YUJA WANG JOINS GUSTAVO DUDAMEL
FOR ALL FOUR RACHMANINOFF PIANO CONCERTOS
Feb. 9-12 and 16-19, 2023, at Walt Disney Concert Hall
LA Phil Humanities Initiative announces
new public program series, Feb. 2, 11 and 18, 2023
RACHMANINOFF WAS HERE:
THE GOLDEN AGE OF BEVERLY HILLS BOHEMIANISM
Tickets on sale Thursday, Jan. 5, at 10 a.m. PST
Complete Chronological Events Listing:
The Beverly Hills Songbook
Rachmaninoff Was Here opening event
Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m.
The Maybourne Beverly Hills
225 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
From Virginia Robinson’s lavish parties featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic to George and Ira Gershwin’s weekly salons, Beverly Hills was the center of popular music in the early 20th century. The American songbook was written in its living rooms; and collaborations that would shape music, film and fashion got their start at its social gatherings. The Beverly Hills Songbook celebrates the immense musical legacy of the world-famous city, from Rachmaninoff and Horowitz’s weekly at-home performances to the standards popularized by such acclaimed residents as Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and Rosemary Clooney.
Reception takes place from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by panel and performance from 8 to 9 p.m.
Gavin Martin, piano
Doug Peck, piano
Zakiya Young, vocals
Kristi Brown-Montesano, panelist
Phil Savenick, panelist
Yuja Wang & Dudamel: Rachmaninoff Concerto 1
Thursday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
The First Concerto reveals a young, ambitious composer defining his style and honing his voice. Completed when he was an 18-year-old student at the Moscow Conservatory and revised 26 years later after he had become a worldly, refined artist, the First offers Rachmaninoff’s characteristic romantic style and the unabashed showmanship one might expect from a youthful virtuoso eager to show off his skills. In the program’s second half, Dudamel moves from one of Rachmaninoff’s first pieces to one of his last. Composed while he was living in the United States, Symphonic Dances was his final orchestral piece and drew on his life’s work with nods to sacred chants and his own earlier music while looking toward the new harmonic language of the 20th century.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 1
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Concerts in the Thursday 2 subscription series are generously supported by the Otis Booth Foundation.
This performance is made possible by the generous support of the Elaine and Bram Goldsmith Great Artists Fund.
Yuja Wang & Dudamel: Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody
Friday, Feb. 10, at 11 a.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
In describing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Yuja Wang said she hears many sound worlds unfolding over the work’s 24 variations: the shadowy darkness of Mussorgsky, the transparent clean structure of Mozart, moments reminiscent of Chopin’s Préludes, and others that feel like a jazz jam session between piano and orchestra. In the program’s second half, Dudamel leads one of Rachmaninoff’s most-loved works, written while he was living in the United States. Symphonic Dances was the composer’s final orchestral piece and drew on his life’s work, with nods to sacred chants and his own earlier music while looking toward the new harmonic language of the 20th century.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Beverly Hills Avant-Garde: From Surrealism to the Sunset Strip
Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m.
Beverly Hills Women's Club
1700 Chevy Chase Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
For Beverly Hills in the early 1940s, experimental ideas in the arts could be found in the nearby community of surrealist artists who had been displaced by World War II, including Man Ray, Dorothea Tanning and Salvador Dalí, as well as in a triumvirate of nightclubs that dominated the Sunset Strip. Art historian Susan Anderson wrote that the surrealists brought “black humor, the off-the-wall whimsy of pop culture, and a liberating strain of Dada” to the region’s art. At the same time, the Café Trocadero, Ciro’s and Mocambo were serving up nightclub acts that pulled from a wide range of cultural traditions, becoming incubators for artistic innovation and cross-cultural integration. Beverly Hills Avant-Garde: From Surrealism to the Sunset Strip invites you to learn more about this vibrant period with an evening of food, conversation, music and magic.
Reception takes place from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by panel and performance from 8 to 9 p.m.
