Kurt Weill's Anti-Apartheid Musical LOST IN THE STARS Among LACO Series Lineup

Celebrating the unique ability of music and the arts to address challenging social and moral issues, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) presents LIFT EVERY VOICE, a three-week, city-wide series of free and ticketed concerts, conversations and community engagement curated by LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane from January 14 to 29, 2017, at venues across the Southland.

LIFT EVERY VOICE, conceived and curated by Kahane to explore themes of tolerance, compassion, cooperation and creativity along with the power of music to encourage understanding and promote peace, was inspired by the lives of human and civil rights champions Rabbi Joachim Prinz, composer Kurt Weill and Martin Luther King, Jr. The series is a signature part of Kahane's 20th and final LACO season, which features programming that reflects his far-reaching impact, broad musical sensibilities, distinctive philosophical interests and tremendous artistic passion.

Among LIFT EVERY VOICE's highlights are the first Los Angeles performance since the 1950s of Weill's profound anti-apartheid musical Lost in the Stars, directed by Anne Bogart, and Weill/Brecht's satirical The Seven Deadly Sins with chanteuse Storm Large, both provocative works addressing weighty moral issues; violinist Daniel Hope featured on the U.S. premiere of Weill's Song-Suite For Violin and Orchestra arranged by Paul Bateman; the West Coast premiere of Bruce Adolphe's Violin Concerto "I Will Not Remain Silent"; a joint performance with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA); and symposiums, a chamber music program and film screenings.

"LACO's LIFT EVERY VOICE is the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream of mine and represents the result of many years of thought," says Kahane. "I have always believed that for an orchestra to fulfill its highest potential, it must be an 'instrument of community,' both musically representing the community at the highest artistic level as well as engaging and enriching that community. All of us at LACO, along with the many wonderful and diverse partners who have committed to participating in LIFT EVERY VOICE, believe passionately that this project has the potential to be a profoundly transformational force, and that it represents an artistic and social expression and exploration of matters both deeply personal and absolutely universal."

LIFT EVERY VOICE launches with a free community program celebrating the spirit of diversity and inclusion as Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra musicians join the INNER CITY YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF LOS ANGELES (ICYOLA) and ICOYLA Chorus, under the direction of CharLes Dickerson III, and the Leo Baeck Temple Chorus, USC Chamber Singers and New Horizons School Choir for ICYOLA's annuAl Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday concert on Saturday, January 14, 2017, 7 pm, at West Angeles Church in Los Angeles. The program, co-presented by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, features Kahane guest conducting Four Spirituals from Sir Michael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time," and Lift Every Voice and Sing, arranged by Roland Carter. Dickerson conducts his own setting of Dr. King's epic "I Have a Dream" speech and his arrangement of the spiritual We Shall Overcome. Tickets are free.

LIFT EVERY VOICE continues with Kahane conducting the US PREMIERE of Weill's Song-Suite for Violin and Orchestra, arranged by Paul Bateman, and the WEST COAST PREMIERE of Bruce Adolphe's Violin Concerto "I Will Not Remain Silent," which the composer dedicated to Rabbi Joachim Prinz and his friendship with DR. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Saturday, January 21, 8 pm, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, and Sunday, January 22, 2017, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Both works feature guest soloist Daniel Hope, "among the best (violinists) in the world" (The Observer, London), who is also known for his humanitarian efforts espousing tolerance as well as building bridges between different musical worlds. Additionally, Kahane leads Weill's compelling satirical sung ballet THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, originally composed in 1933 with text by Bertolt Brecht, featuring virtuosic chanteuse Storm Large (Pink Martini) and New York's all-male vocal quartet Hudson Shad. Tickets start at $29.

