Friday, November 20, 2020, at 10AM

Series Available at laphil.com/soundstage

LA Phil Media supported by the David C. Bohnett Discovery & Innovation Fund.

WHAT:              

SOUND/STAGE, the LA Phil’s series of concert films, premieres the final episode of its inaugural season, “Finales,” Friday, November 20, at 10am. The program explores endings and what they can mean via a musical performance featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, online conversations with Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Gabriela Ortiz, an essay by Rian Johnson and an animated short film from Jordan Wong.

The program opens with a conversation between filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Dudamel, in which they discuss what makes for a good ending in music and in movies and the feelings that can be evoked in an uncertain finish. This sets the stage for the concert performance in which Dudamel and the orchestra take the audience through a program of orchestral finales – the finale from Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, “Ritual Mind – Corporeous Pulse” from Gabriela Ortiz’ Corpórea, and “The Fairy Garden” from Ravel’s Mother Goose.

Academy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson’s guest essay, Endings, examines how a good ending is effective because of everything that came before it. In his essay, Johnson draws out how in a program, like the one performed in the concert, that includes only endings, the listener is forced to create their own narrative to fit the ending, making for a unique experience for everyone.

Another conversation featured on the site is between Dudamel and composer Gabriela Ortiz, the curator the LA Phil’s Pan-American (PAMI) festival, which was canceled due to COVID-19. The two discuss the Pan-American music scene, connection through diversity, and orchestras as reflections of their communities. In addition, Ortiz provides a PAMI playlist that includes classic composers from her native Mexico, contemporary music, and works from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia.

The program also presents an animated short film by Jordan Wong, the second of the series’ Oskar Fischinger-inspired experimental animations. Wong used a replacement animation technique that involved photographing commercially patterned fabric, paired with the finale of Ravel’s Mother Goose.

All SOUND/STAGE performances were filmed outdoors at the Hollywood Bowl under strict adherence to public health guidelines, with all performers maintaining social distance.

PROGRAM:

Finales

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor

BEETHOVEN  Finale from Symphony No. 7

Gabriela ORTIZ  Corpórea: “Ritual Mind – Corporeous Pulse”

RAVEL  Mother Goose: “The Fairy Garden”

Includes conversation with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, an interview with composer Gabriela Ortiz, a guest essay by director Rian Johnson, an animated short film by Jordan Wong, and a playlist provided by Ortiz.

WHEN:            November 20, 2020, at 10AM

WHERE:          laphil.com/soundstage