Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, conducts the world premiere of Christopher Cerrone's Will There Be Singing, commissioned by the Orchestra, as part of his final concert with the Orchestra on Saturday, May 20, 2017, 8 pm, Alex Theatre, and Sunday, May 21, 2017, 7 pm, Royce Hall. With these two performances, Kahane concludes an unprecedented and extraordinary 20-year tenure at the Orchestra's artistic helm, the longest in LACO history. The sweeping, deeply personal concert program opens with Kahane, long heralded for championing new music, conducting the world premiere, a LACO commission, by Cerrone, a 2014 Pulitzer-Prize finalist and "rising star" (The New Yorker) whose compositional voice is characterized by expressive lyricism, ringing clarity and a deep literary fluency. Kahane, also a world renowned pianist, then takes on dual roles as soloist and conductor, in his trademark style, as he leads the Orchestra from the keyboard to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27, which he describes as a "bittersweet valedictory piece about being at the end of winter and longing for spring." For his final flourish as LACO music director, Kahane takes the podium to conduct Schubert's Symphony No. 9, "The Great C-major," which embodies Schubert's great love of Beethoven. After each performance, the audience is invited to a free post-concert party with Kahane and LACO artists to celebrate Kahane's final appearance as LACO Music Director.
"LACO is deeply indebted to Jeffery Kahane, a truly visionary talent who, for the past two decades, has propelled the Orchestra forward on an amazing and successful trajectory," says LACO Board President Dana Newman. "He has expanded our musical and artistic horizons in ways we never could have imagined while providing inspired and thoughtful leadership every step of the way, and he's genuinely beloved by LACO audiences and the Orchestra. After the final note of Jeffrey's final program, we look forward to celebrating him and his remarkable legacy with our devoted LACO audience members."
"It is with a mixture of joy, excitement, pride and sadness that I look forward to my final concert as music director of one of the world's finest and most versatile chamber orchestras," says Kahane. "It is the hope of every music director to leave an orchestra in better shape than it was when he inherited it, and I believe that anyone who has known and loved LACO over the last few decades would resoundingly agree that this hope has come to fruition. I also know that the Orchestra's distinguished history of nearly half a century is a prelude to still more wonderful things to come. I have cherished every moment of every rehearsal and concert with my beloved and extraordinary colleagues, and anticipate what I am sure will be a memorable finale."
PHOTO CREDIT: CM Artists
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