Nicholas McGegan Returns to the Hollywood Bowl to Conduct, 9/15

Conductor Nicholas McGegan returns to the Hollywood Bowl to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in its final summer classical performance of the 2011 season, Thursday, September 15, at 8 pm. Joining McGegan and the LA Phil in Beethoven's Triple Concerto are three fresh faces - violinist Jennifer Koh, cellist Christian Poltéra and pianist Sergio Tiempo. Also on the program are Rossini's Overture to La Cenerentola, Haydn's Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise") and Handel's exhilarating Royal Fireworks Music, accompanied by a spectacular fireworks show.

Through 25 years as its music director, Nicholas McGegan has established the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorale as the leading period performance ensemble in America - and at the forefront of the "historical" movement worldwide thanks to notable appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Ravinia, Tanglewood, the London Proms and the International Handel Festival, Göttingen where McGegan was artistic director from 1991 to 2011. He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2010 "for services to music overseas." His awards also include the Halle Handel Prize; the Order of merit of the State of Lower Saxony (Germany); the Medal of Honour of the City of Göttingen, and an official Nicholas McGegan Day, declared by the Mayor of San Francisco in recognition of two decades' distinguished work with the Philharmonia Baroque. McGegan is a regular visitor to Los Angeles and returns again in December of this year to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Since the 1994/95 season, when she won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, violinist Jennifer Koh has been heard with leading orchestras and conductors around the world. Also a prolific recitalist, she appears frequently at major music centers and festivals. Highlights of her 2011/12 season include a recital of Bach's complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin presented by Columbia University's Miller Theatre in New York, and performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Saint Louis, Seattle and Toronto symphonies. She will collaborate with pianist Shai Wosner in recitals in Denver and Kansas City, and join pianist Benjamin Hochman in Mendelssohn's Concerto for Piano and Violin with the Asheville Symphony. She will also become the first female to perform the solo violin role of Einstein in the Canadian premiere of Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach in Ann Arbor and Toronto, presented in celebration of Glass's 75th birthday.

Virtuoso cellist Christian Poltéra's distinguished career includes work with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. Poltéra was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist in 2004 and named 'Rising Star' of the European Concert Hall Organization in 2006/07. His latest CD, featuring the cello concertos by Dutilleux and Lutoslawski, was released in 2009. He recently made his Hollywood Bowl debut performing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra with the LA Phil under the direction of Bramwell Tovey.

Described by Gramophone magazine as "a colourist in love with the infinite variety a piano can produce," Sergio Tiempo has developed a reputation as one of the most individual and thought-provoking pianists of his generation. Tiempo established his international credentials at an early age, making his professional debut at the age of 14 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. A tour of the U.S. and a string of engagements across Europe quickly followed. Since then he has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras and conductors and is a frequent guest at major festivals worldwide.

 

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