Tag Archives: Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen – Violin Concerto (2009)

“Violin Concerto,” a piece by Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, has won the 2012 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. “Violin Concerto,” a piece by Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (ES’-uh PEK’-uh SAHL’-oh-nen), has won the 2012 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. The four-movement, half-hour concerto begins with a solitary violin, moves on to embrace a series of themes ranging from a quiet heartbeat to urban pop music and ends on a chord unlike any other in the work, said award director Marc Satterwhite. [Source]

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Violin Concerto (2000)
Leila Josefowicz, violin
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Directed by Salonen himself
Théâtre du Châtelet, 6 February 2011




Review: Joanne Pearce Martin's Piano Spheres recital at Zipper Hall

The great Italian composer Luciano Berio once observed that “a musical work is never alone — it always has a big family to cope with, and it must be capable of living many lives.” That insight seemed to inform Joanne Pearce Martin’s extraordinary and elegiac Piano Spheres recital Tuesday at the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall.

The two premieres were both typical of a program filled with musical gestures and remembrances: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Pavane in Memory of Steven Witser,” the principal trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic who died last April at age 48, and Gernot Wolfgang’s “Theremin’s Journey” for Theremin, piano and electronica.

The pianist, in her ninth season as principal keyboardist for the Philharmonic, began by boldly digging into a bright-toned Fazioli piano in four selections from Stephen Hartke’s “Post-Modern Homages,” which included a pleasing riff on Satie. More impressive was Pearce Martin’s finely shaped reading of “Distances” (1988), Meyer Kupferman’s moody memorial to a friend.

Read the full blog posting in The Los Angeles Times here.

Los Angeles Philharmonic 2010/11 Season

Los Angeles (February 16, 2010) – Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and President and CEO Deborah Borda today announced the 2010/11 season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dudamel and the LA Phil move into the second season of their partnership, one which allows for a greatly expanded presence for Dudamel in Los Angeles. The momentum and initiatives of Dudamel‟s inaugural season continue with 12 new commissions, 9 world premieres, 5 U.S. premieres, 5 West Coast premieres, 2 composer-based festivals, a major European tour and a series of artistic partnerships. The vibrant season, which embraces innovation, excellence and commitment to community, is further embodied in the expansion of YOLA, along with a spectrum of imaginative presentations and the continuing tradition of introducing rising artists and composers.

Read the full press release here [PDF].
Read the coverage in the Los Angeles Times here.