LA Chamber Orchestra Names Four Musicians to Roster

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) Music Director Jeffrey Kahane announces the appointments of Robert Brophy, viola (Los Angeles 90042); Sandy Hughes, flute (Portland, OR); Carrie Kennedy, violin II (Pasadena); and Joel Pargman, violin II (Pasadena) to LACO's roster, one of the nation's leading orchestras renowned for its wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissioning initiatives. The 2012-13 season marks the first full season with the Orchestra for Brophy, Kennedy and Pargman; and the first time that Hughes has performed with LACO. Kennedy and Pargman are husband and wife.

"We are delighted to welcome these four fine musicians to the Orchestra's ranks," says Kahane. "Their superb artistry and outstanding technical skills blend beautifully with LACO's unique musical profile."

LACO's 44th season launches with a dynamic program of works both familiar and new on October 6 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, repeating October 7 at Royce Hall. The repertoire includes Ravel's jazz-infused Piano Concerto in G major, Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, and two West Coast premieres – The Great Swiftness by LACO Composer-in-Residence and Pulitzer Prize-finalist Andrew Norman, and True South by James Matheson, recipient of the prestigious $200,000 Charles Ives Living award.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), 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 of uncommon intellect, insight and musical integrity" with "undeniable charisma." Under Kahane's leadership, the Orchestra maintains its status as a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and a champion of contemporary composers. During its 44-year history, the Orchestra has made 30 recordings, toured Europe, South America and Japan, performed across North America, earning adulation from audiences and critics alike, and garnered seven ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. Headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, LACO presents seven Orchestral Series concerts at both Glendale's Alex Theatre and UCLA's Royce Hall, five Baroque Conversations concerts at downtown Los Angeles' Zipper Concert Hall, three Westside Connections chamber music concerts at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica and an annual Discover concert at Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium. In addition, LACO presents two major fundraisers, a Concert Gala and an annual Silent Film screening at Royce Hall, as well as several fundraising salons each year. LACO was founded in 1968.

ROBERT BROPHY, viola, can be seen and heard playing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera and many West Coast chamber music series. He is featured with Nigel Kennedy in a quartet on Kennedy's new release Greatest Hits on the EMI label and has performed alongside Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Michel Dalberto and Dmitri Sitkovetsky. He won the viola audition with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in December 2011. An advocate for new music and former member of the Ens? Quartet, Brophy has worked with many leading composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Joan Tower, William Bolcom, Tan Dun and Bernard Rands. Of the Ens? Quartet's concerts, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted, "It was standing room only," while The Strad applauded their "totally committed, imaginative interpretation." The quartet earned its place in the ensemble world with multiple honors at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, including best performance of the pièce de concert, for the quartet's riveting performance of Stewart Grant's String Quartet No. 2. It also won awards at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International, the Fischoff National Chamber Music and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions. Featured on two recordings with the Ens? Quartet on the Naxos label, Brophy continues his quartet life as a member of the New Hollywood String Quartet, which has performed throughout the Southland for the last five years and recently became quartet-in-residence at South Pasadena Library's Restoration Concert Series. Brophy holds degrees from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England and Rice University, where he studied with James Dunham, formerly of the Cleveland Quartet.

SANDY HUGHES, flute, a native of Portland, Oregon, joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, beginning in the 2012-13 season. Called "one of the best young American flutists I've heard" by Sir James Galway, Hughes has received critical acclaim for her "eloquent playing" and "detailed attention to the musical phrase." She performs second flute with the Akron Symphony Orchestra, is a member of The Hollywood Soloists and also appears frequently with the New York Philharmonic. An avid chamber musician and soloist, Hughes has collaborated with the Miami String Quartet, the Alturas Duo and the Wallingford and Hartt Symphony orchestras. A Fulbright Grant recipient and New World Symphony finalist, Hughes earned her Master of Music in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Robert Langevin. She also received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Hartford and a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from the Hartt School of Music, where she studied with John Wion.

Award-winning violinist CARRIE KENNEDY has been the featured soloist with orchestras throughout the United States including the San Antonio, Richardson, University of Southern California, Torrance, Suburban, Brevard Festival, Clear Lake, Westchester, Solano and Magic Valley symphonies, and has performed concerts around the world. She joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in January 2012. She is also a member of the New West, Long Beach and Pasadena symphonies; Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra and the Fiato Quartet; and performs with the Riverside County Philharmonic and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. She toured with Andrea Bocelli, the Percy Faith Orchestra of Japan, and in South America with the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, and has recorded music for commercials, motion pictures and recordings. She has earned numerous awards including first place in the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artists Competition, a prize that includes two years of concert engagements, and first place in the American String Teachers Association Competition. In addition, she was a semi-finalist in the Irving M. Klein Competition, Tunbridge Wells International Competition in England, Concert Artists Guild Competition and the International Leopold Mozart Competition in Germany. Kennedy is an alumnus of intensive chamber music programs at Tanglewood and Amelia Island, where her quartet was coached by the American, Guarneri and Takacs quartets. While at SUNY Stony Brook, Kennedy's quartet studied with the Emerson Quartet. She served as concertmaster at the Tanglewood Music Festival under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos and was in the live broadcast of Strauss's Ein Heldenleben on New York's WQXR. At the London Master Classes where she studied with Gyorgy Pauk, Kennedy was selected to have her lesson filmed by Online Classics for a television documentary on the master classes. She attended the Indiana University String Academy; Encore School for Strings; and the Angel Fire Chamber Music, Weathersfield and Masterworks festivals. Kennedy holds a Master of Music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she studied with Pamela Frank and Ani Kavafian, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Robert Lipsett.

JOEL PARGMAN, violin, graduated summa cum laude from USC in 2002, where he studied with Robert Lipsett and served as a teaching assistant in violin and in music history. Born in San Bernardino and having spent his youth in the Pacific Northwest, he now resides in Pasadena with his wife, LACO violin Carrie Kennedy. A frequent guest performer with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 2005, Pargman won the violin audition to join LACO's second violin section in December 2011. He also is a member of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony and Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra. In addition to his live performance engagements, Pargman records music for film, television and albums of diverse genres. He has performed as a featured soloist with the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, the Musicians Emeritus Symphony Orchestra, the Tacoma Youth and Bremerton symphonies. For three summers, Pargman was a fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, most recently as a member of its resident new-music quartet, the New Fromm Players. The ensemble premiered works by the composition fellows-in-residence, performing new works by Bright Sheng and John Harbison, and collaborating in performances with the Mark Morris Dance Company. He has also spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival, the Encore School for Strings, the Indiana University String Academy and the Académie Musicale de Villecroze, where he was a student of Pamela Frank. Pargman spent eight years as artist-in-residence with the Denali Quartet at Santa Monica's critically acclaimed Jacaranda concert series.

 

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