Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Announces 2024/25 Season

2024/25 Highlights Include:  

• Two Dozen Orchestral, Chamber, Baroque and CURRENT Concerts;  
• All Westside Concerts Move to the Wallis Annenberg Center, which Becomes LACO’s New Long-Term Home in West LA as Part of a Strategic Partnership with the Beverly Hills’ Venue;
• LACO-Commissioned World Premieres by Jeff Beal and 2024/25 Sound Investment Composer Laura Karpman and West Coast Premiere of Beal’s Body in Motion for Violin and Orchestra;
• Launch of Multi-Year Celebration of Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann;
• The Complete Bach Orchestral Suites under the Baton of Music Director Jaime Martin and a Triptych of Haydn’s Early Symphonies;
  
  
• Seminal Masterpieces such as Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C major, Plus Works by Louise Farrenc, George Gershwin, Florence Price, Caroline Shaw, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and Others;
• Three-Year Appointment of Pianist and Media Personality Lara Downes as LACO’s Inaugural Creative Partner;
• A Slate of Distinguished Guest Artists, Including Conductors Matthias Pintscher and Jeannette Sorrell; Violinists Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Tessa Lark, and Nemanja Radulovic; Pianists Lara Downes, Juho Pohjonen, and Awadagin Pratt; Trumpeter Paul Merkelo; Mezzo-Soprano Michelle DeYoung; Countertenor Reginald Mobley; and Thomas Bauer, Baritone;
• Glendale’s Alex Theatre and San Marino’s The Huntington Continue to Serve as Orchestra’s Eastside Venues;
• Addition of Sunday Afternoon Concerts Beginning at 4 pm, Replacing All but One Sunday Evening Event.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Music Director Jaime Martín and Executive Director Ben Cadwallader announce the Orchestra’s 2024/25 season, a compelling mix of iconic masterpieces, genre-defying premieres, and inspired works by unsung composers selected to showcase the Orchestra’s virtuosic artists and a constellation of renowned guest artists. LACO features two dozen Orchestral, Chamber, Baroque, and CURRENT concerts that bridge a spectrum of musical styles, offering a fresh perspective on the boundless array of chamber music.

Artistic initiatives include Haydn’s symphonic trilogy: Morning, Noon, and Night; the complete Bach Orchestral Suites; the launch of a multi-year festival exploring the complex relationships between Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Clara Schumann, beginning in 2024/25 with R. Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D major, and C. Shumann’s Three Romances, Op. 94; and Louise Farrenc’s Nonet, a program championing women composers, including the Romantic era’s Louise Farrenc and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw and Nokuthula Ngwenyama, contemporary composers widely recognized for their extraordinary originality. Two LACO-commissioned world premieres are slated with Martín conducting a new work by 2024/25 Sound Investment Composer Laura Karpman and Concertmaster Margaret Batjer leading Jeff Beal’s Concerto for Two Trumpets featuring Paul Merkelo and David Washburn, LACO Principal Trumpet. Martín also helms the West Coast Premiere of Jeff Beal’s  Body in Motion for Violin and Orchestra written for and featuring boundary-pushing violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins.

Among other major announcements, pianist and media personality Lara Downes has been named LACO’s inaugural Creative Partner, a three-year appointment spanning the Orchestra’s artistic planning, performance, community engagement, and advocacy platforms. During the 2024/25 season, she curates one of two Americana-themed CURRENT programs, “CURRENT: Routes,” and makes her LACO mainstage debut on Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. Beginning this fall, LACO moves all Westside performances to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts as part of an exciting new strategic partnership with the celebrated Beverly Hills venue, providing a new long-term home for the Orchestra in West LA. LACO continues to appear on the Eastside at Glendale’s Alex Theatre and San Marino’s The Huntington. For the first time, LACO is introducing Sunday afternoon concerts, shifting the start time of all but one of its Sunday programs from the evening to 4 pm.

Martín says, “I am very excited to present a 2024/25 season full of masterpieces! This season reflects the essence of LACO with music that brings into focus the Orchestra’s deftness at interpreting vibrant new works as well as venerated works considered touchstones of our culture. I look forward to creating enduring musical memories together with my inspiring LACO colleagues and our esteemed guest soloists, some of whom we are welcoming back to LACO’s stage and others who will be making music with us for the first time. I can’t wait!”

