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The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage welcomes the return of the Colburn Orchestra, the flagship ensemble of the Colburn Conservatory of Music, under the baton of renowned conductor Peter Oundjian on Saturday, February 29 at 7:30pm. The classical music stars of tomorrow will perform a stellar program of favorites.
Hailed as a masterful and dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian will join the Colburn Orchestra on The Broad Stage for an unforgettable evening of classical music. The program will commence with Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta. Inspired by the folk music of the composer’s hometown of Galánta, the 1933 composition consists of a three-part lassú: the orchestral introduction, the clarinet’s cadenza, and the luscious subsequent andante maestoso section. It is followed by a friss that begins allegro moderato and then erupts into four different fast dances, separated by brief references to the andante maestoso.
The program will also feature an instrument that rarely gets the orchestral spotlight – the marimba. Colburn Conservatory student Edouard Beyens performs Sejourné’s Marimba Concerto. Anne-Julie Caron, a Canadian percussionist, described it as “one of the rare pieces to put the marimba in a romantic context,” and a New York reviewer called it “gorgeously composed.”
The evening will conclude with Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6, Op. 60, which was a dedication to the conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Richter, in 1880. The four-movement piece was one of the first of Dvořák’s large symphonic works to draw international attention.
Tickets starting at $15 are available at thebroadstage.org, by calling 310.434.3200, or visiting the box office at 1310 11thSt. Santa Monica CA 90401 beginning three hours prior to performance.
Classical Music Series at The Broad Stage made possible in part by generous support from the Colburn Foundation.
Pre-Concert Event
There will be a pre-concert “Spotlight Talk” at 7:00pm with James Bergman. Bergman is a double bassist who is active in classical and contemporary music in Southern California. He performs regularly with the Los Angeles Opera, Santa Barbara Symphony, and has been a member of the San Jose Symphony and other orchestras. Aside from symphonic work he can be found in the studio playing for motion pictures and video games. Bergman has recorded in a variety of genres from rock to opera including the LA Opera’s Grammy award winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, Josh Groban’s Stages Live and most recently the premiere of Dragon Rite by Michael Byron on Cold Blue Music. In 2018 he performed Trios for Deep Voices with composer Christopher Roberts in Taiwan. Other performances include the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco, the Bang on a Can Festival in New York, and recordings and tours with the Mikel Rouse Broken Consort. Bergman received his Undergraduate and Graduate degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with bassist David Walter. He is currently Associate Professor at Santa Monica College.
Program
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Dances of Galánta
Emmanuel Séjourné (b. 1961)
Concerto for marimba and string orchestra
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Symphony No. 6, Op. 60
Allegro non tanto
Adagio
Scherzo
Allegro con spirito
About the Colburn Orchestra
The Colburn Orchestra is the flagship ensemble of the Colburn Conservatory of Music. Founded in 2003 under the direction of Music Director and Conductor Yehuda Gilad, the orchestra has performed at venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, Royce Hall, Segerstrom Concert Hall, and The Soraya. Dedicated to serving the greater Los Angeles community, the Colburn Orchestra performs for schools in neighboring communities twice a year giving five concerts in a one-week period to school children of all ages. The ensemble made its United Kingdom debut in Dublin and at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2018 and opened the Grammy Foundation’s 2012 Annual Music Preservation Project, One Night Only: A Celebration of the Live Music Experience. The Orchestra has made four commercial recordings, and concerts have been broadcast on Southern California’s independent television station KCET for the arts series Open Call, as well as classical music radio station KUSC.
About Peter Oundjian
Peter Oundjian has developed a multi-faceted portfolio as a conductor, violinist, professor, and artistic advisor. He has been celebrated for his musicality, an eye towards collaboration, innovative programming, and an engaging personality.
Oundjian’s fourteen-year tenure as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has been marked by a reimagining of the TSO’s programming, international stature, audience development, touring and a number of outstanding recordings. Credited for his long association with the orchestra, Oundjian helped establish the TSO as one of the world’s top ensembles and served as a major creative force for the city of Toronto. Oundjian lead the orchestra on several international tours, to Europe and the USA, and he conducted the first performance by a North American orchestra at Reykjavik’s Harpa Hall in 2014. Oundjian and the TSO’s recording of Vaughan Williams’ Orchestral Works won a JUNO Award for Best Classical Album: Large Ensemble in 2019.
>From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra during which time he implemented the kind of collaborative programming that has become a staple of his directorship. Oundjian led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten’s epic War Requiem.
Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Detroit, Atlanta, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras, with visits to Cincinnati and Milwaukee planned for winter 2020. In January 2019 he transitioned from Artistic Advisor to Music Director for the Colorado Music Festival, commencing a five year tenure.
Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University’s School of Music since 1981, and in 2013 was awarded the school’s Sanford Medal for Distinguished Service to Music. A dedicated educator, Oundjian conducted the Yale and Juilliard Symphony Orchestras and the New World Symphony during the 18/19 season.
An outstanding violinist, Oundjian spent fourteen years as the first violinist for the renowned Tokyo String Quartet before he turned his energy towards conducting.
