in comfortable clothes, are shorter programs without intermission and feature free post-concert activities for all ticket-holders to enjoy. These activities include a TalkBack discussion with musicians held on stage after the performance and a chance to mingle with members of the orchestra in the Concert Hall Café.

    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s BP Hall one hour prior to the concerts, and are free to all ticket holders. Eric Bromberger, violinist, Fulbright nominee and recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship at Yale University, hosts.

    One of today’s uniquely gifted conductors, GUSTAVO DUDAMEL continues to thrill international audiences and bring the highest level of musicianship to orchestras worldwide. His remarkable ability to communicate and become one with the orchestra takes musicians and listeners alike on a memorable journey. He has recently been appointed the Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic, effective 2009/10, and enters his ninth year as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. Dudamel’s 2007/08 season officially began with his first concert as Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra after which he returned to the Lucerne Festival for his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic with piano soloist Daniel Barenboim. During the season he debuts with the New York Philharmonic, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and Berlin Staatskapelle. In August 2007, Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela toured Europe with performances at the Edinburgh Festival and the BBC Proms in the UK, and five German venues, including Schleswig Holstein Festival, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Dresden Semperoper, Bonn Beethovenfest, and Frankfurt Alte Oper, followed by a U.S. tour in October, with performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and in New York’s Carnegie Hall. Dudamel returns to work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Dudamel also debuts this season with the San Francisco Symphony and returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra in London in June 2008. Other highlights include a performance at Berlin Staatsoper with La Bohème and a return to La Scala, also with La Bohème, along with concerts at Madrid’s Orquestra Nacional de España, Filarmonica della Scala and Orquestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Italy. Dudamel is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist. His debut recording, Beethoven 5&7 with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra was released worldwide in September 2006, and he has received the 2007 Echo Award (Germany) for “New Artist of the Year.” His second recording with the Orchestra, Mahler 5, was released in May 2007. News of Dudamel’s talent spread worldwide after his triumph at the inaugural Bamberger Symphoniker Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in May 2004. Born in 1981 in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, he studied violin at the Jacinto Lara Conservatory with José Luis Jiménez and later, with José Francisco del Castillo, at the Latin American Academy of Violin. In 1996, he began his conducting studies with Rodolfo Saglimbeni and during the same year was named Music Director of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999, along with assuming the Music Director position of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, he began conducting studies with José Antonio Abreu, the Orchestra’s founder. In May 2007, Dudamel was awarded the Premio de la Latindad by the Union Latina, an honor, given for outstanding contributions to Latin cultural life, which is presented by the 37 Latin American and African member states of the Union Latina organization.

    Violinist LEILA JOSEFOWICZ has won the hearts of audiences around the world with her honest, fresh approach to the repertoire and her dynamic virtuosity. She came to national attention in 1994 when she made her Carnegie Hall debut with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras and eminent conductors. A regular, close collaborator with leading composers of the day such as John Adams and Oliver Knussen, Josefowicz is a strong advocate of new music – a characteristic which is reflected in her diverse programs and her enthusiasm for premiering new works. During the 2008/09 and 2009/10 seasons, she will premiere concertos written for her by Steve Mackey and Colin Matthews. During her 2007/08 season, Josefowicz returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, New Jersey and Utah symphonies; makes her subscription debut with the Chicago Symphony playing the Knussen Violin concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen; appears in recital in Philadelphia; and plays chamber music at the 92nd St. Y in New York. Equally active internationally, recent and upcoming engagements in Europe and Asia include performances with the Royal Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, the London and Munich Philharmonics, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic; a tour with the London Symphony Orchestra playing Adam's Dharma on Big Sur with Adams conducting; and a fourth appearance at the London Proms. No stranger to television, Josefowicz has appeared on numerous national broadcasts such as The Tonight Show, Evening at Pops and PBS' Live from Lincoln Center. Her most recent television appearance was Eugenia Zukerman's profile of her on CBS Sunday Morning. Josefowicz made her recording debut with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 1994 for Philips Classics. Subsequent releases on that label include Solo, a disc of unaccompanied violin works by Bartók, Kreisler, Ysaÿe, Ernst and Paganini; Bohemian Rhapsodies, a collection of virtuosic violin works with orchestra; For the End of Time and Americana with pianist John Novacek; and the Mendelssohn, Glazunov and Prokofiev concertos with the Montreal Symphony, Charles Dutoit conducting. Her most recent releases are a recital disc featuring the works of Messiaen, Beethoven, Salonen, Ravel and Mark Grey and the Shostakovich Violin Sonata and Concerto No. 1 (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo) for Warner Classics. Josefowicz is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Jaime Laredo and Jascha Brodsky. In addition to her solo work, she studied chamber music at Curtis with Felix Galimir and participated for several summers at Marlboro Music Festivals. 

    Since 1968, PACIFIC CHORALE has been widely recognized for the exceptional quality of its artistic product, providing regional, national, and international audiences with distinctive performances of classical and contemporary choral works. Under the leadership of Artistic Director John Alexander, both the 160-voice Pacific Chorale and the 30-voice John Alexander Singers present a concert series each year at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Pacific Chorale also serves as the resident chorus for Pacific Symphony, performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and is the "choir of choice" for visiting orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. Artistic Director of Pacific Chorale since 1972, JOHN ALEXANDER has consistently received acclaim from critics and audiences for his inspired conducting. He has conducted his singers with orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the former Soviet Union, and South American and, closer to home, with Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Musica Angelica, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Equally versatile both on the podium and behind the scenes, Alexander has prepared choruses for many of the world's leading orchestral conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss, Keith Lockhart, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gerard Schwarz and Max Rudolf.

    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, APRIL 3, 2008, AT 8 PM

    FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2008, at 8 PM (Casual Fridays)

    SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2008, at 8 PM

    SUNDAY, APRIL 6, at 2 PM




    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, conductor

    LEILA JOSEFOWICZ, violin

    PACIFIC CHORALE, John Alexander, artistic director (not appearing Friday)



    DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

    BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2

    RAVEL Daphnis and Chloé (complete) (not performed Friday)



    The April 4 concert is generously sponsored by Acura – all Acura vehicles park free for the evening.

    The April 5 concert is generously sponsored by Breguet – the Official Timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

    KCET is the media sponsor for the April 6 concert.



    Casual Fridays series programs offer post-concert events that are free to all ticket-holders. Available options are an onstage TalkBack discussion with musicians and a post-concert reception with the musicians in the Concert Hall Café.



    Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s BP Hall one hour prior to the concerts, and are free to all ticket holders. Eric Bromberger, violinist, Fulbright nominee and recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship at Yale University, hosts.

    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.

    # # #

  • Contact:

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