Cadwallader states, “This is a particularly exciting time for LACO as we move to our new long-term Westside home at The Wallis. It is an honor to partner with The Wallis in a meaningful way that complements and strengthens both of our organizations. It’s a pivotal development that will help shape LACO’s future. We reflect on LACO’s legacy at Royce Hall with deep admiration and gratitude for decades of marvelous musical memories made in that beautiful hall. Likewise, we look forward to a vibrant future at The Wallis, a venue uniquely suited to providing the intimacy and clarity demanded by chamber orchestra repertoire.”

Returning to LACO’s stage are renowned Baroque conductor Jeannette Sorrell on a program of Mozart and Handel; Franco-Serbian violin sensation Nemanja Radulovic, bringing the fireworks to Beethoven’s towering Violin Concerto in D major; mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, adding luster to Berlioz’ song cycle Les nuits d’été under the baton of returning guest conductor Matthias Pintscher; and lauded pianist Juho Pohjonen on two seminal keyboard works – Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, and Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, “Trout.”

Artists making their LACO debuts include internationally acclaimed pianist and musical activist Awadagin Pratt, featured on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major; countertenor Reginald Mobley, who sang at last year’s coronation of King Charles III, interpreting Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater; Lara Downes with Florence Price’s evocative Piano Concerto in One Movement; and baritone Thomas Bauer, adding emotional intensity to Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer arranged by Schoenberg. Violinist and fiddler Tessa Lark curates and leads the season’s other Americana-themed CURRENT program, CURRENT: Roots.

LACO Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer continues her creative curation of both the Baroque Series and the Chamber Series, which showcases smaller groups of musicians on works from the 18^th century and early Baroque schools through the 20^th century. 

PROGRAM DETAILS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER  

Chamber: Schubert’s Trout

Saturday, September 28, 2024, 7:30 pm, The Wallis  

Sunday, September 29, 2024, 4 pm, The Huntington  

Margaret Batjer, Director of Chamber Music
Juho Pohjonen, piano
R. SCHUMANN Three Romances, Op. 94

1. SCHUMANN Piano Quartet in E-flat major
2. SCHUBERT Piano Quintet in A major, “Trout”

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2024/25 season launches with the first of two intimate programs in the Orchestra’s Chamber Series curated by Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer. Renowned pianist Juho Pohjonen, lauded for his “impeccable technique” (The Washington Post) and “elegant musicianship” (The New York Times), joins LACO artists to perform two seminal keyboard works from the Romantic era, Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, and Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A major, “Trout.” The program opens with Schumann’s Three Romances, Op. 94, an enduring oeuvre dedicated to his wife Clara written just as he began to succumb to madness.

Orchestral: Martín Brahms Bauer
Saturday, October 19, 2024, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre  

Sunday, October 20, 2024, 4 pm, The Wallis  

Jaime Martín, conductor  

Thomas Bauer, baritone

1. HAYDN Symphony No. 6 in D major, “Le matin”
2. MAHLER, arr. Schoenberg Songs of a Wayfarer
3. BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D major

LACO’s 2024/25 Orchestral Series commences with Music Director Jaime Martín conducting Haydn’s seventh symphony “Le matin,” the first in a triptych of early Haydn symphonies portraying the times of day. The program continues with baritone Thomas Bauer, who sings with “sheer virile force” and “emotional intensity” (Opernglas), featured on Mahler’s deeply personal songcycle Songs of a Wayfarer, a masterpiece arranged for chamber orchestra by Schoenberg. Martín also leads Brahms’ sunny yet wistful Symphony No. 2 in D major.

Orchestral: Martín Haydn Beal

Saturday, November 2, 2024, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre  

Sunday, November 3, 2024, 4 pm, The Wallis

Jaime Martín, conductor  

Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin

LAURA KARPMAN title TBA (LACO Sound Investment Commission; World Premiere)

1. HAYDN Symphony No. 7 in C major, “Le midi”

JEFF BEAL “Body in Motion” for Violin and Orchestra (West Coast Premiere)

L.V. BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 1 in C major

LACO, which has long championed contemporary composers, highlights both World and West Coast premieres on this eclectic program led by Martín. The Orchestra features trailblazing violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, winner of a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize and Sphinx Medal of Excellence, on the West Coast premiere of five-time Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal’s “Body in Motion” for Violin and Orchestra. Beal is known for compositions that are “infused with a deep understanding of improvisation, rhythm and spontaneity” (Wise Music Classical). Martín also conducts the world premiere of a LACO Sound Investment commission by Laura Karpman, herself a five-time Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated composer hailed for her “evocative original music” (Los Angeles Times). Sound Investment is a groundbreaking program LACO established in 2001 that engages audience members in developing new classical works. LACO traces the Austrian lineage of the classical symphony as well with Haydn’s brilliant Symphony No. 7 in C major, “Le midi,” the second in a trilogy of early Haydn symphonies portraying the times of day, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C major.

