NEWS AND LINKS: Sir Neville Marriner to receive 2012 Richard D. Colburn Award, lead The Colburn Orchestra April 22 at Disney Hall

By Robert D. Thomas

Music Critic

Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News

 

Conductor Sir Neville Marriner has been named recipient of
the 2012 Richard D. Colburn Award and will lead The Colburn Orchestra, the
flagship ensemble of The Colburn School, in a gala concert on April 22 at Walt
Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Sounds About
Town” series.

 

The award honors an individual “whose lifelong dedication,
work, talent and reputation enhance the teaching and performance of classical
music or dance in the Southern California Community.” This is the first time
the award has been given to a musician. Previous winners were Ernest
Fleischmann, former executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009,
former L.A. City Councilman and L.A. County Supervisor Ed Edelman in 2010 and
Toby Mayman, the school’s founding president, last year.

 

Marriner, who will turn 88 a week before the event, co-founded
and was music director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1969-1978. In
announcing the award, Sel Kardan, the school’s President and CEO, said: “Sir
Neville shaped the artistic landscape of Los Angeles with his time as the Music
Director of LACO and inspired and mentored our students during his guest
conductor residency in 2011. We are thrilled to honor him with a special night
of performance and celebration.”

 

Marriner will conclude the April 22 concert (which will
start at 6:30 p.m.) by leading Elgar’s Enigma
Variations.
Earlier, current Colburn Orchestra Music Director Yehuda Gilad
will conduct Rossini’s William Tell Overture
and Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Mayumi Kanagawa, a Colburn student and
winner of the 2011 Irving M. Klein International String Competition in San
Francisco, as soloist.

 

The Colburn Orchestra concert becomes the second event on
the Phil’s “Sounds About Town” series this season. “SAT” presents top-notch
local performing groups and is the cheapest way to see concerts in Disney Hall
(tickets for the Colburn Orchestra concert are $15-37).  Information:
www.laphil.com

 

The first event on the current “SAT” series will be a joint
appearance by the American Youth Symphony and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus on
March 4 at 7:30 p.m. James Conlon, Los Angeles Opera music director, and
Alexander Treger, AYS music director, will lead the ensembles in a program that
will feature the world premiere of Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason’s The isle is full of noises, a joint
commission by AYS and LACC.  Information: www.laphil.com

 

The Colburn Orchestra is also scheduled for the 2012-2013
“SAT” series on Feb. 19, 2013 when LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will
lead the ensemble. The orchestra’s next concert at Ambassador Auditorium is
March 3, when Bramwell Tovey (music director of the Vancouver Symphony) will be
the guest conductor (LINK).

 

In addition to help to found and lead LACO, Marriner founded
London’s Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra in 1959, which
he led from both the concertmaster’s chair and the podium until the 1990s. He
was also music director of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1979-1986. He was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1985.

 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the
birth of Richard Colburn, a noted philanthropist whose donation in 1980 helped
the then-30-year-old school grow into one of the nation’s premiere music
schools. The school moved to its present location atop Los Angeles’ Bunker
Hill (across the street from Disney Hall) in 1998.

_______________________

 

(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Facebook Twitter Plusone Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email