Skip to page content
  • WDCH
  • Violinist Joshua Bell Joins La Phil Assistant Conductor Lionel Bringuier in a Program Featuring Ravel, Lalo, Schmitt and Liszt
  • Apr. 23, 2009
  • Bell Performs Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole

    THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009, AT 8 PM; FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009 AT 8 PM (casual fridayS CONCERT); SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009, at 2 pm; SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009, at 2 PM

    Apr. 23 concert is generously sponsored by Breguet, the official timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Media sponsor (Apr. 24): Time Warner Cable; Media sponsor (Apr. 26): KCET

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 22-year-old Assistant Conductor, Lionel Bringuier, leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall in four concerts featuring renowned violinist Joshua Bell performing Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. The programs also include Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso, Schmitt’s La tragédie de Salomé, and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1. The Friday program, part of the LA Phil’s Casual Friday series, features all works except the Schmitt.

    Bringuier, an “astoundingly gifted assistant conductor” (Los Angeles Times), began his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of the 2007/08 season, and begins his new role as Associate Conductor at the start of the 2009/10 season.

    Joshua Bell has captured the public’s attention like no other classical violinist of his time. “Mr. Bell doesn’t stand in anyone’s shadow,” said The New York Times. For over two decades, Bell has enchanted audiences worldwide with his breathtaking playing and tone of rare opulence. He came to national attention at the age of 14 in a highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Today he is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra leader. Bell received the 2008 Academy of Achievement award for exceptional accomplishment in the arts.

    Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso (Morning Song of the Jester) started life as a piano piece, the fourth number in the composer’s Miroirs, written in 1905. He orchestrated the movement in 1918 and it premiered the following year in Paris. Lalo’s fame as a composer began to grow during the 1870s, due in part to the support of the great Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate, for whom the Symphonie espagnole was written, and who performed it in February of 1875. Originally composed in 1907 for the American dancer Loie Fuller and the Théâtre des Arts, Schmitt’s Salomé was based on a poem by Robert d’Humières. Schmitt expanded the orchestration in 1910 (dedicating the work then to Stravinsky) and it quickly became popular for a number of companies, including the Ballets Russes and the Paris Opéra, where Ida Rubinstein danced it in 1919.

    Faust was a pervasive presence in the Romantic world of Liszt, who was especially fascinated by the merchant of souls, Mephistopheles, and his power to enchant. After relinquishing his career as a touring performer to concentrate on composition and conducting, Liszt composed his first (of four) Mephisto Waltz. In its original incarnation, bearing the title The Dance in the Village Inn, the music was the second of a pair of orchestral works representing “Two Episodes” drawn from a Hungarian version of Faust.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Casual Fridays series 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.

    An opportunity to learn more about the program is free to all ticket holders at Upbeat Live, which takes place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert. Veronika Krausas, composer and Professor at Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2009, AT 8 PM

    FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009 AT 8 PM (casual fridays CONCERT)

    SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009, at 2 pm

    SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009, at 2 PM


    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

    111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles



    Los Angeles Philharmonic

    LIONEL BRINGUIER, conductor

    JOSHUA BELL, violin



    RAVEL Alborada del gracioso

    LALO Symphonie espagnole

    SCHMITT La tragédie de Salomé (not performed Friday)

    LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1



    An opportunity to learn more about the program is free to all ticket holders at Upbeat Live, which takes place in BP Hall one hour prior to each concert. Veronika Krausas, composer and Professor at the USC Thornton School of Music at USC, hosts.



    Apr. 23 concert is generously sponsored by Breguet, the official timepiece of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

    Media sponsor (Apr. 24): Time Warner Cable

    Media sponsor (Apr. 26): KCET

    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.

    # # #

  • Contact:

    Sophie Jefferies, sjefferies@laphil.org, 213.972.3422; Lisa Bellamore, lbellamore@laphil.org, 213.972.3689; Photos: 213.972.3034