Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Features LACO Debuts of Guest Conductor Roderick Cox and 26-Year-Old Violin Phenom Randall Goosby, who Performs Mendelss

Two prominent guest artists, esteemed guest conductor Roderick Cox and 26-year-old violin phenom Randall Goosby, make their joint Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra debuts on Saturday, March 19, 2022, 8 pm, at UCLA’S Royce Hall, and Sunday, March 20, 2022, 7 pm, at Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium. Goosby, who plays “like a calm, cool, collected angel” (Los Angeles Times), performs Mendelssohn’s lyrical masterpiece Violin Concerto in E minor, considered a cornerstone of the violin repertoire. Cox, winner of the prestigious 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award and praised as a “trailblazer” (Minnesota Star Tribune), also conducts Wagner’s intimate and blissful Siegfried Idyll, a symphonic poem for chamber orchestra, and Brahms’ lilting Serenade No. 2 in A major. The Royce Hall concert is dedicated to the memory of Board Director emeritus, Nicholas G. Ciriello.

Cox, a “world class conductor” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “undeniable talent” (NBC), was slated to conduct LACO last season but his appearance had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Goosby, hailed as “supremely gifted” (NPR) and “arrestingly virtuosic” (The Guardian), was signed exclusively to the recording label Decca Classics in 2020, at the age of 24.

LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Goosby’s LACO appearance is made possible, in part, from a generous contribution from Dr. Hervey Doris Segall.

Tickets start at $29 and may be purchased online at laco.org or by calling LACO at 213 622 7001 x1. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for seniors 65 years of age and older and for students.

COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS
LACO is committed to the health and safety of its patrons, artists and staff and will require proof of full vaccination for everyone attending in-person LACO events. Social distancing will be implemented and, under current Los Angeles County guidelines, masks will be required indoors at all times. Audience members are encouraged to wear face masks with at least two layers, such as a KN95 or surgical mask. LACO will continue to exceed state and local guidelines, recommendations and requirements for indoor activities. For the most current information on LACO’s COVID safety protocols, visit LACO.org/covid-19.

LACO’s vaccine requirement for all eligible audience members includes a COVID-19 booster obtained no later than the date of performance.

Eligibility for the COVID-19 booster is as follows: for all Moderna recipients and Pfizer recipients ages 12 , boosters are eligible five months after their second vaccine dose. Johnson & Johnson vaccine recipients are eligible for a booster dose two months after their initial vaccine

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Berlin-based American conductor RODERICK COX, this season also makes his debuts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Seattle and New World Symphonies, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Malmo, Kristiansand and Lahti Symphony Orchestras, as well as returns to Washington National Symphony Orchestra. Recent highlights include his debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Dresdner Philharmonie, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Cleveland Orchestra (Blossom Music Festival), and Dallas Symphony Orchestra; as well as returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. In the theatre, Cox has recently made important debuts at the Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera, as well as recording Jeanine Tesori’s Blue with the Washington National Opera. This season, he returns to the Opéra national de Montpellier, having made an impressive debut there with a symphonic concert last season. With a passion for education and diversity and inclusion in the arts, Cox started the Roderick Cox Music Initiative (RCMI) in 2018 — a project that provides scholarships for young musicians of color from underrepresented communities, allowing them to pay for instruments, music lessons and summer camps. Cox and his new initiative will be featured in an upcoming documentary called Conducting Life. Born in Macon, Georgia, Cox attended the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, and later attended Northwestern University, graduating with a master’s degree in 2011. He was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival in 2013 and has held fellowships with the Chicago Sinfonietta as part of its Project Inclusion program and at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where he was a David Effron Conducting Fellow. In 2016, Cox was appointed as Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, under Osmo Vänskä, for three seasons, having previously served as assistant conductor for a year. 

American violinist RANDALL GOOSBY has garnered acclaim for the sensitivity and intensity of his musicianship as well as his determination to make music more inclusive and accessible and bringing the music of under-represented composers to light. Highlights of Goosby’s 2021-2022 season include, in addition to his LACO debut, debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. He makes recital appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92 Street Y, San Francisco Symphony’s Davies Symphony Hall and Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. June 2021marked the release of Goosby’s debut album for Decca entitled Roots, a celebration of African-American music that explores its evolution from the spiritual through to present-day compositions. Collaborating with pianist Zhu Wang, Goosby has curated an album paying homage to the pioneering artists that paved the way for him and other artists of color. Goosby has performed with orchestras across the U.S., including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Nashville Symphony and New World Symphony. Recital appearances have included the Kennedy Center, Kravis Center and Wigmore Hall. Goosby is deeply passionate about inspiring and serving others through education, social engagement and outreach activities. He has enjoyed working with non-profit organizations such as the Opportunity Music Project and Concerts in Motion in New York City, as well as participating in community engagement programs for schools, hospitals and assisted living facilities across the country. Goosby was First Prize Winner in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. In 2019, he was named the inaugural Robey Artist by Young Classical Artists Trust in partnership with music Masters in London; and in 2020, he became an Ambassador for Music Matters, mentoring and inspiring students in schools around the U.K. Goosby made his debut with the Jacksonville Symphony at age nine. At age 13, he performed with the New York Philharmonic on a Young People’s Concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and became the youngest recipient ever to win the Sphinx Concerto Competition. He is a recipient of the Sphinx’s Isaac stern Award and a career advancement grant from the Bagby Foundation. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he continues his studies there, pursuing an Artist Diploma under Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. Goosby plays a 1735 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu on generous loan from the Stradivari Society.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (LACO) ranks among the world’s top musical ensembles. Beloved by audiences and praised by critics, the Orchestra is a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and, with eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, a champion of contemporary composers. Headquartered in the heart of the country's cultural capital, LACO has been proclaimed “America’s finest chamber orchestra” (Public Radio International), “LA’s most unintimidating chamber music experience” (Los Angeles magazine), “resplendent” (Los Angeles Times), and “one of the world's great chamber orchestras"(KUSC Classical FM). Performing throughout greater Los Angeles, the Orchestra has made 32 recordings, including, most recently, a 2019 BIS Records release of works for violin and chamber orchestra that features Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and the world premiere recording of Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto (a LACO co-commission). In 2020, due to the global pandemic, LACO pivoted from presenting live performances to producing the groundbreaking CLOSE QUARTERS interdisciplinary digital series melding musical and visual arts, which has garnered more than 1.8 million views across social media platforms since its debut in November 2020. The “digitally native” programs, created specifically for streaming and applauded as “musically and artistically compelling” (Los Angeles Times) have “redefined how classical music can be presented in the 21st century (Cultural Attaché). LACO, with offices located in downtown Los Angeles, has toured Europe, South America and Japan, and performed across North America. www.laco.org.