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  • THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC'S 2016/17 GREEN UMBRELLA SERIES PRESENTS A WIDE VARIETY OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FEATURING SEVENTEEN LA PHIL COMMISSIONS, FIFTEEN WORLD PREMIERES, TWO U.S. PREMIERES, AN...
  • Aug. 31, 2016
  • Los Angeles, CA (August 31, 2016) - Continuing in its tradition of providing patrons with intellectually daring forays into new music, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series offers an adventurous exploration of music that includes a daylong extravaganza, a celebration of Steve Reich, a visit to Iceland and two operas. Overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams (who will be celebrating his 70th birthday this season), the Green Umbrella series' five concerts of the 2016/17 season are performed by the LA Phil New Music Group and guest ensembles with conductors that include Adams, Thomas Adès and Daníel Bjarnason.

    The series opens Saturday, October 1, with Noon to Midnight. As attendees to the daylong event enter Walt Disney Concert Hall from the garage via the lobby escalators, they will immediately notice Nimbus, the remarkable new performance installation by The Industry. Nimbus, which will remain in the concert hall throughout the 2016/17 season, was conceived and directed by LA Phil's new Artist-Collaborator, the experimental opera producer/director Yuval Sharon, with music and sound design from Rand Steiger. The music for the installation was composed by Steiger and changes over the course of the day to incorporate recordings of original music played by LA Phil musicians.

    The day also features pop-up new music performances through the various spaces of the iconic building. Starting in BP Hall, guests will be treated to the sounds of the LA Phil Bass Quintet performing Veronika Krausas' Porcupine for tent, quintet, bows and elbows by Ana Prvacki. Throughout the day BP Hall will also be the site for performances by the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet; gnarwhallaby, a group formed to revive and perform the repertoire composed for the unique instrumentation of clarinet, trombone, cello and piano; and wasteLAnd, a Los Angeles-based concert series featuring avant-garde and experimental music, focusing on local performers and living composers.

    On the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage, Los Angeles-based experimental classical ensemble wild Up, led by founder, conductor and creative director Christopher Rountree, will perform compositions by National Composers Intensive participants. Also on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage during the day will be the following performances: the St. Lawrence String Quartet playing works by  John Adams and son Samuel Adams; the USC Percussion Ensemble, led by the LA Phil's Joseph Pereira; and Jacaranda, led by Donald Crockett, featuring a world premiere by David Lang.

    The Noon to Midnight performances will not be limited to the interior spaces of the concert hall - Piano Spheres will play Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux in the outdoor Keck Auditorium, and the USC Percussion Ensemble will perform John Luther Adams' Qilyan in the garden.

    Attendees will also be able to partake of the food trucks and beer tastings on Grand Avenue.

    The plethora of daytime activities culminates at 8 pm in an evening concert on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage with the LA Phil New Music Group, led by John Adams. The program showcases composers-as-performers: Kate Soper in the world premiere of her own work, The Ultimate Poem Is Abstract; Timo Andres performing the world premiere of the piano concerto Flow, written for him by Ingram Marshall; and Andrew Moses, from the LA Phil's Composer Fellowship Program, in the world premiere of his work at a gray sky floating between the dirt. The concert also includes a world premiere from Mario Diaz De Leon and the U.S. premiere of Oscar Colomina i Bosch's Shipgl.

    In the interim an untitled work by Chris Kallmyer will be amplified throughout the lobby space.

    Immediately after the LA Phil New Music Group program wild Up and Rountree return with violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Richard Valitutto. The program for this late-night event includes the LA Phil and wild Up co-commissioned world premiere of Word. Language. Honey. by Rountree, the West Coast premiere of Andrew McIntosh's Yelling Into the Wind, the world premiere of Clara Iannotta's Troglodyte Angels Clank By, and Adams' Scratchband.

    The evening concludes on the corner of 1st Street and Grand Avenue with Lucky Dragons (a collaboration between Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara) and an LA Phil-commissioned world premiere of a participatory work, every noun until any now.

    Patrons can purchase a $15 ticket for all performances between noon and 8 pm, and all ticket holders for the 8 pm Green Umbrella subscription performance receive access to all 12 hours of events.

    The next Green Umbrella performance, November 22, presents the LA Phil-commissioned world premiere of Gerald Barry's Alice's Adventures Under Ground with the LA Phil New Music Group. Barry's opera The Importance of Being Earnest was an LA Phil hit in 2012 (as was The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit in 2006). The LA Phil revisits the Irish master of the subversive comedy for his take on the adventures of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland in this LA Phil-commissioned opera. Long-time LA Phil collaborator Thomas Adès leads the New Music Group and a cast that includes soprano Barbara Hannigan as Alice, contralto Hilary Summers as the White Queen, mezzo-soprano Allison Cook as the Red Queen, tenor Peter Tantsits as Tweedledee, tenor Allan Clayton as Tweedledum, baritone Mark Stone as the White Knight, and bass Joshua Bloom as the Red Knight.