A cornerstone of LIFT EVERY VOICE is the first Los Angeles performance since the 1950s of Weill's gripping musical LOST IN THE STARS, a powerful, uncompromising social indictment of apartheid-era South Africa, on Saturday, January 28, 8 pm, and Sunday, January 29, 2017, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Presented by LACO in partnership with CAP UCLA, the all-new staged production is directed by Anne Bogart, conducted by Kahane and features New York City's famed theatre ensemble Siti Company, soprano Lauren Michelle, tenor Issachah Savage, bass-baritone Justin Hopkins, the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers and Los Robles Master Chorale. With musical influences ranging from Broadway and gospel to African American spirituals and blues, Lost in the Stars follows the troubled son of a black minister in apartheid-era South Africa who accidentally kills the son of a white neighbor and the reverend who fights to keep his family together, lead his alarmed congregation and reconcile his own shaken notions of mercy and hope. Weill's final stage work is based on the 1949 adaptation by the composer and librettist Maxwell Anderson of Alan Paton's great novel Cry, the Beloved Country. Widely acknowledged as one of the most important works of that Broadway season and a landmark in the history of American musical theater, the production ran for more than 300 performances. Few places in America have ever had the opportunity to see and hear a live performance of the work because the first national tour was cancelled in protest when the producers learned that black cast members would be denied the right to stay in the same hotels as white cast members. Tickets start at $25.

More intimate in scope but equally illuminating, LACO Violin Maia Jasper leads a chamber music program by SALASTINA MUSIC SOCIETY, of which she is co-founder and artistic director, featuring Weill's String Quartet No. 1, Britten's String Quartet No. 2 in C Major and Persian composer Behzad Ranjbaran's Caprices for Two Violins on Sunday, January 15, 2017, 3 pm, at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades. The concert is presented by LACO in collaboration with Salastina Music Society and Villa Aurora, an artists' residence and place for international cultural encounters, which stands as a memorial to artists and intellectuals who found refuge from Nazi persecution and made a tremendous impact on the cultural life of the United States' West Coast. Tickets start at $42.

Delving more deeply into how social forces can shape an artist's work, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, in partnership with USC Thornton School of Music, presents "FORGING 'THE KNIFE' - Kurt Weill BEFORE BROADWAY," exploring composer Kurt Weill's musical roots in the 1920s through a free performance and discussion with Kahane and acclaimed violinist Daniel Hope, on Thursday, January 19, 2017, 8 pm, at USC's AlfrEd Newman Hall. Kahane and Hope share insights on Weill's music, life and career as a young composer in 1920s Berlin before he fled Nazi Germany and became one of Broadway's most enduring songwriters. Additionally, USC faculty and students join Hope and Kahane to perform some of Weill's early songs and major chamber works. The program is part of the USC Visions and Voices initiative. Tickets are free.

In collaboration with UCLA, LACO also presents "CHAMPIONING CIVIL RIGHTS AND RESISTING INJUSTICE: RABBI JOACHIM PRINZ AND Kurt Weill," a free thought-provoking symposium featuring Prinz's son, Jonathan Prinz, scholars and musicians that explores Berlin and the German-Jewish cultural milieu that informed Rabbi Prinz's and Weill's work and galvanized their activism, on Sunday, January 22, 2017, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, Royce Hall Room 314. Tickets are free.

LIFT EVERY VOICE also includes an educational FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION of Terezin - Refuge in Music, featuring interviews with musician-survivors of the Terezin concentration camp, followed by a discussion with Kahane and Hope on the triumph of the human spirit, on Friday, January 20, 2017, 10 am, at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study. Presented in partnership with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences Education Department, the free event is open to Academy Education Program participants only.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, proclaimed "America's finest chamber orchestra" by Public Radio International, has established itself among the world's top musical ensembles. Since 1997, LACO has performed under the baton of acclaimed conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane, hailed by critics as "visionary" and a conductor with "effortless musicality and extraordinary communicative gifts." Under Kahane's leadership, the Orchestra maintains its status as a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and a champion of contemporary composers.

Ticket prices for LIFT EVERY VOICE events vary, with several free events featured. Tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at laco.org or by calling LACO at 213 622 7001.