2 February 2011, 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm

Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Bartók Béla National Concert Hall

John Adams: Slonimsky's Earbox
Bernstein: Symphony No. 1 - Jeremiah
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A minor, op. 92

Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is considered the most progressive symphonic orchestra in the United States. “We are focused on the future,” says the orchestra's Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, “not on reviving the glories of the past like so many others.” In keeping with this philosophy, the orchestra maintains close ties to contemporary artists and has been highly successful in attracting younger audiences. Equally, it is not above playing popular themes from television programmes and even video games. To prove the point, Herbie Hancock currently occupies the position of creative chair for jazz until 2012. Meanwhile, John Adams, remarkably popular for his highly accessible work in combining neo-romanticism with minimalism, was appointed resident composer two years ago. In 1996, he wrote Slonimsky’s Earbox, adapted from Le chant du rossignol by Igor Stravinsky, a former conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic himself. The fifteen-minute composition was created in memorial to Adams's Russian-American friend Nicolas Slonimsky. The author and composer wrote the Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, a publication that had a profound influence on Adams. Slonimsky’s Earbox will be followed by Jeremiah's Symphony by Leonard Bernstein, considered by the New York Times to be the most talented and successful composer in American history. Written in 1942, the work is inspired by the Biblical story of Jeremiah's Lamentations. After the interval, the audience will hear the Beethoven symphony referred to by Richard Wagner as the “apotheosis of the dance”. In the conductor's pulpit, Gustavo Dudamel appears for the first time in Hungary. The young Venezuelan is currently in his second year as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His fairytale career has taken him from the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar to one of America's finest orchestras. Amazingly, he only recently celebrated his 30th birthday.

Presented by the Palace of Arts

Prices: 5100, 7900, 9900, 12900, 14900 Ft

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3 February 2011, 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm

Bartók Béla National Concert Hall

Mahler: Symphony No. 9

Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel

There are not many people in the history of music who have occupied the music director's chair at the tender age of 18. Still only 30, Gustavo Dudamel was appointed to the top position at the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Venezuela's national youth orchestra, in 1999. And this was just the beginning of a meteoric career. In 2005, he conducted the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at the Proms in London as a late stand-in. The following month, he was named Principal Conductor. It was not long before he was appearing with some of the top names in classical music, such as the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and gracing La Scala in Milan. He was also head-hunted by the Boston and Chicago Philharmonics. In 2007, Dudamel was named musical director to succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Los Angeles from the 2009–2010 season. Here, the orchestra will play Gustav Mahler's final symphony to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the conductor's death. It first performed the piece in 1969, conducted by John Barbirolli. Lasting the entire evening, the work is one of symphonic music's finest, defining the genre according to the atonal philosophies of Schönberg, Berg and Webern.

Presented by the Palace of Arts

Prices: 5100, 7900, 9900, 12900, 14900 Ft

More information: www.mupa.hu