    Going into 2017, the Green Umbrella series features the the LA Phil New Music Group, led by Jeffrey Milarsky, in a January 17 concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Minimalist legend Steve Reich. The evening, dedicated to Reich's music, presents the riffing phases of his Mallet Quartet for two marimbas and two vibraphones, the West Coast premiere of Pulse and his 1981 composition Tehillim with guest ensemble Synergy Vocals.

    Moving on to April, the series continues with a concert that is a key part of the LA Phil's Reykjavík Festival and an enthralling survey of new Icelandic music - ranging from Askell Másson's solo drum song to new works for large ensembles. The April 11 performance features Schola Cantorum Reykjavík and cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and is led by fast-rising composer Daníel Bjarnason, who won Icelandic Music Awards in 2010 and 2013, and is quickly garnering international acclaim. In addition to the Másson, the program also features LA Phil-commissions; a world premiere from Thurídur Jónsdóttir and a U.S. premiere by Páll Ragnar Pálsson, as well as works by Bjarnason and Atli Ingolffson.

    The finale Green Umbrella series performance of the 2016/17 season, June 13, presents a fully staged performance of Lou Harrison's Young Caesar, in a new performance edition co-commissioned by the LA Phil and The Industry in cooperation with The Harrison House. Young Caesar is a percussion-rich depiction of Caesar's love for another man, conducted by Marc Lowenstein and directed by Yuval Sharon; it received a scandalous 1971 premiere at Caltech. This new performance edition fuses Harrison's original orchestration with his later versions.

    This performance may contain mature content.

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    2016/17 Green Umbrella Series Schedule:

    Saturday, October 1, 2016

    Green Umbrella: Noon to Midnight

    All-Day
    Walt Disney Concert Hall Lobby Escalators

    Nimbus

    Performance Installation by The Industry
    Concept and Direction by Yuval Sharon
    Music and Sound Design by Rand Steiger
    Visual Realization by Patrick Shearn
    Production Design by Ed Carlson and Danielle Kaufman
    Recorded performances by LA Phil musicians -
    Martin Chalifour, violin
    Robert deMaine, cello
    Marion Arthur Kuszyk, oboe
    Boris Allakhverdyan, clarinet
    Andrew Bain, horn
    Thomas Hooten, trumpet

    Noon and 5:15pm
    BP Hall

    LA Phil Brass Quintet
    Christopher Hanulik, Brian Johnson, Oscar Meza, David Allen Moore, Peter Rofé

    Veronika KRAUSAS  Porcupine for tent, quintet, bows and elbows by Ana PRVACKI (world premiere, LA Phil commission)

    12:45 pm
    BP Hall

    Los Angeles Percussion Quartet
    Matt Cook, Justin DeHart, Nick Terry, Cory Hills

    Joseph PEREIRA   Mallet Quartet

    1:00pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    wild UP
    Christopher Rountree, conductor
    Compositions by National Composers Intensive participants

    1:00pm
    Keck Auditorium

    Piano Spheres

    MESSIAEN  Catalogue d'Oiseaux

    Book 1
       Le Chocard des Alpes - Liam Viney
       Le Loriot - Vicki Ray
       Le Merle bleu - Susan Svrcek
    Book 2
       Le Traquet Stapazin - Thomas Kotcheff
    Book 3
       La Chouette Hulotte - Aron Kallay
       L'Alouette Lulu - Steven Vanhauwaert
    Book 4
       La Rousserolle Effarvatte - Nic Gerpe
    Book 5
       L'Alouette Calandrelle - Danny Holt
       La Bouscarle - Mark Robson
    Book 6
       Le Merle de roche - Joanne Pearce Martin
    Book 7
       La Buse variable - Sarah Gibson
       Le Traquet rieur - Richard Valitutto
       Le Courlis cendré - Nadia Shpachenko

    2:15pm
    BP Hall

    gnarwhallaby
    Brian Walsh, clarinets and saxophones
    Richard Valitutto, piano and keyboards
    Derek Stein, cello
    Matt Barbier, trombones and euphonium

    Michelle LOU  New Work (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
    Ramón LAZKANO  hatsik-1
    GÓRECKI  Muzyczka IV (concert puzonowy), Op. 28

    2:30pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    St. Lawrence String Quartet
    Geoff Nuttall, violin
    Owen Dalby, violin
    Lesley Robertson, viola
    Christopher Costanza, cello

    Samuel ADAMS  String Quartet in Five Movements
    John ADAMS  Selections from John's Book of Alleged Dances
       - Toot Nipple
       -Pavane: She's So Fine
       -Stubble Crotchet
       - Alligator Escalator

    3:30pm
    BP Hall

    wasteLAnd
    Nicholas Deyoe, conductor
    Stephanie Aston, soprano 
    Matt Barbier, trombone 
    Élise Roy, flute
    Ashley Walters, cello
    Scott Worthington, double bass

