Jacaranda, the Westside music series known for presenting rarely heard, modern and new classical music, will present a concert featuring music by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952), Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), French composer Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916), and Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung (b. 1942).
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and musicians who will be performing include Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng, with two members of the Calder Quartet; guitarist Michael Kudirka; the Lyris Quartet; as well as sopranos Elissa Johnston and Kathleen Roland with the Jacaranda Chamber Ensemble conducted by Mark Alan Hilt, Jacaranda's music director.
Receiving its LA premiere, Saariaho's 2003 trio for piano, viola and cello Je sens un deuxieme coeur (I feel a second heart) remembers the composer's first pregnancy. Takemitsu's 1987 guitar solo All in Twilight and Dutilleux's 1976 string quartet Ainsi le Nuit (Such is the night) explore nocturnal sensibilities. Ung's 2006 Aura, a 45-minute work for two sopranos and 10 instrumentalists, conjures the transforming force of spirit/nature in the aftermath of calamities such as Hurricane Katrina.
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After the concert ends (at around 9:30 pm), The Forte Award After Party honors two champions of modern and contemporary classical music — Deborah Borda and Movses Pogossian — in a special event at the Knoll Showroom across the street at 214 Wilshire Blvd (enter on Second Street).
Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, and Grigor Hovhannissian, Consul General of Armenia, will present the awards, with musical surprises, desserts and champagne to follow.
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President and CEO of the LA Philharmonic Deborah Borda, has significantly deepened the orchestra's long-term commitment to commissioning new music. With some 50 commissions currently active, the LA Philharmonic leads the nation's orchestras in the promotion of new music. Movses Pogossian studied violin in his native Armenia. At age 19, he became the youngest ever First Prize-winner of the USSR National Violin Competition, following in the footsteps of David Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer. He went on to win prizes at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. Since making his critically-acclaimed American debut with the Boston Pops performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in 1990, Pogossian has recorded various new and modern music and is the artistic director for the Dilijan Chamber Music.
This year’s recipients of The Forte Award join past honorees Alan Rich and Gloria Cheng (2008), William Kraft and Grant Gershon (2009), Catherine Uniack and Steven D. Lavine (2010). The honor includes membership in Jacaranda's Board of Advisors. The formation of that group, which also includes leaders in various fields, is being officially announced at this event. A list is attached below.
About Jacaranda
Jacaranda, with a motto of “music at the edge,” is a series of intimate concert adventures that combines the rarely heard with the new in thematic contexts to awaken a sense of discovery and connection. Founded in 2003 by arts impresario Patrick Scott and professional organist/conductor Mark Alan Hilt, Jacaranda produces an annual series of concerts in Santa Monica that feature current and rising stars in the world of classical music performance. For more information or to purchase tickets to the concert series, go to www.jacarandamusic.org.
Jacaranda, music at the edge Board of Advisors (2012)
Sasha Anawalt
Director of USC Annenberg Arts Journalism Programs, dance writer
Richard Beene
Dean of the Colburn School Conservatory
Gloria Cheng*
Grammy-winning pianist
Gail Eichenthal
Program Director, Executive Producer, KUSC
Grant Gershon*
Music Director, LA Master Chorale; Associate Conductor, LA Opera
Joseph Horowitz
Music writer, artistic consultant, teacher, and author of Classical Music in America
William Kraft*
Composer, timpanist, founder, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group
Veronika Krausas
Composer, lecturer, professor, USC Thornton School
David Lang
Pulitzer-prize-winning composer, professor, Yale University
Morton Lauridsen
Composer, National Medal of Arts, Distinguished Professor, USC Thornton School
Steven D. Lavine*
President, California Institute for the Arts
Arthur Rieman
Attorney & founder, The Law Firm for Non Profits
Peter Sellars
MacArthur Fellow, theater & opera director
Yuval Sharon
Opera director, Artistic Director, The Industry
Chad Smith
Vice President of Artistic Planning, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Sheila Tepper
Radio producer, interviewer, community volunteer
Catherine Uniack*
Director, Piano Spheres
Bill Viola & Kira Perov
Video art partners - MacArthur Fellow (Viola) & photographer/executive director (Perov)
Michael Webb
architecture writer, author of Venice, CA: Art + Architecture in a Maverick Community
* Forte Award Honorees
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