John Adams Leads the LA Phil in GREEN UMBRELLA: THEATER OF THE OUTRAGEOUS, 1/13

LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams leads the LA Phil New Music Group in an evening of edgy works by some of today's most avant-garde composers - HK Gruber, John Zorn and Olga Neuwirth - at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tuesday, January 13, at 8 pm. The concert features performances by chansonnier Pieter Embrechts and countertenor Nathan Medley in a staged production by Chromatic, a Los Angeles-based production company led by director James Darrah.

The program opens with HK Gruber's Frankenstein!!, a wild music theater piece that incorporates children's rhymes. The over-the-top work features Embrechts as chansonnier, a huge array of percussion, toy instruments and a stage filled with giant inflatable spheres. The finale of the theatrical piece is accompanied by projected images of many of the characters mentioned in the movements - "Batman and Robin," "Monster in the Park," and more.

Following intermission is John Zorn's all-out chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only "in which every few seconds, there [is] a different kind of music," as described by Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times.

The program concludes with the U.S. premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Hommage à Klaus Nomi. This song cycle tribute to the otherworldly Berlin/NYC pop star who was the composer's teen idol, showcases Medley as countertenor.

The innovative and unique Green Umbrella new music series, overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams, is at the heart of the LA Phil's mission to maintain the life and health of contemporary music. Currently in its third decade, the series offers five concerts during the 2014/15 season performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. Remaining concerts for the 2014/15 Green Umbrellaseries are: a program of Italian-modernist works with Gustavo Dudamel and violinist Jennifer Kohperforming Giacinto Scelsi's Anahit (March 10); and Adams with soprano Hila Plitmann in a program of LA Phil-commissioned world premieres from Chris Cerrone, Sean Friar and Dylan Mattingly (May 26).

Composer, conductor, and creative thinker - John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of music. His works stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. Works spanning more than three decades are among the most performed of all contemporary classical music, among them Harmonielehre,Shaker Loops, Violin Concerto, Chamber Symphony, Doctor Atomic Symphony and Short Ride in a Fast Machine. His stage works, all in collaboration with director Peter Sellars, include Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, El Niño, Doctor Atomic, A Flowering Tree and most recently his Passion oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Deutsche Grammophon has released a recording of Other Mary conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and English National Opera presents the world stage premiere in November 2014.

Adams' latest work is Scheherazade.2, a dramatic symphony for violin and orchestra written for Leila Josefowicz. After its New York Philharmonic premiere in March 2015, Adams conducts performances of the work with the Cincinnati and Atlanta Symphony orchestras. Other recent symphonic works include City Noirand his Saxophone Concerto - both recorded for Nonesuch Records by David Robertson and the St Louis Symphony Orchestra with soloist Tim McAllister - and Absolute Jest for string quartet and orchestra.

In 1994, Pieter Embrechts graduated at the Studio Herman Teirlinck (the Antwerp Actors' Academy) with highest distinction as Master in Dramatic Art. His mentor was the celebrated Flemish actor Jan Decleir. Ever since Embrechts has been a very active and headstrong actor, singer/songwriter and director. He is also a passionate conceiver and host of various television programs. He first performed HK Gruber's Frankenstein!! in 2009 at the invitation of the Spectra Ensemble at Het Concertgebouw in Bruges, as well as Leuven, Ghent, Antwerp and other Flemish cities.

Nathan Medley is an emerging, new-generation American countertenor, equally at home on the operatic and concert stages, performing repertoire ranging from early and baroque music to contemporary. He sang Countertenor 3 in the premiere of John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary in 2012 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, and in the staged version by Peter Sellars in 2013, which toured to Lucerne and London. He has sung further performances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Ravinia Festival and most recently, with English National Opera. Forthcoming engagements include the roles of Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and Speranza in L'Orfeo for the Boston Early Music Festival, and additional performances of Adams' Gospel According to the Other Mary in Strasbourg, Cologne, Stockholm, St. Louis and New York.

Chromatic is a new Los Angeles based production company led by director James Darrah, whose collective of interdisciplinary artists collaborate to create aesthetic theatrical experiences across blurring mediums. Comprised of directors, production designers, illustrators, fine artists, photographers, authors and performers, the group combines their prismatic skills for original projects within the realms of theater, opera, film, special events, design and visual curation. For the January 13 program, Darrah has assembled a talented creative team including: visual designer Ellen Lenbergs, projection designer Adam Larsen, stage director Roxie Perkins, and lighting designer Pablo Santiago. In the past year, members of Chromatic have participated on projects with Relativity Media, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Beth Morrison Projects, Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, PBS, Opera Omaha, wildUp, LA Opera, Los Angeles Theater Center, the HBO Network, Sundance Institute, San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony, with whom Chromatic's production of Britten's Peter Grimes was described as "one of the strongest, most theatrically imaginative, musically and dramatically compelling productions of the work I have seen" by The Wall Street Journal.

Complete program:

HK GRUBER Frankenstein!!

John ZORN For Your Eyes Only

Olga NEUWIRTH Hommage à Klaus Nomi (Nine Songs for countertenor and ensemble) (U.S. premiere)

An Upbeat Live pre-concert event takes place in Walt Disney Concert Hall's BP Hall one hour before the concert, and is free to all ticket holders. LA Phil Vice President of Artistic Planning Chad Smith hosts.

For full artist biographies, please visit: laphil.com

WHO: LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC NEW MUSIC GROUP

JOHN ADAMS, conductor

PIETER EMBRECHTS, chansonnier

NATHAN MEDLEY, countertenor

Production by CHROMATIC

ADAM LARSEN, projection designer

ELLEN LENBERGS, visual designer

ROXIE PERKINS, stage director

PABLO SANTIAGO, lighting designer

WHEN: Tuesday, January 13, 2015, at 8 PM

WHERE: WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL

111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

HOW TO PURCHASE: Single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2014/15 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase, please visit LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet. To order by phone with credit card, please call the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office at 323.850.2000, or Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.

Photo Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic's Website