FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009, AT 8 PM (CASUAL FRIDAYS); SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, AT 8 PM; SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, AT 2PM

Media Sponsor (Jan. 30): Time Warner Cable; The Jan. 31 Concert is Generously Sponsored by Acura – All Acura Vehicles Park Free for the Evening

Acclaimed violinist Hilary Hahn joins distinguished conductor Leonard Slatkin, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in a program that features Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Glazunov’s Violin Concerto, Stucky’s Son et lumière (not performed on Friday), and Schuman’s Symphony No. 3 (not performed on Friday). Slatkin, music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and longtime friend of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for the first time since he concluded his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

Although only 29 years old, violinist Hilary Hahn makes her return to Walt Disney Concert Hall as a seasoned and innovative performer. Her extensive international performances and recordings confirm her place as one of the most sought-after artists on the concert circuit. In September 2008, Hahn was named Artist of the Year by the Classic FM Gramophone Awards, one of the world’s most coveted and influential classical music prizes. The award followed her commercially and critically successful recording of the Schoenberg and Sibelius Violin Concertos, the only Schoenberg recording ever to hit the best-selling classical charts. The recording, which also features Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, received two 2009 Grammy nominations - Best Classical Album and Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra).

Inspired by Shakespeare’s tragic love story of the same name, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet is his first masterpiece and marks the start of his remarkable career. The immensely popular love theme has graced scores of television shows and movies the world over. Shakespeare’s tragedy and Tchaikovsky’s tortured personal life collided to produce the first true expression of his genius as a composer, a tautly constructed masterpiece that boils Shakespeare’s narrative down to its essentials in 20 minutes of music that is, by turns, thunderingly dramatic and achingly beautiful.

Glazunov – a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and inspiration for Shostakovich – wrote his Violin Concerto in 1904, a time of great international acclaim for the composer. Glazunov’s rarely performed Violin Concerto is one of his most popular compositions. The technically demanding work is written as a single continuous 21-minute-long piece and is performed without any pauses between its three movements.

Composer Steven Stucky began his relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1988, when then-Music Director André Previn appointed him Composer-in-Residence. In the same year, Stucky composed Son et lumière. Stucky says, “The title is borrowed from the kind of show staged for tourists at historic sites or famous buildings for a piece I intended as an orchestral entertainment whose subject is the play of colors, bright surfaces, and shimmery textures.” The Los Angeles Times calls the work “bracing, complex and entirely engaging.”

Institutionally at least, William Schuman was the American composer at the middle of the 20th century. In 1941 he won the first New York Music Critics’ Circle Award for his Symphony No. 3, in 1943 he won the first Pulitzer Prize in music for A Free Song (with another Pulitzer to come in 1985), and in 1955 he became the first composer commissioned by the United States government. The Third Symphony was his breakthrough work. Commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky after Aaron Copland introduced the conductor to Schuman’s music, the Third Symphony had its highly successful premiere in October 1941 from Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Widespread performances quickly followed, winning glowing reviews, including one from a Harvard undergraduate, Leonard Bernstein. Gramophone labeled it “one of the masterpieces of the 20th century” and it remains the most frequently played of Schuman’s symphonies.

Upbeat Live pre-performance discussions are free to ticket-holders, and occur one hour prior in BP Hall. Eric Bromberger, violinist, Fulbright nominee and recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship at Yale University, hosts Upbeat Live Jan. 30 – Feb. 1.

The Jan. 30 performance is part of the LA Phil’s Casual Fridays series, which encourages audience and orchestra members to attend attired in comfortable clothes. These shorter programs – without intermission – feature free post-concert activities for all ticket-holders to enjoy. These activities include a TalkBack discussion with musicians held on stage after the performance and a chance to mingle with members of the orchestra in the Concert Hall Café.

