Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra Bring Berg's Wozzeck to Walt Disney Concert Hall, 11/13

LA Phil Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tuesday, November 13, at 8 pm. The special one-night-only performance presents Alban Berg's operatic masterpiece of musical Expressionism, Wozzeck. The composer adapted the libretto from an incomplete 19th-century play's unordered scenes, and created important roles for the orchestra as well as the singers: onstage there is a marching band for a military parade and a boozy dance band – including guitar, accordion and a deliberately out-of-tune upright piano – for the tavern scene. The international cast includes German soprano Angela Denoke as Marie, the role she sang in her Salzburg Festival debut.

This is the first time Wozzeck has been performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Esa-Pekka Salonen commenced his fifth season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in the 2012/13 season. He has held the title of Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, after 17 seasons at its helm as Music Director. Salonen's artistic collaboration with the Philharmonia Orchestra has been dominated by landmark multi-disciplinary festivals, exploring the music of key 20th-century composers and musical movements in their widest possible cultural, social and historical context. The 2012/2013 season will see Salonen appear in more than 30 cities worldwide with the Philharmonia Orchestra, with projects including a Beethoven Symphony Cycle and a focus on the works of his mentor Witold Lutos?awski, marking the centenary of the composer's birth.

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world's great orchestras. Acknowledged as the UK's foremost musical pioneer, with an extraordinary recording legacy, the Philharmonia leads the field for its quality of playing, and for its innovative approach to audience development, residencies, music education and the use of new technologies in reaching a global audience. Together with its relationships with the world's most sought-after artists, most importantly its Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra is at the heart of British musical life. Today, the Philharmonia has the greatest claim of any orchestra to be the UK's national orchestra. It is committed to presenting the same quality, live music making in venues throughout the country as it brings to London and the great concert halls of the world. The Orchestra's extensive touring schedule this season also includes a Beethoven Cycle at the Bonn Beethovenfest (October), a tour of the U.S. featuring a three-concert residency at Berkeley, California and performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Lincoln Center, (November); and a tour to Japan (February), all conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

The concert concludes the LA Phil's Visiting Orchestras series for the 2012/13 season.

Both concerts of the LA Phil's Visiting Orchestras series this season were led by former LA Phil Music Directors – the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra led by Zubin Mehta and featuring Yuja Wang appeared in October.