    Liza LIM  Invisibility
    Erik ULMAN  Tout Orgeuil... 
    Nicholas DEYOE  Finally, the cylindrical voids tapping along (world premiere, LA Phil commission) [text by Allison Carter]

    4:00pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall
    USC Percussion Ensemble

    Joseph Pereira, conductor
    Rolf WALLIN  Stonewave
    ANTHEIL  Ballet Mechanique (performed with the Kiesler restoration of the Léger film)
    Vicki Ray, Joanne Pearce Martin, Richard Valitutto, Aron Kallay, pianists

     

    5:30pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    Jacaranda
    Donald Crockett, conductor
    TBA, organ
    TBA, boy soprano

    "Trance Room"

    David LANG  sleeper's prayer (world premiere, LA Phil and Jacaranda co-commission)
    Hans ABRAHMSEN  Schnee
    Steve REICH  Eight Lines

    6:30pm
    BP Hall

    Los Angeles Percussion Quartet
    Matt Cook, Justin DeHart, Nick Terry, Cory Hills

    Jeffrey HOLMES  Ur (world premiere, LA Phil and LAPQ co-commission)
    Ellen REID  Fear | Release
    Daníel BJARNASON  Qui Tollis

    5:15pm and 6:45pm
    Garden

    USC Percussion Ensemble

    John Luther ADAMS Qilyuan

    8 pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    LA Phil New Music Group
    John Adamsconductor
    Timo Andrespiano
    Marley Erickson, violin
    Andrew Moses, clarinet
    Kate Soper, soprano

    Andrew MOSES  at a gray sky floating between the dirt (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
    Oscar COLOMINA I BOSCH  Shpigl (U.S. premiere)
    Kate SOPER  The Ultimate Poem Is Abstract (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
    Mario DIAZ DE LEON  new work for brass and electronics (world premiere, LA Phil commission)
    Ingram MARSHALL  Flow (world premiere, LA Phil commission

    9:00pm-11:00pm
    BP Hall

    Chris KALLMYER untitled work (crickets, gently amplified in an interior space.)

    10:00pm
    Walt Disney Concert Hall

    wild UP
    Christopher Rountree, conductor
    Jennifer Koh, violin
    Richard Valitutto, piano
    Christopher ROUNTREE  Word. Language. Honey (world premiere, LA Phil and wild Up co-commission)
    Andrew McINTOSH  Yelling Into the Wind (West Coast premiere)
    Clara IANNOTTA  Troglodyte Angels Clank By (world premiere)
    John ADAMS  Scratchband

    Immediately following wild Up performance
    Corner of 1st and Grand

    Lucky Dragons
    (a collaboration between Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara)

    LUCKY DRAGONS every noun until any now (world premiere, LA Phil commission)

    Tuesday, November 22, 2016, at 8 PM

    LA Phil New Music Group
    Thomas Adèsconductor
    Barbara Hannigansoprano (Alice)
    Hilary Summersmezzo-soprano (White Queen)
    Allison Cook, contralto (Red Queen)
    TBA, tenor (Tweedledee)
    Allan Clayton, tenor (Tweedledum)
    Mark Stone, baritone (White Knight)
    Joshua Bloombass (Red Knight and bass roles)

    Gerald BARRY  Alice's Adventures Under Ground (world premiere, LA Phil co-commission)
    (Libretto by Gerald Barry based on the text by Lewis Carroll)

    Tuesday, January 17, 2017, at 8 PM

    LA Phil New Music Group
    Jeffrey Milarskyconductor
    Synergy Vocals, guest ensemble
    REICH  Mallet Quartet
    REICH  Pulse (West Coast premiere, LA Phil commission)
    REICH  Tehillim

    Tuesday, April 11, 2017, at 8 PM

    Reykjavík Festival
    LA Phil New Music Group
    Daníel Bjarnasonconductor
    Schola Cantorum Reykjavík
    Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello

    Askell MÁSSON  Frum
    Daniel BJARNASON  Ek ken die nag
    ThurídurJÓNSDÓTTIR  new work for chamber orchestra and chorus (world premiere, LA Phil commission) 
    Atli INGOLFSSON  Object of Terror
    Páll Ragnar PÁLSSON  new work for cello and chamber orchestra (U.S. premiere, LA Phil commission) 

    Tuesday, June 13, 2017, at 8 PM

    LA Phil New Music Group
    Marc Lowenstein, conductor
    Yuval Sharon, director
    The Industry

    HARRISON  Young Caesar  
     

    For more information and full artists' biographies, please visit: laphil.com

    Tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2016/17 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase, please visit LAPhil.com or the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office. To order by phone with credit card or for more information, please call 323.850.2000.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres - orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop - at two of L.A.'s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.HollywoodBowl.com). The LA Phil's season extends from September through June at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

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  • Contact:

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