CURRENT: Routes

Saturday, November 23, 2024, 7:30 pm, location TBA

Sunday, November 24, 2024, 4 pm, location TBA

Lara Downes, curator

CURRENT: Routes, the first of two CURRENT programs exploring unexpected musical connections, curated by LACO Creative Partner Lara Downes, follows the highways and byways of American music with surprising roadside discoveries and detours to the crossroads where musical traditions merge and transform. Discover the foundation of the folk tunes that Aaron Copland used to paint his vibrant portraits of the Wild West; connect with the rural San Gabriel Valley childhood of American maverick Roy Harris; and trace the routes of the Great Migration in the music of William Grant Still, who started his American journey in Jim Crow Mississippi and ended it in the bohemian, granola glam of 1970s Los Angeles.

Baroque: Mobley Vivaldi

Saturday, January 11, 2025, 7:30 pm, The Wallis

Sunday, January 12, 2025, 4 pm, The Huntington
Margaret Batjer, Director of Chamber Music

Reginald Mobley, countertenor

Paul Merkelo, trumpet
David Washburn, trumpet

G.F. HANDEL The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

G.F. HANDEL Eternal Source of Light Divine

G.F. HANDEL Overture from Rinaldo

1. TARTINI Trumpet Concerto in D major

JEFF BEAL Concerto for Two Trumpets (LACO Commission; World Premiere)

1. DOWLAND Come Again
2. PURCELL O Solitude
3. DOWLAND Flow My Tears, arranged for strings
4. VIVALDI Stabat Mater

Countertenor Reginald Mobley, who sang at the coronation of King Charles III in May 2023, interprets Vivaldi’s rendition of the 13^th century poem Stabat Mater, a meditation on sorrow, forgiveness, and the divine, on the first of two programs on LACO’s engaging Baroque Series. Led by LACO Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer, the repertoire includes songs by Purcell and Dowland as well as Handel’s Eternal Source of Light Divine, written for Queen Anne’s birthday in 1713. Paul Merkelo and LACO Principal Trumpet David Washburn display their considerable skills on a selection of regal Baroque trumpet gems by Handel and Tartini and the world premiere of Jeff Beal’s LACO-commissioned Concerto for Two Trumpets.

Orchestral: Pintscher Debussy DeYoung

Saturday, February 15, 2025, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre  

Sunday, February 16, 2025, 4 pm, The Wallis

Matthias Pintscher, conductor

Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano

1. DEBUSSY Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
2. BERLIOZ Les nuits d’été
3. FAURÉ Masques et bergamasques
4. RAVEL Le tombeau de Couperin

Guest conductor Matthias Pintscher and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung both return to LACO to illuminate French impressionistic treasures. DeYoung, a “visceral (and) spine-tingling” singer (The Daily Telegraph), turns up the heat on Berlioz’ summer night song cycle Les nuits d’été. Pintscher, “one of Europe's leading lights” (Washington Post), interprets two iconic ballet masterpieces, Debussy’s Prelude à l’aprés midi d’un faun, and Fauré’s Masques et Bergamasques. Ravel’s fanciful Le tombeau de Couperin caps the program.

Orchestral: Mozart Haydn Handel  

Saturday, March 15, 2025, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre

Jeannette Sorrell, conductor

Awadagin Pratt, piano

1. A. MOZART Overture from Don Giovanni
2. A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major

G.F. HANDEL Selections from The Water Music

1. HAYDN Symphony No. 8 in G Major, “Le soir”  

Awadagin Pratt, “one of the great and distinctive American pianists of our time” (WGBH), makes his highly anticipated LACO debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major on this one-night-only Orchestral concert led by GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Jeannette Sorrell, a leading interpreter of Baroque and Classical repertoire. In her second LACO appearance, she also conducts Mozart’s sonorous Overture from Don Giovanni, selections from Handel’s endearing The Water Music, and the sunset of Haydn’s three early symphonies, “Le soir.”

