Dudamel, Ax Make Performance Debut at Disney Concert Hall, 10/8-10

Music Director Gustavo DudaMel Begins the 2010/11 subscription series with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, October 8 - 10, 2010, with three performances featuring pianist Emanuel Ax in a program that includes Weber's Der Freishütz Overture, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Schumann's Symphony No. 4. The following week, October 14 - 17, 2010, Dudamel leads the LA Phil in Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Cynthia Millar, who performs on the ondes martenot, an electronic musical instrument invented in 1928, similar in sound to the Theremin. This marks the first time Turangalîla is performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
 
Although no strangers to each other or sharing a stage, Gustavo Dudamel and pianist Emanuel Ax make their debut performance together at Walt Disney Concert Hall, in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, a piece that in 1808 marked Beethoven's last appearance as a soloist, his deafness robbing him of that part of his career. This masterpiece fell into neglect until revived by Mendelssohn after Beethoven's death. It is now widely performed and recorded, and is considered to be one of the central works of the piano concerto literature. With this program of Weber's Der Freischütz Overture, considered the first important German Romantic opera, and Schumann's Symphony no. 4, one of the greatest triumphs of the composer's life, Dudamel and the LA Phil begin their second season together with a selection of definitive Romantic masterpieces.
 
Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie is personally significant to Gustavo. Since his appointment as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he has envisioned performing this work with the LA Phil. "Turangalîla is a piece that I've loved since I was a little boy," says Gustavo.  "I remember the colors of Turangalîla - the ondes combined with a huge orchestra - and although it wasn't an easy piece to understand for the first time, I felt a huge and immediate connection. It is one of my favorite pieces, and performing it with the LA Phil will be amazing. It is the perfect piece for Walt Disney Concert Hall." Dudamel is joined by pianist Jean Yves-Thibaudet and ondes martenot musician Cynthia Millar for these special performances.

All concerts are preceded by Upbeat Live pre-performance discussions which are free to ticket-holders, and occur one hour prior in BP Hall. Christopher Russell, Director of Orchestral Studies at Azusa Pacific University and Coordinator of the Orchestra Program at Orange County High School of the Arts, hosts October 8 - 10. Composer Veronika Krausas, Assistant Professor in the Composition Department at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, hosts October 14 - 17.                              
 

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