Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium is New Home of Colburn Orchestra

Music Director Yehuda Gilad and Colburn Conservatory of Music students will present five concerts of inspiring orchestral repertoire

From STAFF REPORTS
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | 9:25 AM

Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium is to be the new home of the Colburn Orchestra, where Music Director Yehuda Gilad and Colburn Conservatory of Music students will present five concerts of “inspiring orchestral repertoire with talented soloists and exciting guest artists as a gift to the community for free,” the Colburn School has announced.

After leading the Colburn Orchestra last year, legendary conductor Sir Neville Marriner said, “It is enormously refreshing to have such an enormously talented orchestra in front of you.”

The Colburn School President and CEO Sel Kardan said, “The Colburn Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Yehuda Gilad is delighted to make Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium it’s home for the 2011-2012 season. As part of our mission to bring the highest quality free performances to the community, we look forward to presenting our gifted young musicians, guest artists, and distinguished conductors to the discerning and welcoming audiences of the greater Los Angeles area.”

Colburn Orchestra Music Director and Conductor Yehuda Gilad said, “The passion and virtuosity of the Colburn Orchestra is a perfect match for the culturally rich and vibrant Pasadena arts community. It is incredibly exciting to present this great season of orchestral repertoire and fantastic soloists.”

Performances in Pasadena in 2011 inspired reviews including: “Judging by The Colburn School students, the future of symphony orchestras is in fine hands, hearts and minds.”

On February 4, Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, hailed by the New Yorker as having “a luminous tone, a generously supported musical line, a keen sense of verbal nuance, and a flair for seduction” joins conductor Yehuda Gilad and the Colburn Orchestra for vocal works of John Adams (“Am I In Your Light?” from Dr. Atomic) and Gustav Mahler (Ruckert Lieder). The program concludes with Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.

The March 3 season finale features conductor Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver Symphony and principal guest conductor of the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Works include Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Conservatory pianist Sichen Ma, who has performed as soloist with the Toronto Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

All concerts are on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. in Ambassador Auditorium. Free tickets are available for download at www.colburnschool.edu/colburnorchestra, by phone at (213) 621-1050 and, subject to availability, at the Ambassador Auditorium one hour prior to each concert.

The Colburn Orchestra is the Colburn School Conservatory of Music’s flagship ensemble. Conducted by founding Music Director Yehuda Gilad, the Orchestra consists of outstanding collegeage artists who are preparing for performance careers. Founded in 2003, the Colburn Orchestra has performed with renowned guest artists including: Joshua Bell, Claude Delangle, Vladmir Feltsman, Leon Fleisher, Jeffrey Kahane, Jaime Laredo, Joseph Silverstein, Michael Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Sir Neville Marriner and James Conlon.

The Colburn School is a world class performing arts school located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, neighboring the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the planned Broad Museum. Our acclaimed faculty provides students with the highest quality performing arts education with a multitude of performance opportunities in a state of the art facility.

More than 2000 students attend classes in our four schools– the Conservatory of Music, the School of Performing Arts, the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute, and the Academy. Colburn students from all the divisions perform more than 300 free public concerts and recitals each year and engage in extensive outreach initiatives in LAUSD schools.

For more information about The Colburn School and its programs, visit: www.colburnschool.edu.