Featuring Christian McBride, Sonus Quartet and daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 11 AM to 4 PM

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association offers a variety of free performances at the fifth annual Grand Avenue Festival, a one-day cultural celebration that showcases an outstanding array of music, dance, theater, art and flavors of downtown restaurants on the cultural corridor of Grand avenue in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, September 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A collaboration between the cultural partners located on Grand Avenue, the Grand Avenue Festival is a public “open house” that highlights the exceptional caliber of cultural offerings along the renowned street.

Honoring Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the LA Phil presents four performances in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s main auditorium. Inspired by Salonen’s signature piece, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the performance in the Hall begins with a contemporary orchestra nod to the famed composer with acclaimed artists Christian McBride, Sonus Quartet and Double G, music director of daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra. Four local high school students were chosen as composer fellows, working with the Philharmonic’s Consulting Composer for New Music, Steven Stucky, to create original compositions influenced by the Festival theme and played by the featured artists. Following this performance, McBride delivers a jazz interpretation with “A Rite of Spring Situation” which includes the colorful vibe of Patrice Rushen on keys, Jahi Sundance on turntables and Walter Smith III on tenor sax. The third and fourth variations are eclectic sets by the notoriously exhilarating daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra, featuring Sonus Quartet. The artists all celebrate the timeless relevance of Stravinsky’s work creating a feast of sound. Auditorium performances are free, but require tickets and are limited to four per person. Tickets are given out one hour before the performance in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall on First Street between Grand and Hope Avenues.

W. M. Keck Foundation Children’s Amphitheatre and the Gardens offer a mix of music and collaborative art alongside the entertainment offered in the auditorium. dublab soundsystem DJs spin assorted musical genres on the turntables and provide “Into Infinity,” a hands-on exhibit that allows kids to participate in a unique audio/visual artwork project. Art educator Rosanne Kleinerman creates inclusive arts and crafts workshops for children, and Hit + Run brings their exclusive designs for festival goers to make one-of-a-kind T-shirts.

For almost two decades, CHRISTIAN McBRIDE has been widely recognized as one of the most original American musicians to emerge from the jazz scene. A Grammy-winning virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass, he is recognized as an accomplished composer and arranger whose collaborations as a bassist read like a “who’s who” of quintessential artists of our time. Over the past 19 years, McBride has been featured on more than 200 recordings and composed nearly 40 musical works along with dozens of arrangements. His passion for musical diversity has led him to work with everyone from Chick Corea to Pat Metheny, from Kathleen Battle to D'Angelo, from Diana Krall to Bruce Hornsby, from Quincy Jones to Sting. McBride holds Artistic Director posts at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program and is the co-director of the Jazz Museum in Harlem. He was chosen as the Artist-in-Residence for the upcoming Monterey Jazz Festival, and just recently successfully served in the same capacity for the 2008 Detroit International Jazz Festival. McBride is the second Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and works year-round building the Philharmonic's presence in the musical community as a leading presenter of jazz.

Formed in 2003, Los Angeles-based SONUS QUARTET is forging a path to a new definition of the classical string quartet. Their unconventional approach weaves effortlessly between musical styles like classical, pop, rock, funk, folk, and hip-hop, as well as fusing these styles together in concert and in original arrangements.

They trained with the world-renowned Juilliard Quartet, performed alongside the Alexander Quartet, and completed a chamber music residency at the Banff Centre in Canada. Sonus is equally in demand in L.A.'s popular music scene and often perform in L.A., with shows including a variety of repertoire from Shostakovich to The Cure. One of the things that sets Sonus apart from other string quartets is the active role they play in writing and arranging their own music. Sonus wrote original arrangements for their versions of “Zigeunerweisen” and “Within You, Without You” as well as many other classical and non-classical pieces they have performed live and recorded. They also often write for the artists they record with, most recently having arrangements featured on Van Hunt's “On The Jungle Floor” and Martina Topley-Bird's “The Blue God.”

As well as playing in the quartet, the members of Sonus each have active individual recording and performance careers, both in L.A. and abroad. They are all members of the L.A. based hip-hop orchestra daKAH, and with them have had the opportunity to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, South by Southwest, and the Playboy Jazz Festival. They also regularly back other artists, like Justin Clayton and Annie Stela, in live shows, and recently finished touring with Gnarls Barkley. They are currently in pre-production on their debut album.

daKAH HIP HOP ORCHESTRA was created in the underground of the Los Angeles music scene in 1999.

