Four Larks SESSION Begins Performances 10/11

Conductor and classical music innovator Christopher Rountree, founder of the renegade twenty-four-piece ensemble wild Up, curates Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's (LACO) SESSION, an innovative performance experience with site-specific visual concepts staged by the art collective Four Larks, on Friday October 11, 8 pm, at Pico Union Project in Downtown L.A.

Designed to explore classical music's cutting-edge sounds and challenge traditional concert-going expectations, the evening features special guest wild Up on a range of audio- and genre-bending works, including Retrouvailles by Greek composer Georges Aperghis, Brazilian-born composer Marcos Balter's adventurous Codex Seraphianus for flute, saxophone, bassoon and viola, and Ashley Fure's Shiver Lung for ensemble and electronics, in which a ring of subwoofers encircle the audience, projecting soundwaves too low to hear until performers slide the flesh of their hands across each palpitating surface, pulling the soundwaves into the realm of the audible.

Also on the program are Sam Adams' Shade Studies, which examines the counterpoint between the acoustic resonance of the piano and sine waves; Jesse Marino's Endless Shrimp for two performers, kitchen instruments and video; Australian-born composer Kate Moore's Fern for flute, clarinet, percussion and electroacoustic soundtrack; and Eric Wubbels' Katachi, scored for sextet with live electronics, which he describes as "a skein of yarn that continually changes color."

Rountree founded wild Up in 2010. The group's eccentric mix of new music, pop and performance art quickly jumped from raucous DIY bar shows to being lauded as the vanguard for classical music by critics from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and public radio's Performance Today. Now an institution in its own right, wild Up and its success has led Rountree to collaborations with Björk, John Adams, David Lang, Scott Walker and many of the world's greatest orchestras and ensembles. An experimental classical ensemble, wild Up is committed to creating visceral, thought-provoking happenings that are designed to bring people together and defy convention. The L.A.-based group unites around the belief that no music is off limits and the concept that concert spaces should be as compelling as the music heard in them.

Four Larks, creative producers and art directors of SESSION, is noted for blurring the lines between dance, theater and opera. The organization, based in in downtown L.A., works variously as chamber-pop band, physical theatre ensemble and immersive space-makers. Four Larks has garnered acclaim for its award-winning "junkyard operas" that combine large-scale immersive design with innovative orchestration and dynamic physical theatre. Composer/Director Mat Sweeney and Creative Producer Sebastian Peters-Lazaro have been creating original work as Four Larks since 2008 alongside an international collective of collaborators.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), ranked among the world's top musical ensembles, marks an exciting new era in Southern California as it welcomes Jaime Martín in his debut year as Music Director. Martín builds upon LACO's rich legacy as a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and, with eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, a champion of contemporary composers. Headquartered in the heart of the country's cultural capital, LACO is "more important with each passing year," (Los Angeles Times), "America's finest chamber orchestra" (Public Radio International) and "one of the world's great chamber orchestras" (KUSC Classical FM). Martín's appearance as LACO's Music Director Designate in early 2019 was described by the Los Angeles Times, as "a thrilling performance, and the orchestra played like it was having the time of its life," adding, "he will make fans very quickly." Overseas, he has been praised as "a visionary conductor, discerning and meticulous" (Platea Magazine), and London's The Telegraph said, "his infectious enjoyment of the music communicated to the orchestra and audience alike." The Orchestra has made 32 recordings, including, most recently, a 2019 BIS Records release of works for violin and chamber orchestra that features Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and the world premiere recording of Pierre Jalbert's Violin Concerto (a LACO co-commission). LACO, with offices located in downtown Los Angeles, has toured Europe, South America and Japan, and performed across North America.

SESSION, whose programs fit the unique properties of unconventional spaces and test ideas about the relationship between performers and audiences, continues on May 21 with a program curated by composer Missy Mazzoli. (Location to be announced.)

Single tickets are $39 and may be purchased online at laco.org or by calling LACO at 213 622 7001 x 1. Pico Union Project is located at1153 Valencia Street, Los Angeles, CA 90015.

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