Sir Simon Rattle Conducts YOLA at EXPO Today, 5/5

The Los Angeles Philharmonic presents the 6th annual free Youth Orchestra Festival Day, showcasing Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), the Glendale Youth Orchestra and the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall today, May 5, 2012, from 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

In addition to the YOLA Orchestras from the EXPO Center and Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), Youth Orchestra Festival day features and two of the four Youth Orchestra Mentorship Program (YOMP) Premier Orchestras: the Glendale Youth Orchestra and the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra. The YOMP partnership offers established Los Angeles-based youth orchestras contact with LA Phil teaching artists and orchestra musicians, concert tickets to LA Phil performances, and the opportunity to perform on the stage of Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Sir Simon Rattle opens the festival leading the YOLA at EXPO Chamber Orchestra in a performance of the Finale from Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. This marks the first time Sir Simon Rattle performs with YOLA students. The YOLA at EXPO Chamber Orchestra represents the most advanced students of the LA Phil's YOLA program. With an average age of just 13 years old, they have been playing together for 3-4 years, and began their musical pursuits as students of the inaugural YOLA program that launched at the EXPO Center in 2007.

Following the Beethoven performance with Sir Simon Rattle, three other YOLA ensembles will perform, all led by conductor Bruce Kiesling. The YOLA at EXPO Chamber Orchestra will perform Wagner's Tannhauser Suite and will join the YOLA at HOLA wind ensemble for Holst's Jupiter (from The Planets); the YOLA at HOLA Youth Orchestra then takes the stage for a performance of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Sibelius' Finlandia; and the YOLA at EXPO Youth Orchestra performs Gliere's Russian Sailor's Dance and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5.

Following the YOLA performances, conductor Brad Keimach leads the Glendale Youth Orchestra in a program that includes works by Weber, Beethoven and Mozart, plus the world premiere of Sanjo, composed for the Glendale Youth Orchestra by Jason Griffin, a junior at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. Griffin is one of four participants in the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program- an innovative two-year program in which students work closely with mentors James Matheson (Program Director) and A.J. McCaffrey (Teaching Assistant), LA Phil musicians, guest artists, composers and conductors. In addition to composing for YOMP orchestras, each fellow composes a piece for the LA Phil to perform.

Youth Orchestra Festival Day concludes with a performance by the Claremont Young Musicians Orchestra, led by conductor Roger Samuel, in a program of Berlioz, Hanson, and Weber plus the world premiere of Orchestral Piece, by 15-year-old composer Milo Talwani, a sophomore at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and also one of four participants in the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program.

Tickets are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Patrons may pick up tickets at a table on Grand Avenue in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall 60 minutes prior to each orchestra's performance. For information, please call 213.972.3454. Please do not contact the box office.

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