Internationally-acclaimed French conductor Stéphane Denève returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in three performances, Friday, December 3, at 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, December 4 and 5, at 2 p.m. Joining him is pianist Nicholas Angelich, in his Los Angeles Philharmonic and Walt Disney Concert Hall debut, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor." The program also features the West Coast premiere of French composer Guilliaume Connesson's 2005 work Une lueur dans l'âge sombre, which he dedicated to Denève, and Claude Debussy's Ibéria.
Stéphane Denève is Chief Conductor Designate of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR), and he takes up that post beginning in September 2011. He is also Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a position he has held since 2005. The conductor has a particular affinity for the music of his native France, and has conducted works by Grétry, Debussy, Ravel, Berlioz, Roussel, Fauré and Poulenc. In recent years he has also premiered a number of works by the contemporary French composer Guillaume Connesson.Nicholas Angelich is a prizewinner of numerous piano competitions, including the Casadesus International Piano Competition in Ohio and the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Utah. In June 2003, he received the "International Klavierfestival Ruhr - Young Talent Award" from Leon Fleisher.Complete Program:CONNESSON Une lueur dans l'âge sombre (West Coast premiere)Videos