What began as a 23-person musical experiment has evolved into a 70-person bona-fide orchestra. The group is under the direction of composer/conductor Geoff Gallegos, known by many as Double G. A Berklee College of Music graduate, GG has successfully maintained this large group for nine years, independently. The basic concept of the ensemble is found simply in its name - Hip Hop Orchestra. daKAH’s mission is to address a large body of musical work that would otherwise never find an audience in a symphony hall, leaving the Beethoven and Brahms to the other orchestras. In addition to a collection of original compositions, daKAH also adapts and performs music made famous by Gang Starr, The Roots, Mos Def, Common, Parliament/Funkadelic, The JBs, Marlena Shaw, Leon Haywood and others. The people you see onstage each have their own resume and many lead their own ensembles. The musicians in the group have each achieved a degree of independent success, in L.A. recording studios, film scoring sessions, world tours, and TV appearances.

YOUNG COMPOSERS are comprised of four talented students from L.A. County who worked with Steven Stucky to compose pieces that are inspired by The Rite of Spring. They include Anderson Alden; entering senior year at Harvard-Westlake School, Tim Callobre; entering sophomore year at Pasadena's Polytechnic School, Saad Haddad; entering junior year at North Hollywood High School and Jack McFadden-Talbot; entering senior year at Harvard-Westlake School.

DUBLAB SOUNDSYSTEM is a non-profit creative collective devoted to the growth of positive music, arts and culture. At the core of dublab's operations is a web radio station which broadcasts several streams of their signature "future roots" music. dublab has been broadcasting online since 1999 and now reaches more than 300,000 international listeners monthly. dublab's creative actions have a wide scope including: art exhibits, film projects, event production and record releases. The dublab echo continues to expand across the Earth and shine in wide open eyes, ears and minds. Into Infinity is an art and music exhibition presented by dublab.com and Creative Commons. It is built on audio loops and circular canvases that are available online to the public for sharing, remixing, and resubmission. dublab will be bringing this art experience live to the Grand Avenue Festival at the Walt Disney Hall Concert Hall, encouraging the public to collectively create visual art circles and 8-second sound loops on the spot. These pieces will be exhibited immediately on the rooftop gardens (http://intoinfinity.org).

HIT+RUN was conceived in 2005 by Southern California natives Mike Crivello and Brandy Flower to bring live, on-the-spot T-shirt screen printing to the public. For each event, six different artists create exclusive designs that are made into silkscreens. Attendees can customize blank T-shirts with their own combination and placement of the images. The designs are only available during the one-day exhibition, turning each shirt into a limited-edition piece of wearable art.

ROSANNE KLEINERMAN is a painter, jewelry designer, and art educator whose work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York, and some places in between. She holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and teaches art to children and adults at LACMA, UCLA, and at various schools in Los Angeles County.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

All concerts listed below take place in and around WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, as part of the Grand Avenue Festival on Sunday, September 28, 2008 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

GRAND AVENUE FESTIVAL
 

Walt Disney Concert Hall – Auditorium, Tickets Required for all Performances



11:30-12:00 AM

Spring Revisited with Christian McBride, Sonus Quartet and Double G

12:45-1:15 PM

A Christian McBride Rite of Spring Situation

2:15 – 2:45 PM

daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra featuring Sonus Quartet

3:30-4:00 PM

daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra featuring Sonus Quartet

W. M. Keck Foundation Children’s Amphitheatre and Gardens at Walt Disney Concert Hall



11:00 AM-4:00 PM

dublab DJs - The dublab crew spins joyful music of all genres.



Hit+Run T-shirt Making - Make your own one-of-a-kind T-shirt!



Children’s Workshops - Rosanne Kleinerman leads children’s crafts and workshop – kids make a take-home craft.

Los Angeles Philharmonic Grand Avenue Festival Ticket Policy

Tickets, limited to four per person and free of charge, are required to attend performances in the Auditorium during the Grand Avenue Festival. Tickets are available one hour prior to each performance on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Grand Avenue Festival Ticket Booth, located at 1st Street, between Grand and Hope Avenues. Capacity is limited and tickets cannot be resold. For additional information, please visit www.grandavenuefestival.net, www.laphil.com or call 323.850.2000.

Grand Avenue Festival Media Partner & Sponsors: KNBC, Telemundo, Related Companies of California, Downtown Business Career Improvement District, LA Inc: The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, Metrolink, ColorGraphics, L.A. Live, KKJZ, Yelp, Kids LA Magazine, and Los Angeles Downtown News. Support for Grand Avenue Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall is provided by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Affiliates. Special thanks to W. M. Keck Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation for their generous support through the Endowment Fund.

###