Chamber: Farrenc’s Nonet
Saturday, April 5, 2025, 7:30 pm, The Wallis  

Sunday, April 6, 2025, 7:30 pm, The Huntington

Margaret Batjer, Director of Chamber Music

1. SCHUMANN Three Romances, Op. 94

CAROLINE SHAW Plan & Elevation

NOKUTHULA NGWENYAMA Down

1. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL String Quartet in E-flat major
2. FARRENC Nonet

The final program on LACO’s popular Chamber Series curated by Concertmaster and Director of Chamber Music Margaret Batjer features lauded contributions to chamber music by women composers. LACO artists perform three Romantic-era treasures, including Clara Schumann’s timeless and heartfelt Three Romances, Op. 94; Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s rhapsodic String Quartet in E-flat major; and Louise Farrenc’s masterful but once forgotten Nonet, written for string quartet and wind quintet and imbued with sonorous textures and intricate orchestrations. Two contemporary works complete the program – Down an innovative trio for flute, viola, and harp by Nokuthula Ngwenyama, a Los Angeles native whose music is celebrated for its rich timbres and emotional depth, and Plan & Elevation by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, who served as the inaugural music fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and says the work “examines different parts of the estate’s beautiful grounds and my personal experience in those particular spaces.”  

Orchestral: Martín Schumann Price

Saturday, April 19, 2025, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre

Sunday, April 20, 2025, 4 pm, The Wallis

Jaime Martín, conductor  

Lara Downes, piano

1. PRICE Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
2. GERSHWIN Lullaby
3. PRICE Piano Concerto in One Movement
4. SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2 in C major

LACO traverses the musical landscape of America from African American spirituals to soothing melodies by familiar friends. LACO’s inaugural Creative Director Lara Downes, “a trailblazing pianist” (The Piano Magazine) and beloved NPR host, makes her LACO mainstage debut under Martín’s baton, showcasing the ravishing harmonies and breathtaking melodies of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. Prices’ Swing Low, Sweet Chariot opens the program, which also includes Gershwin’s tender Lullaby, and closes with Schumann’s definitive Symphony No. 2 in C major.

Orchestral: Martín Beethoven

Saturday, May 10, 2025, 7:30 pm, Alex Theatre

Sunday, May 11, 2025, 4 pm, The Wallis  

Jaime Martín, conductor
Nemanja Radulovic, violin

L.V. BEETHOVEN Overture to Egmont

1. FARRENC Symphony No. 3 in G minor

L.V. BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D major

LACO’s Orchestral series roars to a close with Beethoven’s towering Violin Concerto in D major commanded by Franco-Serbian violin sensation Nemanja Radulovic in his much-anticipated LACO return with Martín on the podium. Radulovic, who brought the house down in his U.S. debut with LACO in 2022, has been hailed for his “super virtuosity” (The Times of London), “commanding technique…beguiling tone, expressive vocal, phrasing and perfect intonation” (Gramophone). Also featured are Beethoven’s heroic Overture to Egmont and unsung composer Farrenc’s symphonic triumph, Symphony No. 3 in G minor, her second work presented on LACO’s 2024-25 season.  

CURRENT: Roots

Saturday, May 17, 2025, 7:30 pm, location TBA

Sunday, May 18, 2025, 4 pm, location TBA

Tessa Lark, curator, leader, and violin

GRAMMY Award-nominated violinist Tessa Lark curates CURRENT: Roots, exposing the far-reaching roots of Bluegrass deep within America’s musical foundation. The final CURRENT program this season pays homage to the “father of Bluegrass,” Bill Monroe, examines the cross-pollination of blues, jazz, and Northern European music styles within Americana’s musical seedlings, and showcases both modern-day and centuries-old masterworks inspired by folk idioms. Lark says, “It also gets into the weeds of Southern California’s further cultivation of Bluegrass by way of Vern Williams and many others.” Lark, a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky as well as an esteemed classical artist, taps her unique artistic sensibilities to craft this intriguing capsule of musical Americana.

Baroque: Martín Bach

Saturday May 31, 2025, 7:30 pm, The Wallis

Sunday, June 1, 2025, 4 pm, The Huntington

J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major

J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor

J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major

J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major

The 2024-25 season concludes with an all-Bach flourish and an exhilarating adventure in counterpoint and harmony as Martín leads the complete Bach Orchestral Suites on this final Baroque program. These monuments of the canon are dazzling in virtuosity and nuanced in structure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  

LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; State of California; California Arts Council; the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. LACO gratefully acknowledges Hogan Lovells US LLP for generous pro bono support.   

TICKETS AND INFORMATION

Tickets for LACO’s 2024/25 season will be available online at laco.org or phone at 213 221 3920 on the following dates:

• Subscriptions now available
• Single tickets available Wednesday, May 1, 2024

VENUE ADDRESSES  

Alex Theatre, 216 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, CA 91203;  

The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108;

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210