The Philharmonic Society of Orange County

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Dear Music Lover,

It is again my pleasure to announce our annual summer festival trip and to invite you to join the group. The adventure begins on July 5, 2010 and ends on Friday, July 16. It will be a great experience.

You will make your own flight arrangements for travel. You will need to get a round trip ticket Los Angeles to London and an internal roundtrip London to Marseille. We are going to the Aix in Provence Festival, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall and the New London Theater for a stunning play plus some extremely good eats and fun.

We will arrange and provide transportation from Marseille to Aix in Provence where Kaly and I will greet you for cocktails at the Grand Hotel Roi René on the evening of Monday, July 5. On Tuesday, July 6 you will experience a gourmet adventure organized by Kaly (yummy yum) followed on Wednesday, July 7 by a theater piece called The Nightingale and Other Tales – music by Stravinksy and directed by the sensational Robert Lepage. On Thursday, July 8 we will attend Gluck’s opera Alceste conducted by Ivor Bolton. You know Ivor from his visits to our concert series with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra. We will spend some eat/drink time with him.

Then it’s off to England on Friday, July 9. We will fly back to London where our driver Graham will pick us up at Heathrow and transport us through the lovely East Sussex countryside to the gorgeous Ashdown Park where we will check in and have that evening and Saturday for free time and relaxation.

Sunday, July 11 we are off to Glyndebourne Opera for an afternoon performance of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutti with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the pit. During the long interval we will dine in their wonderful restaurant Middle and Over Wallop. Monday, July 12 we catch an early evening performance of Verdi’s Macbeth with the London Philharmonic and enjoy a picnic dinner overlooking the beautiful countryside setting during the long interval – all very British.

Graham returns us to London on Tuesday, July 13 where we check in to the St. James’ Club. Lunch is enjoyed on Wednesday, July 14 at chef Fergus Henderson’s wonderful restaurant St. John in Smithfield. That evening we will go to the New London Theater, Drury Lane for a performance of a very moving play called War Horse, one of the best theatrical and musical experiences.

Thursday, July 15 is a free day in London. The grand finale of our jaunt will be the opening night of the BBC Proms on Friday night, July 16 where we will hear the BBC Symphony perform Mahler’s gigantic Symphony No. 8 at Royal Albert Hall. Saturday, July 17 we fly away.

The cost of the trip is $ 6,100.00 dollars for a single or $ 8,200.00 dollars for a double not including VAT and local hotel taxes. This covers performance tickets, transport from Marseilles to Aix en Provence and Heathrow to Glyndebourne and back to London, hotel rooms, the gourmet adventure, some meals and a welcome reception in Aix en Provence. If this sounds interesting to you, please contact Kaly Corey at 949.290.4912 or dean@philharmonicsociety.org by March 16. I suspect this trip will fill up quickly. Hope you can join us.

President and Artistic Director

Dean Corey

Emanuel Ax Plays Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2

“His greatness, his overwhelming authority as a musician, technician and probing intellect emerges quickly as he plays. Within minutes, we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” – Los Angeles Times (on Emanuel Ax)

IRVINE, CA—The Philharmonic Society of Orange County is pleased to present the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sunday, March 28, 2010, 3pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Led by conductor Lionel Bringuier, the L.A. Philharmonic will perform BERLIOZ: Le corsaire, Op. 21; CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, with pianist Emanuel Ax; and SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 54. A pre-concert lecture by Rich Capparela will begin at 2pm. This performance is part of the 2009-2010 Donna L. Kendall Classical Series and is sponsored by Harry Winston and Jaguar.

Founded in 1919, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is recognized as one of the leading orchestras in the world. Both locally and internationally, it has “...proved that it belongs among the best in the United States,” said the Berliner Zeitung. Annually performing and presenting hundreds of concerts throughout the year at two outstanding venues—the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the legendary Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Philharmonic demonstrates a breadth and depth of programming unrivaled by other orchestras and cultural institutions, performing music that retains the continuity of tradition while enhancing the symphonic music experience for new audiences.

Winner of the 49th Besançon Young Conductors Competition in 2005, young French conductor Lionel Bringuier is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Mr. Bringuier serves as associate conductor to the Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as chef associé of the Orchestre de Bretagne. He has conducted some of the top orchestras in the world including the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. The 2009-10 season marks the beginning of his tenure as music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León in Valladolid, Spain. Other highlights include his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Grammy Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax studied piano at the Julliard School and captured public attention in 1974 when he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. One year later, he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, and in 1979, he won the Avery Fisher Prize. In recent years, Mr. Ax has developed his interest in chamber music as well music by contemporary composers. He has collaborated with artists such as Cho-Liang Lin, the late Isaac Stern, Jaime Laredo, and Yo-Yo Ma. His recordings with Yo-Yo Ma have earned him multiple Grammy Awards. Highlights of his 2009-2010 season include a tour of Asia with the New York Philharmonic and a tour of Europe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and James Conlon as well as the Pittsburgh Symphony with Manfred Honeck. In recognition of the bicentenaries of Chopin and Schumann in 2010, Mr. Ax has also commissioned new works from composers John Adams, Peter Lieberson and Osvaldo Golijov.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, is located at 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Ticket prices are $110, $105, $85, $70, $40, $250 (box seats) and are available at the Philharmonic Society box office at (949) 553-2422, online at www.PhilharmonicSociety.org, and at the Center box office at (714) 556-2787.

