Esa-Pekka Salonen to Lead LA Phil, Leila Josefowicz at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 10/25-27

Los Angeles Philharmonic Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen concludes his two-week stint at Walt Disney Concert Hall by leading the LA Phil and violinist Leila Josefowicz in his Violin Concerto, Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26, at 8 pm, as well as Sunday, October 27, at 2 pm. All three performances also feature one of Salonen's most famous specialties, Sibelius' Fifth Symphony. The Saturday and Sunday performances open with Ives' The Unanswered Question.

The Friday concert is part of the LA Phil's Casual Fridays series, which features a shorter program, is presented without intermission and encourages audience members to attend in comfortable attire. These Casual Fridays concerts also feature a free 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.

One of the tremendously moving and impressive highlights of Salonen's final concerts as Music Director of the LA Phil in 2009 was the world premiere of his Violin Concerto, written for and with Josefowicz. The piece won the 2012 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition and since its debut has been played around the world.

The LA Phil celebrates the 10th anniversary of the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall with a series of programs, including this one, featuring many outstanding performers who have had special relationships with the LA Phil since the Hall opened.

As both a lauded composer and a world renowned conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen has a restless innovation that marks him as one of the most important artists in classical music. Salonen is currently the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for London's Philharmonia Orchestra and the Conductor Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music Director from 1992 until 2009. As the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 17 years, Salonen is widely credited with revitalizing the organization and bringing the idea of the symphony orchestra into the 21st century. During his tenure, Salonen was instrumental in helping the orchestra to open their famed Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry. He also presided over countless premieres and contemporary works; began the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund; made the Los Angeles Philharmonic one of the best attended and funded orchestras in the country; and became, in the words of the Los Angeles Times, an "open, communicative, imaginative artist-among the most beloved of our town and time." This season, Salonen returned to Los Angeles to conduct a Green Umbrella concert of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels and performances of his Violin Concerto. He will later conduct the concerto with the New York Philharmonic with Josefowicz at Lincoln Center in October and November 2013.

One of the most sought after violinists of her generation and an outstanding champion of contemporary music, Leila Josefowicz is the chosen interpreter of several of today's leading composers including John Adams, Oliver Knussen, Thomas Adès and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In recognition of her passionate advocacy and genuine commitment to the music of today, Josefowicz was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She has premiered concertos written for her by Salonen/Los Angeles Philharmonic, Steve Mackey/St. Louis Symphony, and Colin Matthews/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and played first performances of Thomas Adès' violin concerto Concentric Paths with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the San Francisco, Toronto and Seattle symphonies and at the Aspen Music Festival. John Adams and Luca Francesconi have been commissioned to write new concertos for her. Josefowicz has released many recordings, notably for the Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/Universal and Warner Classics labels. Recent recordings include John Adams' Violin Concerto and The Dharma at Big Sur with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for DG Concerts on iTunes, and her recording of his Road Movies for Nonesuch received a Grammy nomination. Her latest recording, released by Deutsche Grammophon in the fall of 2012, features Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.