Parisa Parnian
Rob Zabrecky
Ryota Yamazaki, piano
Sarah Parra, flamenco dancer
Yuja Wang & Dudamel: Rachmaninoff Concerto 2
Saturday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
One of the most beloved piano showpieces in the symphonic repertoire—used in too many films to list—Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 emerged from a terrible case of writer’s block. After being depressed by his First Symphony’s critical flop, the composer turned to hypnotherapy to break his internal logjam. What resulted was an outpouring of captivating melody, unfolding seemingly effortlessly with lush romantic harmony, that earned breathless praise at its premiere. In the program’s second half, Dudamel leads one of Rachmaninoff’s most-loved works, which he wrote while living in the United States. Symphonic Dances was the composer’s final orchestral piece and drew on his life’s work with nods to sacred chants and his own earlier music while looking toward the new harmonic language of the 20th century.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2
RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Yuja Wang & Dudamel: Rachmaninoff Concerto 3
Thursday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 17, at 8 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
Yuja Wang told NPR there is a quality to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 that reminds her of the jazz piano of Art Tatum, in which the pianist sits alone at a keyboard, improvising on a single idea that grows into something amazingly complex. About The Bells, Rachmaninoff said, “All my life, I have taken pleasure in the differing moods and music of gladly chiming and mournfully tolling bells.” This work was inspired in large part by the poem of that name by Edgar Allen Poe. Each movement evokes a different flavor of bells connected to life stages and the passage of time—from sleigh bells to wedding chimes to a mournful funereal peal. Dudamel leads the LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in this gorgeous and haunting choral symphony.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
Mané Galoyan, soprano
Simon Bode, tenor
Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Grant Gershon, artistic director
Jenny Wong, associate artistic director
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
RACHMANINOFF The Bells
Rachmaninoff’s Beverly Hills
Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m.
Greystone Mansion & Gardens
905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Although his time in Beverly Hills was brief, Rachmaninoff made the most of its pleasures– enjoying gardening, cars and a circle of artists and luminaries who inspired one another. On any day, Rachmaninoff could be found playing piano duos in his living room with Vladimir Horowitz or dining with new friends such as Igor Stravinsky. Taking place at Edward Doheny’s historic Greystone Mansion & Gardens, Rachmaninoff’s Beverly Hills invites audiences to explore various aspects of the composer’s local life through a screening of Walt Disney’s The Opry House and other early music-inspired cartoons, a lecture on Rachmaninoff’s friendship with Stravinsky, and an intimate musical performance. A progressive event, the program will begin in the Greystone’s recently restored theater, move into its courtyard and conclude in the mansion’s living room.
Keenan Reesor, guest lecturer and pianist
Ryota Yamazaki, piano
Jerry Beck, animation historian
Yuja Wang & Dudamel: Rachmaninoff Concerto 4
Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012
In this finale to the Rachmaninoff piano concerto cycle, Wang and Dudamel perform the rare Fourth. Still lush and full of romantic melody, this concerto is rhythmically complex and makes the orchestra a more equal partner to the piano than his other concertos. About The Bells, Rachmaninoff said, “All my life, I have taken pleasure in the differing moods and music of gladly chiming and mournfully tolling bells.” This work was inspired in large part by the poem of that name by Edgar Allen Poe. Each movement evokes a different flavor of bells connected to life stages and the passage of time—from sleigh bells to wedding chimes to a mournful funereal peal. Dudamel leads the LA Phil and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in this gorgeous and haunting choral symphony.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Yuja Wang, piano
Mané Galoyan, soprano
Simon Bode, tenor
Alfred Walker, bass-baritone
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Grant Gershon, artistic director
Jenny Wong, associate artistic director
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 4
RACHMANINOFF The Bells
Tickets: Rachmaninoff Was Here public programs will go on sale at 10 a.m. PST on Thursday, Jan. 5, at laphil.com and by phone at 323 850 2000. Concerts were previously announced as on sale. Programs, artists, dates, prices and availability are subject to change. For up-to-date safety information, visit laphil.com/safety.
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