LA Chamber Orchestra to Explore 'Music and the Mind' Next Month

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) explores innate vs. learned creativity tied to masterworks by Mozart and Mendelssohn, whose extraordinary talent was evident in their earliest compositions, during the second program of Westside Connections, a chamber music series with a twist, on Thursday, April 7, 2016, 7:30 pm, at the Moss Theater in Santa Monica.

Curated and hosted by LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, Westside Connections' 2015-16 season features LACO musicians and cutting-edge neuroscientists exploring "Music and the Mind" through performance and conversation, followed by Q&A with audiences. Among ideas probed during the three-concert series are how music moves us (and why), the possibility of pinpointing the location of creativity in the brain, and where the next wave in brain management research may to take us.

During the evening, special guest Dr. Susan Bookheimer, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCLA, discusses her study of remarkably gifted children, and she is joined by special guest Dr. Robert Bilder, Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Professor of Psychology, UCLA, to reveal findings from the "Big C Project," their fascinating joint research collaboration exploring exceptionally creative people in the arts and sciences. The conversation is set against a performance of Mozart's Quintet in E-flat major for Piano and Winds, which the composer himself called "the best thing I have so far written in my life," featuring LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, piano; LACO Principals Allan Vogel, oboe, Kenneth Munday, bassoon, Joshua Ranz, clarinet, and Andrew Shulman, cello; and LACO horn Kristy McArthur Morrell. Guest violinist Cho-Liang Lin joins Kahane and Shulman for Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor, considered his most beloved and popular chamber work. After hearing it, Schumann declared Mendelssohn "the Mozart of the 19th century."

Dr. Bilder holds the Michael Tennenbaum Family Chair in Creativity Research in the Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition to his NIH-sponsored research on brain and behavior, he directs the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity, and is now studying the brains of "Big C" (exceptionally creative) artists and scientists, with support from the John Templeton Foundation. Bilder also directs the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative's Mind Well program, which aims to help promote well-being and creative achievement throughout the UCLA campus community.

Dr. Bookheimer, holds the Joaquin Fuster Endowed Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and is a Professor in the Deptartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Department of Psychology. She is a pioneer in brain mapping research using functional mag¬netic resonance imaging (fMRI), which examines human brain activity in real time. Her research focuses on language, memory and social cognition in health and in neurologic and psychiatric disorders from early development to aging. Her clinical practice includes mapping brain function prior to surgery with fMRI, and mapping critical functions including language and music during awake neurosurgery using direct electrical stimulation of the brain. Bookheimer's recent work studies how the brain works dynami¬cally to solve problems and integrate information in highly gifted and creative individuals. This work aims to understand the unique¬ness of each brain and the many different cognitive styles used by exceptional children and adults.

With a 30-year career spanning the globe, Lin has appeared as a soloist with an array of ensembles including the Detroit, Toronto and Dallas symphony orchestras; the Houston, Nashville and Singapore symphonies; the Bergen, Munich and Hong Kong philharmonics; and the Los Angeles and English cham¬ber orchestras. An avid chamber musician, he is music director of La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest. Lin has commissioned works from Tan Dun, John Harbison and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2000, Musical America named him Instrumentalist of the Year. Currently, Lin, who began his studies at five in Taiwan, is a professor of violin at Juilliard and Rice University. He plays the 1715 "Titian" Stradivarius.

Each year, LACO's trademark three-part Westside Connections, now in its eight season, steps outside the proverbial "music "box" to illustrate with fascinating intellectual discourse and superb artistry the myriad ways music is woven into society and our lives. The 2015-16 Westside Connections series concludes May 5 when the evening centers on breathtaking songs by Schumann and Ravel, each of whom suffered severe mental collapse, with LACO musicians joined by special guest Dr. Linda Liau, Neurosurgeon, Professor and Director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Program, and guest artists Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano, and Robert Thies, piano. In previous seasons, Westside Connections has explored connections between music and such disparate topics as architecture, the culinary arts, poetry, stories and the influences of Los Angeles on creativity.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is considered one of the world's premier chamber orchestras as well as a pacesetter in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions. Its 2015-16 season, features a compelling mix of beloved masterpieces and genre-defying premieres from firmly established as well as notable up-and-coming composers programmed by Jeffrey Kahane, one of the world's foremost conductors and pianists, who marks his 19th season as LACO's music director.

Tickets (beginning at $65) are available online at laco.org, by calling LACO at 213 622 7001, or at the venue box office on the night of the concert, if tickets remain. Student rush tickets ($12), based on availability, may be purchased at the box office one hour before the concert. Also available for college students is the $30 "Campus to Concert Hall All Access Pass" - good for LACO's three Westside Connections concerts at the Moss Theater, seven Orchestral Series concerts at either the Alex Theatre or UCLA's Royce Hall and Discover Bach's Cantata "Sleepers Awake" at Ambassador Auditorium. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for groups of 12 or more. The Moss Theater at New Roads School is located at 3131 Olympic Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA, 90404.

Photo Credit: Michael Burke