LA Phil New Music Group Opens the 2011/12 Green Umbrella Series

The first concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella 2011/12 season features the LA Phil New Music Group under the baton of exciting young Dutch conductor Otto Tausk, in his Walt Disney Concert Hall and LA Phil debuts tonight at 8 p.m. On the program are Zosha Di Castri's La forma dello spazio, Morton Feldman's Viola In My Life Nos. 1 and 2, featuring LA Phil PrincipAl Viola Carrie Dennis, T?ru Takemitsu's Rain Coming, and the U.S. premiere of an LA Phil-commissioned new work by Georg Friedrich Haas, chants oubliés. Haas' work is written for chamber orchestra separated into two groups: one group consists of eight violins, four violas, and four cellos; the other of two of each: clarinets, horns, trumpets, trombones, and double basses.

In addition to making his LA Phil debut this season, Otto Tausk maintains a busy international schedule including his return to the Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre of St Gallen, Switzerland where he was appointed Music Director on September 27, 2011. The 2011/12 season will also see Tausk with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Norrköping Orchestra Sweden, the Flanders Philharmonic, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia and further afield undertaking reinvitations with the Adelaide Symphony orchestra and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (Perth). He will also conduct musikFabrik in a project of Ligeti works. Tausk was presented with the "de Olifant" prize by the City of Haarlem, Netherlands. He received this prestigious award for his contribution to the Arts in the Netherlands, in particular his extensive work with Holland Symfonia.

The groundbreaking Green Umbrella new music series, overseen by LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams, is at the heart of the LA Phil's mission to maintain the life and health of contemporary music. Currently in its third decade, the series offers five concerts during the 2011/12 season, including three LA Phil-commissioned pieces, and two world premieres, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and Adams.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group was launched in 1981 under composer-in-residence and Philharmonic percussionist William Kraft, as one of several contemporary music projects envisioned and organized by the Philharmonic's Managing Director at the time, Ernest Fleischmann. Praised for its imaginative programming and expert and enthusiastic performances, the New Music Group is recognized as one of the premier performing groups of its kind in the country.

Remaining concerts for the 2011/12 Green Umbrella series are: Steve Reich performing in a program featuring his own work, along with the Bang on a Can All Stars, red fish blue fish and percussionist Dave Cossin (January 17, 2012); conductor Reinbert de Leeuw leading the New Music Group in a Louis Andriessen-focused program featuring violinist Monica Germino and soprano Cristina Zavalloni (February 28, 2012); Adams leading the New Music Group in a program featuring the world premiere of the LA Phil-commissioned Lizre des Sauvages for percussion and ensemble by Oscar Bettison (April 10, 2012); and Dudamel leading the New Music Group and the Foundry Steel Pan Ensemble in a program featuring the world premiere of LA Phil Principal Timpanist Joseph Pereira's LA Phil-commissioned Percussion Concerto with soloist Colin Currie (May 8, 2012).
An Upbeat Live pre-concert event takes place in Walt Disney Concert Hall's BP Hall one hour prior to the concert and is free to all ticket holders. Composer and USC Music Theory instructor A.J. McCaffrey hosts.
For full artist biography, please visit: http://www.laphil.com.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, presents an inspiring array of music from all genres - orchestral, chamber and Baroque music, organ and celebrity recitals, new music, jazz, world music and pop - at two of L.A.'s iconic venues, Walt Disney Concert Hall (www.laphil.com) and the Hollywood Bowl (www.hollywoodbowl.com). The LA Phil's season at Walt Disney Concert Hall extends from October through May, and throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. With the preeminent Los Angeles Philharmonic at the foundation of its offerings, the LA Phil aims to enrich and transform lives through music, with a robust mix of artistic, education and community programs.

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