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  • ESA-PEKKA SALONEN CONDUCTS LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN SHOSTAKOVICH CYCLE; PERFORMANCES OF SYMPHONY NO. 14 FEATURING SOPRANO TATIANA PAVLOVSKAYA AND BARITONE MATTHIAS GOERNE AT WALT DISNEY CONCER...
  • Feb. 2, 2006
  • Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music and Haydn's Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll” Also Performed on February 2 and 4; February 3 is "Casual Friday"

    THURSDAY, FRIDAY, and SATURDAY

    FEBRUARY 2, 3, AND 4 AT 8 PM

    February 2 Sponsored by Fidelity Investments,
    February 3 Sponsored by Acura,


    February 4 Sponsored by Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts

    Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the concluding concert series of its five-year survey of the symphonies and string quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich with Symphony No. 14 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 2, 3, and 4, 2006, 8 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya, in her Philharmonic debut, and baritone Matthias Goerne perform with the orchestra for the work, considered a song cycle on mortality, which was completed in the spring of 1969 and first performed in Leningrad by the Moscow Chamber Orchestra under Rudolf Barshai. In addition, Mozart's Masonic Funeral Music and Haydn's Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll” are performed on Thursday, February 2 and Saturday, February 4. The February 3 concert is part of the Philharmonic's Casual Fridays series, at which audience and orchestra members alike come attired in comfortable clothes, and concertgoers are invited to meet the musicians at a post-concert reception.

    Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians also perform Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 14 during “Upbeat Live,” open to all ticket holders one hour and 15 minutes before concert time on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage. Michael Walsh, former music critic of Time Magazine, moderates this free pre-concert event.

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, the tenth conductor to head the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is currently in his 14th season as Music Director. He made his American debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 1984, and he has conducted the orchestra every season since. His current tenure is the second-longest in Philharmonic history, and he recently extended his contract through the 2007/08 season. Alongside his activities as a conductor, Salonen has also won acclaim for his work as a composer. Among the many highlights of Salonen's activities with the Philharmonic have been world premieres of works by composers John Adams, Franco Donatoni, William Kraft, Witold Lutoslawski, Magnus Lindberg, Bernard Rands, Rodion Shchedrin, Steven Stucky, Tan Dun, and Augusta Read Thomas, as well as his own works. He has led critically acclaimed festivals of music by Ligeti, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Berlioz, and has served as Music Director of the Ojai Music Festival. He and the Philharmonic have toured extensively since 1992, including extended residencies at the Salzburg Festival and at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Salonen's latest orchestral work, Wing on Wing, received its world premiere in June 2004 as part of the Philharmonic's Building Music Festival. In March 2003 Salonen signed an exclusive four-year recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon; in February 2005, the label released Wing on Wing, a disc devoted to his recent works. Before signing with DG, Salonen recorded regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Sony Classical. A Sony disc of Salonen's compositions, including LA Variations, Five Images After Sappho, Giro, Gambit, and Mania, has garnered critical acclaim throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Salonen and the Philharmonic's discography also includes the debut recording of John Adams' Naive and Sentimental Music - a work that the orchestra premiered - for the Nonesuch label. Salonen was born in Helsinki in 1958, and after studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and with private teachers Franco Donatoni and Niccolò Castiglioni in Italy, he made his conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979. He is the recipient of many major awards including the Siena Prize from the Accademia Chigiana in 1993, the first conductor ever to receive the prize; the Royal Philharmonic Society's Opera Award in 1995; and their Conductor Award in 1997. In 1998 he was awarded the rank of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government; in 2003 he received an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Finland.

    MATTHIAS GOERNE has received worldwide praise for his warm, fluid baritone and his profound artistry. Highly respected as a Lieder singer, he is a frequent guest at the leading festivals and most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and London's Wigmore Hall. Goerne is equally acclaimed on the concert stage where he appears with the world's foremost orchestras and conductors. Also sought-after as an opera performer, he has appeared at important opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Teatro Real in Madrid, at the Salzburg Festival and Saito Kinen Festival. Goerne has an exclusive contract with Decca for solo recordings many of which received prestigious awards. His latest recordings include Schubert's 'Winterreise' and 'Schwanengesang' with Alfred Brendel. The current season began with a highly successful tour through Japan and Korea, and he will perform with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony in addition to many recitals with Elisabeth Leonskaja and Christoph Eschenbach among the pianists. Goerne began his singing career as a member of the children's choir of the Civic Opera of Weimar and studied with master artists Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He was recently named an honorary member of the Royal Academy in London and appointed Professor of Lied Interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy in Düsseldorf.

    Murmansk-born TATIANA PAVLOVSKAYA, a graduate of St. Petersburg's Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, has been a regular at the Mariinsky Theatre since her debut there in 1995. She appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in 1998 as Maria in Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa and has also sung at the Salzburg Festival (in a concert performance of Parsifal conducted by Valery Gergiev) at a Buckingham Palace gala with Plácido Domingo, the Paris Opera, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the Teatro alla Scala.

    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, FEBRUARY 2, AT 8:00 PM

    FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, AT 8:00 PM

    SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2006, AT 8:00 PM


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

    LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

    ESA-PEKKA SALONEN, conductor

    TATIANA PAVLOVSKAYA, soprano

    MATTHIAS GOERNE, baritone

    MOZART Masonic Funeral Music (February 2 and 4 only)

    HAYDN Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll” (February 2 and 4 only)

    SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 14

    February 2 Sponsored by Fidelity Investments, February 3 Sponsored by Acura,

    February 4 Sponsored By Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts

    Tickets ($15-$129) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order 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 all information, please call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, 213.972.3422; Rachelle Roe, 213.972.7310; Photos: 213.972.3034