“Phenomenal ... [Axelrod] has the power of creative suggestion which fires up even the last stand of the orchestra.” - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung CONDUCTOR JOHN AXELROD

EMBARKS UPON A WORLD TOUR WITH PIANISTS

LANG LANG AND

NORTH AMERICAN DATES

CHICAGO-July 28 ▪ PHILADELPHIA-July 30 ▪ NEWARK-August 1

TORONTO-August 5 ▪ LOS ANGELES-August 7 & 8

For Immediate Release, July 1, 2009 .... One of the busiest and most versatile young conductors in Europe today, American John Axelrod, recently named the new Music Director of France’s Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, embarks upon a stunning world tour at the invitation of the superstar Chinese pianist and legendary jazz master Herbie Hancock. The North American tour includes dates at the with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia’s Mann Center with the , New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark with the New Jersey Symphony, Toronto’s Massey Hall with the Toronto Symphony and at the Hollywood Bowl with the . These summer dates follow a sweep of European cities including the Montreux Jazz Festival, Lyon with the National Orchestre de Lyon, the Arena in Verona, with the London , Essen and Rotterdam with the Neue Philharmonie Westphalen, and Ravenna with the Cherubini Orchestra.

“The new star on the conducting scene proved himself to be representative of the new generation of conductors: young, vigorous, full of élan and feeling.” – Bietigheimer Zeitung (Germany)

Frequently acclaimed across Europe for his “scintillating podium presence” (Andante, Turkey) and “spectacular interpretation” (Kultura, Poland) of the great symphonic repertoire, John Axelrod is highly steeped in both the worlds of Classical music and jazz, uniquely positioning him to bring together the two great pianists in concert. The exciting program includes Vaughan Williams’ Concerto in C for Two Pianos, a new two-piano arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, along with the Overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Bernstein's “Mambo Suite” from West Side Story.

"Axelrod has clearly realized that when you come to a concert, you hear, and see. He hosts his orchestra, and his audience, and makes the programme a visual as well as auditory experience. His body movements are a well thought out combination of the classic conductor and the hip young VJ: his baton has natural authority but his shoulders and hips rock along to the beat."- (www.classicsonline.com, Netherlands)

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At home in a vast range of the Classical repertoire – from Mozart to Bernstein, from Korngold to Szpilman and from Wagner to Franz Schreker – Axelrod draws from a uniquely diverse musical and life experience that informs and enriches all of his performances. At the age of 16, he was singled out by who took him under his wing as a student during the premiere of his opera “A Quiet Place” at Houston Grand Opera. As a student at Harvard, Axelrod added intensive studies in Jazz at the Berklee College of Music on weekends. His early career included A&R Director at Atlantic Records, in Los Angeles, working with such artists as Marc Cohen (Grammy Best New Artist winner in 1990) and Tori Amos, then as Director of A&R for BMG, working with Bruce Hornsby and Smashing Pumpkins, among others. He also managed contemporary jazz saxophonist Warren Hill. In 1994, he directed the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Center in Costa Mesa, California. Musically inspired to return to the Classical world after 12 years, Axelrod completed his training at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin and later founded Houston's groundbreaking OrchestraX in 1997.

John Axelrod will become Music Director of the l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL), based in and , France in the 2010-2011 season, following his highly successful concerts and production of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde for Angers/Nantes Opera this past season. Mr. Axelrod has just ended his fifth and final season as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Theatre, completing the cycle of Beethoven's orchestral works with the Ninth Symphony and led a new production for the Lucerne Festival. Axelrod has also been appointed Music Director of the "Hollywood in Vienna" Concert series with the Vienna Radio Orchestra from 2009-2011, presenting live classic film scores and works by living film composers, see: www.hollywood-in-vienna.com.

Conducting engagements this season include debuts with the NDR Hamburg Symphony and Stuttgarter Philharmoniker as well as appearances in Turin, Rome, Japan, Hannover and Milan. Last season he debuted with the Israel Philharmonic, performing Bernstein’s Kaddish, and conducted in Stockholm, Bologna, Berlin, Paris and Lisbon. John Axelrod has also appeared with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic (at the Hollywood Bowl), Philadelphia Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, and Kyoto Symphony, among numerous others. He conducted the premiere performances of Bernstein's (directed by Robert Carsen) at Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet and La Scala in Milan, in addition to conducting such operas as Kerhaus um St. Stephan by Ernst Krenek for the Bregenz Festpiele and Kaiser von Atlantis, , The Rake's Progress, Il barbiere di Siviglia, , , and in Lucerne. John Axelrod has also been Principal guest conductor of Sinfonietta Cracovia since 2000, with whom he made many broadcasts for ARTE, and the BBC Holocaust Memorial Film, which won the 2007 International Emmy for Performance. His numerous recordings can be found on the Nimbus, Ondine and Sony Classical Labels.

For more information see: www.johnaxelrod.com

TUESDAY, JULY 28 @ 8:00PM Ravinia Festival, Chicago www.ravinia.org

THURSDAY, JULY 30 @ 8:00PM Mann Center, Philadelphia www.manncenter.org

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 @ 8:00PM NJPAC, Newark www.njpac.org

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 @ 8:00PM Massey Hall, Toronto www.roythomson.com

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, AUGUST 7 & 8 @ 8:30 PM

Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles www.hollywoodbowl.com

MEDIA CONTACT: Shira Gilbert 514.585.3868 shira@ shiragilbertPR.com www.shiragilbertPR.com

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