Michael Tilson Thomas Leads London Symphony Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall Tonight

Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) makes his second stop of the season at Walt Disney Concert Hall when he returns to lead the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), one of the world's great orchestras, and powerhouse pianist Yuja Wang, tonight, March 24, at 8 pm.

MTT and the orchestra treat the audience to a program that opens with Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, followed by Wang taking the stage for Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. The concert closes with Sibelius' Symphony No. 2.

The concert is part of a series of performances this season dedicated to celebrating MTT's 70th birthday. It is also part of the LA Phil's Visiting Orchestras series.

The London Symphony Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the world's leading orchestras. The LSO has an enviable family of artists, including LSO Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas and Daniel Harding as Principal Guest Conductors, and long-standing relationships with some of the leading musicians in the world - Yuja Wang, Leonidas Kavakos, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mitsuko Uchida and Maria João Pires among others. The LSO is proud to be Resident Orchestra at the Barbican, where it performs around 70 concerts a year. The orchestra also enjoys successful residencies in New York, Paris and Tokyo. Regular tour destinations include the Far East, North America and all the major European cities. In late 2014, the orchestra toured to Australia for the first time in over 30 years. The Walt Disney Concert Hall performance forms part of an extensive tour of the United States with Michael Tilson Thomas, celebrating his 70th birthday with the orchestra this year. The orchestra is a world-leader in recording music for CD, film and events. LSO Live is the most successful label of its kind and last year celebrated its hundredth release. Recordings are available globally on CD, SACD and online. The LSO has also recorded music for hundreds of films, including Philomena, The Monuments Men, four of the Harry Potter films, Superman and all six Star Wars movies.

Michael Tilson Thomas is Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, and Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he is the third generation of his family to follow an artistic career. His grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, were founding members of the Yiddish Theater in America. His father, Ted Thomas, was a producer in the Mercury Theater Company in New York before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked in films and television. His mother, Roberta Thomas, was the head of research for Columbia Pictures. Thomas' recorded repertoire of more than 120 discs includes works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Charles Ives, Carl Ruggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman, George Gershwin, John McLaughlin and Elvis Costello. His recent recordings for SFS Media with the San Francisco Symphony include the orchestral works of Gustav Mahler and West Side Story. His 20-year tenure as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony has been broadly covered by the international press. With the San Francisco Symphony Thomas has presented many major festivals including ones devoted to the music of Mahler, Stravinsky, Wagner and American Mavericks. With the San Francisco Symphony he has made numerous tours of Europe, the United States and the Far East.

Twenty-seven-year-old pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized as one of the most important artists of her generation. Regularly lauded for her controlled, prodigious technique, she has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence. Wang is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon and has received many accolades for her recordings. Most recently, she joined violinist Leonidas Kavakos to record the complete Brahms Violin and Piano sonatas for Decca Records. In 2014/15, Wang returns to the Concertgebouw to perform the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1, Mariss Jansons conducting. She is featured as Artist-in-Residence with Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, appearing three times over the course of the season. She continues her collaboration with Leonidas Kavakos, touring North America and Europe, and makes her concerto debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in spring of 2015.

Complete program:

BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

GERSHWIN Piano Concerto in F

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

For full artist biographies, visit laphil.com.

Single tickets for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2014/15 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall are currently available. To purchase, please visit LAPhil.com, the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet. To order by phone with credit card, please call the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office at 323.850.2000, or Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000. For more information, call 323.850.2000.

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