Skip to page content
  • WDCH
  • GREGORY VAJDA MAKES HIS WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL DEBUT AS HE LEADS THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP IN A GREEN UMBRELLA SERIES CONCERT
  • Mar. 9, 2010
  • PROGRAM UPDATE: VAJDA REPLACES LIONEL BRINGUIER, WHO WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED TO CONDUCT

    Concert Focuses on Music by Peter Eötvös and Features Trumpet Player Brandon Ridenour, Narrator Timur Bekbosunov and the Calder Quartet

    TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010, AT 8 PM

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2009/10 Green Umbrella series continues at Walt Disney Concert Hall with conductor Gregory Vajda, in his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group,Tuesday, March 9, at 8 p.m. The Composer’s Choice program focuses on the music of Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös, one of the best-known interpreters of 20th-century music. Eötvös, who last worked with the LA Phil in 1996, helped to create the evening’s program comprised of three of his own compositions as well as a piece by Vykintas Baltakas, one of his younger colleagues. Vajda and the New Music Group are joined by guest artists, trumpeter Brandon Ridenour, opera singer and performance artist Timur Bekbosunov, and the Calder Quartet. Vajda replaces LA Phil Associate Conductor Lionel Bringuier, who had to withdraw from the concert due to injuries sustained to his right arm from a fall.

    The program opens with Baltakas’ (co)ro(na). The Lithuanian composer worked at Eötvös’ International Institute from 1994 to 1997, and in 1995, became Eötvös’ assistant at the Music Academy in Karlsruhe. Baltakas conducted the world premiere of (co)ro(na) in a radio broadcast from Hamburg in 2005.

    Next on the program is Eötvös’ Snatches of a Conversation, the title work on the artist’s BMC album Snatches. Of the album, Eötvös wrote on his Web site that it, “…is as freely composed as an improvisation. A friendly conversation in a coffeehouse, snatches of clever conversation, full of irony … and we trace our way between tables … The waiter is a double-bell trumpet … The soloists do not improvise in this piece.” Brandon Ridenour performs on a double-belled trumpet built by Wayne Tanabe, courtesy of Yamaha, in the composition. Timur Bekbosunov provides narration for which the composer instructs, “English words were chosen for the speaker, containing lots of sibilants…They are all to be whispered into the microphone, in somewhat voiced sounds. Most of the texts are nonsense, and the audience should hear the words as if somebody would play a hi-hat.”

    Following is Korrespondenz featuring the Calder Quartet. The composition had its premiere by the Arditti Quartet in Schleswig-Holstein in 1992. Eötvös wrote of it, “…The instruments of the string quartet are sounded as if they were ‘conducting conversations.’ The emotional tension of the writing and reading of the letters, the words, the thoughts, the ulterior motives, the lurking doubts are all dramatized.”
    The program closes with Sonata per sei.The work had its premiere at the International Bartók Festival in July of 2006, and is one of two versions of a piano concerto Eötvös wrote to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Béla Bartók’s birth.
    Gregory Vajda has quickly become one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene. In the 2008/09 season, he served as assistant conductor to Peter Eötvös during the Salzburg Festival. The Budapest-born Vajda was also a conducting pupil of Eötvös.

    Twenty-four-year-old trumpeter Brandon Ridenour has already established a busy performing career as a soloist and member of the Canadian Brass. He has played under the baton of such notable conductors as Peter Eötvös, James Conlon, James DePreist, David Robertson and John Williams, amongt others.

    An emerging interpreter of contemporary music in America, Kazakhstani tenor Timur Bekbosunov has been praised by the Wall Street Journal as "program's promise fulfilled" and by La Repubblica as "rewarding and effective."

    The Calder Quartet continues to expand its unique array of projects by performing traditional quartet repertoire as well as partnering with innovative modern composers, emerging musicians and performers across genres. The ensemble last appeared at Walt Disney Concert Hall with The Airborne Toxic Event in December of 2009.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group was launched in 1981 under composer-in-residence and Philharmonic percussionist William Kraft, as one of several contemporary music projects envisioned and organized by the Philharmonic’s Managing Director at the time, Ernest Fleischmann. Praised for its imaginative programming and expert and enthusiastic performances, the New Music Group is recognized as one of the premier performing groups of its kind in the country.

    The LA Phil’s groundbreaking Green Umbrella new music series is a tribute to adventurous, open-minded and curious music lovers. The series, with a more-than-20-year history, offers two more concerts during the 2009/10 season: Conductor Reinbert de Leuuw leading the Asko and Schoenberg Ensembles in a program featuring the U.S. premiere of Andriessen’s Dante-inspired La Commedia (April 13, 2010); and LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel in his Green Umbrella series debut conducting the New Music Group in a program featuring LA Phil-commissioned world premieres from Derek Bermel and Esteban Benzecry (May 4, 2010).
    The concert is preceded by an Upbeat Live discussion which is free to ticket-holders, and occurs in BP Hall one hour prior to the performance. Veronika Krausas, composer and Professor at Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Gustavo Dudamel, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable locations 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 concerts, children's programming and community concerts, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
    TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2010, AT 8 PM
    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

    Green Umbrella

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP
    *GREGORY VAJDA, conductor
    BRANDON RIDENOUR, trumpet
    TIMUR BEKBOSUNOV, speaker
    CALDER QUARTET, guest ensemble:
    BENJAMIN JACOBSON, violin
    ANDREW BULBROOK, violin
    JONATHAN MOERSCHEL, viola
    ERIC BYERS, cello

    *Gregory Vajda replaces Lionel Bringuier as conductor in the program

    BALTAKAS (co)ro(na)  
    EÖTVÖS Snatches of a Conversation
    EÖTVÖS Korrespondenz
    EÖTVÖS Sonata per Sei

    The concert is preceded by an Upbeat Live discussion which is free to ticket-holders and occurs in BP Hall one hour prior to the performance. Veronika Krausas, composer and Professor at Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.

    Tickets ($26 - $51) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card by phone at 323.850.2000. 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 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For information, please call 323.850.2000.

  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213.972.3422; Lisa White, lwhite@laphil.org, 213.972.3408; Photos: 213.972.3034