John Adams Leads the LA Phil and Leila Josefowicz at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 4/5-7

 Los Angeles Philharmonic Creative Chair John Adams leads the orchestra in three performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 4, 5 and 6, at 8 pm. All three programs feature Adams' Violin Concerto, played by Leila Josefowicz, a close and frequent collaborator with Adams, and the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass' LA Phil-co-commissioned Symphony No. 9. The Thursday and Saturday programs also include Arvo Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten. 

The Thursday and Saturday concerts open with Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, which was last performed by the LA Phil in 2002, at the Hollywood Bowl. All three concerts include Adams' Grawemeyer Award-winning Violin Concerto, which Josefowicz recently performed with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möest. The concerts close with Glass' Symphony No. 9, which had its world premiere in Linz (Austria), in January of 2012, followed later that month by a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert celebrating the composer's 75^th birthday. The piece became an iTunes hit, charting No. 1 on the classical release list, and No. 17 – above Coldplay – on the pop list.

Composer, conductor, and creative thinker – John Adams occupies a unique position in the world of American music. His works, both operatic and symphonic, stand out among contemporary classical compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and the profoundly humanist nature of their themes. Over the past 25 years, Adams' music has played a decisive role in turning the tide of contemporary musical aesthetics away from academic modernism and toward a more expansive, expressive language, entirely characteristic of his New World surroundings. He is currently the Creative Chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Adams' newest work, The Gospel According to the Other Mary, will have its world premiere in May with the LA Phil, led by Gustavo Dudamel.

Leila Josefowicz came to national attention in 1994 when she made her Carnegie Hall debut with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since appeared with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras and eminent conductors. A regular, close collaborator of leading composers of the day such as John Adams and Oliver Knussen, she is a strong advocate of new music – a characteristic which is reflected in her diverse programs and her enthusiasm for premiering new works. Josefowicz has recently premiered concertos written for her by Esa-Pekka Salonen/Los Angeles Philharmonic, Steve Mackey/St. Louis Symphony and Colin Matthews/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and played first performances of Thomas Adès' violin concerto Concentric Paths with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the San Francisco, Toronto and Seattle symphonies, and at the Aspen Music Festival. In recognition of her passionate advocacy and genuine commitment to the music of today, Josefowicz was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

The Friday concert is part of the LA Phil's Casual Fridays series, which features a shorter program, is presented without intermission and encourages audience members to attend in comfortable attire. TheseCasual Fridays concerts also feature a free TalkBack discussion with musicians held on stage after the performance and a chance to mingle with members of the orchestra in the Concert Hall Café. 

For more information, please visit: laphil.com.