Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil Begin 2011/12 Season

Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic begin the 2011/12 subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall with celebrated soloists Janine Jansen, Yefim Bronfman, Johannes Moser and Richard Goode; the U.S. premiere of Esteban Benzecry's Rituales Amerindios; the world premiere of Enrico Chapela's Magnetar; works by Adams, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Vivier, Bartók, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Kurtág, Mozart and Strauss; and the launch of the second season of LA Phil LIVE with Gustavo Dudamel from Walt Disney Concert Hall.

September 30 - October 2
For the opening weekend of the 2011/12 season, Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform Adams' Tromba Iontana, the U.S. premiere of Esteban Benzecry's Rituales Amerindios and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecry wrote Rituales Amerindios (Amerindian Rituals) in 2008 on commission for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and with a dedication to Gustavo Dudamel. With this in mind, Benzecry was motivated to "write something that represents the great Latin pre-Columbian cultures." The piece - a pre-Columbian triptych for orchestra - "is a fusion of old roots and new techniques of occidental contemporary music." Benzecry took roots, rhythms and mythology as inspiration to develop his own musical language in a kind of imaginary folklore. Rituales Amerindios is comprised of three movements: Ehécatl (Azteca wind god), Chaac (Maya water god) and Illapa (Inca thunderclap god). Gustavo Dudamel and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of this piece in January 2010 in Gothenburg and also performed it during the Canary Island Music Festival in Spain.

October 6 - 9 (October 9 is an LA Phil LIVE performance)
Janine Jansen joins Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an all-Mendelssohn program that includes the Hebrides Overture, the Violin Concerto (featuring Jansen) and Symphony No. 3 "Scottish." Jansen made her debut with the LA Phil in March 2008, and has recorded Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto to great acclaim. "Even in a field where excellent command of the instrument - speed, intonation, accuracy and all that - is taken for granted, [Janine Jansen] is something special. She is at one with the fiddle, and so quick are her reflexes that, like Heifetz, she can give the impression of bypassing the physical constraints of her instrument." Los Angeles Times.

The Sunday, October 9 performance of this concert begins the second season of LA Phil LIVE, and will be broadcast in more than 430 select movie theaters across the U.S. The LA Phil LIVE series transports audiences to the conductor's podium and places them inside the music. Each broadcast includes an insider's look via the Backstage Pass feature, with live behind-the-scenes interviews with Dudamel, soloists and LA Phil musicians and exclusive rehearsal footage. Tickets for LA Phil LIVE's season two in-theater events are available at participating U.S. theater box offices and online at www.fathomevents.com. (Theaters and participants are subject to change.)

October 13 - 15
Yefim Bronfman returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for performances of Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel. The LA Phil will also perform Claude Vivier's Orion and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. The Friday, October 14 performance is a Casual Friday concert - the program will not include Orion for this performance only. Casual Friday concerts are designed to be shorter, without intermission. This gives time for guests to enjoy pre-concert events, including Upbeat Live, an engaging lesson that explores the concert program, as well as post-concert events including TalkBack, a lively discussion with musicians and guest artists held on stage, and an opportunity to gather at the Concert Hall Café to meet members of the orchestra. Bronfman's last performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall was a solo recital in March 2011.

October 20 & 21
Johannes Moser, playing the electric cello, gives the world premiere of Enrico Chapela's Magnetar, an LA Phil commission. This new work has three movements: fast, slow, and brutal. The electric cello is an electromagnetic instrument, and electromagnetic energy is the source of its power. With this in mind, Chapela decided to find the biggest possible magnet for the basis of his work, which led to his discovery and understanding of the biggest magnetic fields in the universe, known as Magnetars, a type of neutron star. Chapela, with the help of astrophysicists, learned about magnetars and their flares, and discovered a way to translate scientific data of flare activity into sound frequencies - and therefore ultimately music notes - providing the base materials for this work. Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic also perform Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5.

October 28 - 30 (October 28 is a Casual Friday performance)
The month of October closes with pianist Richard Goode performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in a program that also includes Kurtág's Grabstein für Stephan and Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Goode will be touring nationally and internationally during the 2011-2012 season, including performances with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra led by Fabio Luisi at Carnegie Hall, performing the Mozart Concerto No. 25, K503; a west coast tour with the Boston Symphony; and recitals at Carnegie Hall, as well as in Chicago, Philadelphia, Berkeley, Kansas City, Baltimore, Detroit and at universities around the country. In Europe, Goode will be performing in major series in cities including Birmingham, Budapest, Genoa, Madrid, and Paris, as well as touring through the UK, including performances at London's Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall.

Please visit LAPhil.com for full concert details.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres - orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop - at two of L.A.'s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com ) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil's season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from October through May, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

Subscriptions and single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2011/12 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase a subscription or single tickets, please visit LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000, or by calling Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. For more information, please call 323.850.2000.

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