A private, post-concert dinner will take place at AnQi immediately following the performance. AnQi is located at Bloomingdales South Coast Plaza.

Valery Gergiev to Conduct Mahler’s 5th

“The gripping performances these musicians from St. Petersburg offered had such intensity, character and insight that it was hard to imagine the music played with more authority.”— New York Times

IRVINE, CA—The Philharmonic Society of Orange County is pleased to present the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra on Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 7pm, at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Conductor Valery Gergiev will lead a performance of MAHLER: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor. A pre-concert lecture by Christopher Russell will begin at 6pm. The evening also marks the fourth presentation of the Philharmonic Society’s 2009-10 Elizabeth & Henry Segerstrom Select Series, presented by Harry Winston and Jaguar. This event is sponsored by the Shanbrom Family Foundation.

Founded in the 18th century during the reign of Peter the Great, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra is in its 226th season. Under the musical direction of Eduard Napravnik, the orchestra flourished in the latter half of the 19th century and was recognized as one of the finest in Europe. Since 1860, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra has been housed in St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, the oldest musical theatre in Russia. During the Soviet era, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra was renamed the Kirov Orchestra but has reclaimed the Mariinsky name since then. During its long and illustrious history, the orchestra has presented the world premiere of Verdi’s La forza del destino, the first Russian performances of the complete Wagner’s Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, Parsifal, and of Richard Strauss’ Elektra, Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, and Berg’s Wozzeck.

The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra also boasts a history of close associations with renowned Russian composers, including world premiere performances of works by Glinka, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Khachaturian. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted and premiered his Fifth Symphony, Hamlet fantasy-overture, and Sixth Symphony with the orchestra. Sergei Rachmaninoff was also a frequent conductor of the orchestra, including premieres of his Spring Cantata and the symphonic poem The Bells. The orchestra also premiered music by the young Igor Stravinsky, such as his Scherzo Fantastique and the ballet The Firebird.

Grammy Award-winning conductor Valery Gergiev assumed the position of Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre in 1988, propelling the orchestra into its second “golden age.” He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dmitri Shostakovich Award, Golden Mask Award, People’s Artist of Russia Award, the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award, Sweden’s Polar Music Prize, Netherlands’s Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Valencia’s Silver Medal, the Herbert von Karajan prize, and France’s Royal Order of the Legion of Honor. Valery Gergiev studied conducting with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory and was the winner of the 1977 Herbert von Karajan Conductors’ Competition in Berlin. One year later, he made his Mariinsky Opera debut conducting Prokofiev’s War and Peace. He was made conductor of the World Orchestra for Peace in 1998 and is presently Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Valery Gergiev is also founder and artistic director of the Stars of the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Festival in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the Mikkeli International Festival, and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel. In 2010, he will conduct the first-ever production of Shostakovich’s The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra records on the “Mariinsky Label,” launched May 2009. The label’s first two recordings received five Grammy Nominations, including Best Opera Recording (Shostakovich’s The Nose), Best Classical Album (The Nose), Best Orchestral Performance (Shostakovich’s Symphonies 1 and 15), and nominations for engineering and producer. The orchestra has also released a Tchaikovsky disc of short pieces, Shchedrin “The Enchanted Wanderer,” and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 and “Variations on a theme of Paganini.” Winter 2010 marks the orchestra’s 15th tour of North America, celebrating works of Berlioz. In fall of 2010, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra will embark on its 16th tour, commemorating the centennial of Gustav Mahler’s death.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center, Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, is located at 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Ticket prices are $98, $94, $75, $65, $55, $45, $30, $250 (box seats) and are available at the Philharmonic Society box office at (949) 553-2422, online at www.PhilharmonicSociety.org, and at the Center box office at (714) 556-2787.

Daedalus String Quartet to Perform Brahms String Sextet in Orange County Debut

IRVINE, CA—The Philharmonic Society of Orange County is pleased to present the Orange County debut of the Daedalus String Quartet on Monday, March 15, 2010, 8pm, at the Irvine Barclay Theatre with a performance of Mozart: String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat major, K. 589; Tower: Night Fields (1994); and Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36.

Founded in 2000, the Daedalus String Quartet consists of sibling violinists Kyu-Young Kim and Min-Young Kim, violist Jessica Thompson, and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan. The quartet has performed at many of the world’s leading musical venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Cité de la Musique in Paris.

The award-winning members of the Daedalus Quartet hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Cleveland Institute, and Harvard University. The quartet has also partnered with leading classical music and education institutions across the United States. The quartet is associated with Carnegie Hall through the European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) Rising Stars program. The Lincoln Center appointed the quartet as the Chamber Music Society Two quartet for 2005-2007. Winner of Lincoln Center’s 2007 Martin E. Segal Award, the quartet has been Quartet-in-Residence at Columbia University since 2005 and at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. The Daedalus String Quartet is currently finishing a three-year residency in Suffolk County, Long Island, which was funded by their winning of Chamber Music America’s Guarneri String Quartet Award.

The Daedalus String Quartet’s 2009-10 season includes a tour across the United States with one outside appearance at the Storioni Music Festival in Eindhoven, Holland. Highlights include the world premiere of Lawrence Dillon’s String Quartet No. 4.

The Irvine Barclay Theatre is located at 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine, CA 92612. Ticket prices are $40, $35, $30 and are available at the Philharmonic Society box office at (949) 553-2422, online at www.PhilharmonicSociety.org, and at the Irvine Barclay box office at (949) 854-4646.