Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Opens 2024-25 Chamber Series with Acclaimed Pianist Juho Pohjonen

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has launched its 2024/25 season with ROMANTICS: SCHUBERT'S TROUT, the first of two intimate programs in the Orchestra's Chamber Series curated by Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer, on Saturday, September 28, 2024, 7:30 pm, at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, and Sunday, September 29, 2024, 4 pm, at The Huntington's Rothenberg Hall in San Marino.

Renowned pianist Juho Pohjonen, lauded for his “impeccable technique” (The Washington Post) and “elegant musicianship” (The New York Times), joins LACO artists to perform two seminal keyboard works from the Romantic era, Schumann's Piano Quartet in E-flat major and Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major, “Trout.” The program opens with Schumann's Three Romances, an enduring oeuvre dedicated to his wife Clara written just as he began to succumb to madness.

Pohjonen is in demand internationally as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber performer. An ardent exponent of Scandinavian music, his growing discography offers a showcase of music by Finnish compatriots such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, and Jean Sibelius. The “fast rising Finnish star” has garnered acclaim as a “delightfully unassuming but bewitching soloist” (The Guardian) in recent engagements with the German Radio Philharmonic, Taiwan, BBC, and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras; Cleveland and Minnesota Orchestras; the Symphonies of San Francisco, Atlanta, New Jersey, and Colorado; National Arts Centre Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, and the Mostly Mozart Festival.   

LACO's Chamber Series showcases ensembles composed of the Orchestra's musicians with guest artists on different facets of the chamber music repertoire from the 12th century and early Baroque through the 20th century.

LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; State of California; California Arts Council; the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs; Perenchio Foundation; and Walter J. + Holly O. Thomson Foundation. LACO gratefully acknowledges Hogan Lovells US LLP for generous pro bono support. Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.  

ROMANTICS: SCHUBERT'S TROUT is made possible, in part, with the generous support from June + Simon Li. Additional support is provided by Brigitta B. Troy and Alden Lawrence.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. The Huntington's Rothenberg Hall is located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108. For tickets ($47-$84) and information, please visit www.laco.org or call 213 221 3920.

ABOUT MARGARET BATJER

Margaret Batjer has served as LACO Concertmaster since 1998. She is also renowned as a violin soloist, chamber musician and teacher, and has established herself as a versatile and respected artist worldwide. Batjer has appeared as a soloist with America's leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Batjer has also performed with leading European ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the RT. National Symphony Orchestra (of Ireland), and Berlin Symphony Orchestra. An esteemed chamber musician, Batjer has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, and Sarasota Music as well as the Naples and Salzburg Festivals in Europe. In 2020, she formed the Los Angeles Piano Trio with colleagues Fabio Bidini and Andrew Shulman. Batjer has had an extensive recording career over the last several decades. Her most recent recording with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra includes the live premiere of the Pierre Jalbert Violin Concerto, and works by Bach, Pärt and Vasks released on the BIS label. She recorded the Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Salvatore Accardo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for the Philips label and is also featured on a 2003 Deutsche Grammophon recording pairing Batjer and Hilary Hahn as soloists with Jeffrey Kahane conducting Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has also made numerous chamber music recordings on the EMI, Nuova Era, and BMG labels. In July 2024, Batjer was appointed Director of Colburn School's Music Academy, a program dedicated to training exceptional pre-college classical musicians from around the world for careers in music. Batjer, a member of Colburn's Music Academy faculty since 2015, also joined the School's Conservatory of Music faculty. She has held the position of Adjunct Full Professor of Violin at the USC Thornton School of Music for 20 years and will be resigning in 2026.

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