Internationally renowned American conductor LEONARD SLATKIN began his appointment as the 12th Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with the 2008-2009 season, and also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He completed his 12th and final season as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in 2007-2008. Slatkin continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Advisor to the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. His performances throughout North America, Europe and the Far East have been distinguished by imaginative programming and highly praised interpretations of both the standard and contemporary symphonic repertoire. Additionally, he is well-known for his arts advocacy work on behalf of music education. Following a successful tenure as Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony from 1979 until 1996, Slatkin was named Conductor Laureate. He has served as Festival Director of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Festival (1990-99), Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1997-2000), Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2000-2004), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (2004-2007). Slatkin has made regular appearances with virtually every major international orchestra, including the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and many others. Slatkin's more than 100 recordings have been recognized with seven Grammy awards and more than sixty other Grammy nominations. Throughout his career, Mr. Slatkin has demonstrated a continuing commitment to arts education and to reaching diverse audiences. He is the founder and director of the National Conducting Institute, an advanced career development program for rising conductors. Additionally, Mr. Slatkin founded the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and has also worked with student orchestras across the United States, including those at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music. Slatkin has received many honors and awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists by the United States Government.

Grammy winning violinist HILARY HAHN is celebrated for her innovative interpretations, captivating stage presence and emotional sophistication. Hahn appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and on notable recital series throughout Europe, Asia and North America. In the 2008-09 season, she will tour the United States, China, Korea, Germany, England, France, Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands as guest soloist with, among others, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco, Baltimore, Vancouver and Toronto symphonies, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In 2009, Hahn will appear as soloist in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Violin Concerto, co-commissioned by the Indianapolis, Toronto and Baltimore symphonies and the Curtis Institute of Music. Her recital tours and concert collaborations will take her to the United States, Canada, Japan, England, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Hahn’s 2007-08 season brought wide-ranging recital tours of Europe and North America and appearances with major orchestras throughout the world. In April 2007, she was chosen to be the featured soloist in Pope Benedict XVI’s 80th birthday celebration at the Vatican, a performance recently released on DVD. Hahn records for Deutsche Grammophon and, over the past six years, has released five albums for them, comprising works by Bach, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Paganini, Spohr, Schoenberg and Sibelius. Her most recent Deutsche Grammophon recording paired the violin concertos of Schoenberg and Sibelius; the disc debuted at Number 1 and spent twenty three weeks on the Billboard classical chart. All of Hahn’s recordings have received much critical acclaim and have spent multiple weeks on the Billboard Top Ten list. In 2007, Deutsche Grammophon distributed a popular documentary entitled Hilary Hahn: A Portrait, containing exclusive interviews and concert footage. Prior to signing with Deutsche Grammophon, Hahn made five award-winning recordings for Sony Classical, featuring repertoire by Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Bernstein, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, in addition to a concerto written for her by American composer/performer Edgar Meyer. Hahn has received numerous distinctions throughout her career, including a Grammy® for her recording of the Brahms and Stravinsky violin concertos, Diapason's “d'Or of the Year”, “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” (German Record Critics’ Award), 2008 Classical FM Gramophone Artist of the Year and several Echo awards. She has appeared on the covers of all major classical music publications and has been featured in mainstream periodicals such as Vogue, Elle, Town and Country, and Marie Claire. In 2001, Hahn was named “America’s Best Young Classical Musician” by Time Magazine.

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, JANUARY 30, 2009, AT 8 PM (CASUAL FRIDAYS)

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, AT 8 PM

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1, AT 2PM

Walt Disney Concert Hall

111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles



LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC

LEONARD SLATKIN, conductor

HILARY HAHN, violin



TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet

GLAZUNOV Violin Concerto

STUCKY Son et lumière (except the Casual Fridays performance)

SCHUMAN Symphony No. 3 (except the Casual Fridays performance)



Media Sponsor (Jan. 30): Time Warner Cable. The Jan. 31 Concert is Generously Sponsored by Acura – All Acura Vehicles Park Free for the Evening

Upbeat Live pre-performance discussions are free to ticket-holders, and occur one hour prior in BP Hall. Eric Bromberger, violinist, Fulbright nominee and recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship at Yale University, hosts Upbeat Live Jan. 30 – Feb. 1.

Tickets ($42 - $147) 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. When available, choral bench seats ($17), 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 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For information, please call 323.850.2000.

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