FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Pasadena Symphony Association Pasadena Symphony & POPS Contact: Neal Spinler [email protected] (626) 793-7172 ext. 13 January 14, 2013 Pasadena Symphony Presents Back to Back Beethoven Pasadena CA – The Pasadena Symphony will celebrate the music of Beethoven in back to back powerhouse concerts with his Symphony No. 9 and No. 5 on Saturday February, 15 and Saturday March 29, 2014 at Ambassador Auditorium with both matinee and evening performances at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Guest conductor Kazem Abdullah will lead the orchestra on Valentine’s weekend February 15, 2014 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 - widely celebrated as the greatest music ever written, it is the ultimate testament to the human spirit through the power of music. Vocal Soloists are Tracy Cox, soprano; Laura Harrison, mezzo; Casey Candebat, tenor; Andrew Craig Brown, bass; and The Donald Brinegar Singers, chorus. Acclaimed Los Angeles composer Morten Lauridsen, one of the hottest tickets in choral music and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, compliments the program with his Mid-Winter Songs on Poems by Robert Graves and Nocturnes. The composer will present an intimate pre-concert conversation on his choral cycle one hour prior to each performance and will also play piano on Nocturnes . These concerts mark the 30 year anniversary of the Mid-Winter Songs s orchestral premiere at Ambassador Auditorium in 1983 by the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra conducted by Robert Duerr. A vibrant, versatile and compelling presence on the podium, American conductor Kazem Abdullah is one of the most watched up-and-coming talents on the international stage today. He assumed the post of Generalmusikdirektor of the City of Aachen, Germany, in 2012. His predecessors in this tradition-rich post include Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. He also served as Assistant Conductor to James Levine at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The New York Times lauded this first performance at the Metropolitan Opera as “...a confident performance… impressively responsive." Guest conductor Andrew Grams leads the orchestra on March 29, 2014 with the most famous 4 notes in all of Classical music– relentless, emotional, triumphant and victorious mark Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. This concert will also feature Los Angeles based violinist, the prodigiously talented Simone Porter with the Bruch Violin Concerto. Grams has been collecting critical acclaim and "has been building a solid international career, revealed remarkable skill and sensitivity...he sculpted beautifully nuanced music." The Baltimore Sun. Performances take place at both 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. and are accompanied by pre- concert discussions one-hour before curtain. The Ambassador Auditorium is located at 131 Page 1 of 6 South St. John Avenue, Pasadena, CA. Ticket prices start at $35 and may be purchased online at www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org or by calling (626) 793-7172. IF YOU GO: • What: The Pasadena Symphony presents Beethoven’s Ninth and Fifth Symphonies • Special Guests: o Beethoven’s Ninth . Kazem Abdullah, Conductor . Tracy Cox, Soprano . Laura Harrison, Mezzo . Casey Candebat, Tenor . Andrew Craig Brown, Bass . The Donald Brinegar Singers, Chorus . Morten Lauridsen, Piano o Beethoven’s Fifth . Andrew Grams, Conductor . Simone Porter, Violin • When: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on Saturday, February 15th and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on Saturday March, 29th at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. • Where: Ambassador Auditorium | 131 South St. John Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91105 • Cost: Tickets start at $35.00 • Parking: Valet parking is available on Green Street for $15. General parking is available next to the Auditorium at the covered parking structure for $10. ADAparking is located at the above-ground parking lot adjacent to the Auditorium (entrance on St. John Ave.) for $10. Parking purchased onsite is cash only. • Pre-Concert Discussion: Pre-concert discussion begins one hour before curtain and is available to all ticket holders. # # # DOWNLOAD IMAGES AT http://www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org/pr-back2backbeethoven Artist Biographies Kazem Abdullah, conductor A vibrant, versatile and compelling presence on the podium, American conductor Kazem Abdullah is one of the most watched up-and-coming talents on the international stage today. He assumed the post of Generalmusikdirektor of the City of Aachen, Germany, in 2012. His predecessors in this tradition-rich post include Fritz Busch, Herbert von Karajan, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Page 2 of 6 In his first season in Aachen, Kazem conducted Carmen, Hänsel und Gretel, Simon Boccanegra , and Die Zauberflöte. As GMD in Aachen, Kazem Abdullah will also serve as the artistic director of the 3rd International Aachen Chor Bienalle where he will lead several concerts with choirs from Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Iceland and Brasil. Kazem Abdullah is also the Honorary patron of the Accordate Chamber Music series and the Honorary Patron for the bid for the Aachen-Maastrict bid to be the European capital of Culture in 2018. In addition to his many duties in Aachen, Kazem will also make his debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony in May 2013. Abdullah continues to develop relationships with national and international orchestras and opera houses. Among his orchestral credits are the Berliner Kammerphilharmonie, Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Nürnburg, Staatskapelle Weimar, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Oregon, Indianapolis, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras; and the Chicago Sinfonietta, and National Arts Center Orchestra of Ottawa. Maestro Abdullah has guested with such esteemed companies as the Atlanta Opera, where he conducted Cosi fan tutte; and the Théâtre du Châtelet de Paris, where he led sold-out performances of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha; and finally his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009, where he conducted Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. The New York Times lauded this first performance at the Metropolitan Opera as “...a confident performance… impressively responsive to the singers during their long stretches of orchestra-accompanied recitative." Born in Indiana, Kazem Abdullah began his music studies at the age of ten. He graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet. He then studied at the University of Southern California before joining The New World Symphony as a clarinetist under Michael Tilson Thomas for two seasons, after which he continued his musical studies at The Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University. Mr. Abdullah served as Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a three-year post to which he was appointed by Music Director James Levine. A recipient of a prestigious 2010 Solti Foundation U.S Career Assistance Award, Abdullah was named #4 by The Daily Beast on its 2009 list of “Young Rock Stars of the Conducting World.” Mr. Abdullah’s conducting teachers include Jorma Panula, Gustav Meier, Stefan Asbury, Bernard Haitink, and James Levine. Morten Lauridsen, composer The music of Morten Lauridsen occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of the Twenty-First Century. His compositions are performed throughout the world and have been recorded on over two hundred CDs, including several that have received Grammy nominations. Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1995-2001 and is currently Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. An award-winning documentary, Shining Night – A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was released in 2012. In 2006, Morten Lauridsen was named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2007 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in a White House ceremony “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth.” Page 3 of 6 Tracy Cox, Soprano Texas-born soprano Tracy Cox recently completed her third year in the Domingo-Thornton Young Artist program at Los Angeles Opera. While with LA Opera, she made her professional debut as Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Plácido Domingo, and sang the role of Pisana in I Due Foscari, the company’s 2012 season opener. In 2013 she sang the roles of Alice in Wolf Trap Opera's production of Falstaff, and the Female Chorus in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, conducted by James Conlon as part of the Britten 100/LA project. Ms. Cox most recently performed in Hungary's Széchenyi square in a nationaly-televised concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Györ. In May she made her debut with the Cincinnati Symphony in the title role of Debussy's Le Damoiselle Élue. During the 2011-12 season, she sang Second Lady in Ernst Krenek’s Das geheime Königreich conducted by Maestro Conlon as part of his Recovered Voices series, and in June 2012, she made her International concert debut at the Vishnevskaya Opera Center in Moscow. Tracy was awarded the Birgit Nilsson prize at the 2013 Operalia Competition in Verona, and was a National Finalist in the 2013 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Cox was also named a 2013 recipient of the prestigious Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. Ms.Cox won the 2012 Marilyn Horne Song Competition, and was presented in recital by the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, and the National Opera Center, in New York City. The artist received her master’s degree from UCLA where she performed Medea in Cavalli’s Giasone, The Older Woman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, the Sorceress in Dido & Aeneas, and Nettie Fowler in Carousel. Laura Harrison, mezzo-soprano Laura Harrison is originally from Vancouver, B.C., Canada. She completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at USC. She has been a member of the Pacific Chorale and John Alexander Singers since 2001 and a member of "de Angelis Vocal Ensemble" since 2006.