Biss Plays Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 In Program Also Featuring Works by Wagner, Dvorák and Strauss

FRIDAY - SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 - 8, 2007, AT 8 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007, AT 2 PM

Gifted French conductor Ludovic Morlot and 27-year-old American pianist Jonathan Biss join the Los Angeles Philharmonic for three concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Friday and Saturday, December 7 and 8, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, December 9, at 2 p.m. Biss performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in a program that also includes Wagner's Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin, Dvorák's Othello and Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier.

Morlot is quickly establishing a reputation as one of the leading conductors of his generation. The New York Times praised his performance with the New York Philharmonic as a last-minute replacement for an ailing Christoph von Dohnányi, stating, "He conducted the entire program with fluid yet unostentatious technique, palpable confidence and appealing energy… integrity and intensity characterized this performance, and Mr. Morlot drew responsive and full-bodied playing from the Philharmonic." Biss already has proved himself an accomplished and exceptional musician with a flourishing international reputation through his orchestral, recital and chamber music performances in North America and Europe, as well as through his EMI Classics recordings. Noted for his prodigious technique, intriguing programs, artistic maturity and versatility, Biss performs a diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven through the Romantics to Janácek and Schoenberg as well as works by contemporary composers, including commissions from Leon Kirchner and Lewis Spratlan.

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall one hour prior to each concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Christopher Russell, on the faculty at CSU Fullerton and Azusa Pacific University and Director of Instrumental Music at Orange County High School of the Arts, hosts.

Highlights of the 2007/08 season for LUDOVIC MORLOT include debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Berlin), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (in subscription), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Moscow National Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Toronto Symphony and Dallas Symphony, among others. He also will return to the Ensemble Intercontemporain, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic. Morlot is highly regarded in the Far East, where he has conducted the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan, and will make his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. During the summer of 2007, Morlot led the Boston Symphony Orchestra and made debuts with the Houston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. Morlot has maintained a close working relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2001, when he was the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Conductor at the Tanglewood Music Center. The 2006/07 season marked his third and last as assistant conductor of the orchestra, a position that enabled him to conduct a number of high-profile performances in Boston and at Tanglewood. From 2002 to 2004, Morlot was conductor-in-residence of the Orchestre National de Lyon, during which he assisted in the Paris productions of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Poulenc's La Voix Humaine with Jessye Norman. Trained as a violinist, Morlot studied conducting with the late Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine, the Royal Academy of Music in London under Sir Colin Davis, and the Royal College of Music as recipient of the Norman del Mar Conducting Fellowship.

Since he made his New York Philharmonic debut six years ago, JONATHAN BISS has appeared with the foremost orchestras of the United States and Europe. He is a frequent performer at leading international music festivals and gives recitals in major music capitals both in the U.S. and abroad. Highlights of the 2007/08 season for Biss include debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas, Kansas City, San Diego, and Toronto symphonies, and five European orchestras. He also returns to Japan, where he makes his Tokyo Symphony debut. Additional orchestral engagements include performances with the Budapest Festival Orchestra; the Metropolitan Opera, National Arts Centre and Royal Scottish National orchestras; the New York Philharmonic; the Saint Louis and San Francisco Symphonies; as well as an Austrian tour with the Camerata Salzburg conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, and a German tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Biss has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center and a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival, has toured with "Musicians from Marlboro" on several occasions and frequently collaborates with such chamber ensembles as the Borromeo and Mendelssohn quartets. In 2006, EMI Classics signed Biss to a two-year exclusive contract. His first CD under this contract - an all-Schumann recital - reached No. 5 on the classical charts and was recently recognized with a Diapason d'or award. His new CD of Beethoven Sonatas was just released by EMI in October. Among the many conductors with whom he has worked are Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Michael Tilson Thomas and Pinchas Zukerman. Biss, named the winner of the Leonard Bernstein Award at the 2005 Schleswig-Holstein Festival, has won numerous additional awards, including the 2002 Gilmore Young Artist Award, Wolf Trap's Shouse Debut Artist Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2003 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. Biss was an artist-in-residence on NPR's "Performance Today" and is the first American chosen to participate in the BBC's New Generation Artist program.

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:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007, AT 8 PM
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007, AT 8 PM
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007, AT 2 PM
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC
LUDOVIC MORLOT, conductor
JONATHAN BISS, piano

WAGNER Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
DVORÁK Othello
STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

Upbeat Live pre-concert events take place in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall one hour prior to each concert, and are free to all ticket holders. Christopher Russell, on the faculty at CSU Fullerton and Azusa Pacific University, and Director of Instrumental Music at Orange County High School of the Arts, 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) will be released for sale to selected Philharmonic, Colburn Celebrity Recital, and Baroque Variations performances beginning at noon on the Tuesday of the second week 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 all information, please call 323.850.2000.

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