LA Chamber Orchestra World Premieres Lucha Libre! by Mexican Composer Juan Pablo Contreras

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), led by Music Director Jaime Martín, presents the world premiere of Juan Pablo Contreras’ Lucha Libre!, a LACO Sound Investment Commission, on Saturday, March 28, 8 pm, at Glendale’s Alex Theatre, and Sunday, March 29, 2020, 7 pm, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The program also features renowned pianist Denis Kozhukhin on Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and R. Strauss’s orchestral suite Le Bourgeois gentihomme. Kozhukhin, hailed as a “sensational Russian pianist” (New Zealand Herald), has garnered critical acclaim for playing with “clarity and eruptive dynamism…(and) breakout virtuosity” (Chicago Classical Review).

Contreras' Lucha Libre! pays tribute to Mexican wrestling, the unique cultural phenomenon watched by the composer as he grew up in Guadalajara. Subtitled Sinfonia Concertante for Chamber Orchestra, the piece focuses on a "battle" among LACO’s master musicians, whose instruments represent Contreras' favorites of the iconic Lucha Libre characters. Contreras, who recently received a Latin Grammy Best Arrangement nomination for the title track of his debut orchestral album, Mariachitlán, is “one of the most prominent young composers of Latin America" (Milenio). His music “masterfully portrays the Mexican identity" and is "colorfully orchestrated, emotionally intense and rhythmically vibrant” (El Informador).

As LACO's 2019-20 Sound Investment composer, Contreras was commissioned through the Orchestra’s groundbreaking, successful Sound Investment commissioning program that engages audiences in developing new works. Contreras succeeds Sarah Gibson as the latest in a line of sought-after, contemporary Sound Investment composers, among them Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Reid, now LACO's Creative Advisor and Composer-in-Residence, Matthew Aucoin, Ted Hearne, Hannah Lash, Andrew Norman, Timo Andres and Derek Bermel, as well as others dating back to the first Sound Investment commission in 2001.

“When Sound Investment began in 2001, well before the 'crowdsource' concept existed, it offered the innovative idea that LACO patrons could become insiders to the creative process by getting to know a composer and seeing how a new work comes together," says Ruth Eliel, LACO Board Vice Chair. "It has proven to be a very popular way for individuals to get close to the music."

Sound Investment members experience the rare opportunity to observe first hand the development of a new work from the composer’s earliest ideas to the finished composition. The program's intimate salons throughout the season feature behind-the-scenes discussions with the composer about the creative process and unique reading sessions of the work-in-progress, among other benefits. $500 membership also includes a pair of tickets to the work's world premiere and the donor's name listed on the dedication page of the printed score. There is a $250 membership available to new Sound Investors for up to two years. As part of LACO's long history of audience engagement and a commitment to inspiring a love of classical music, students who take advantage the Orchestra's “Campus to Concert Hall All Access Pass,” which provides admission to all LACO concerts during the season for just $30, are invited to salons as an added benefit.

Juan Pablo Contreras is recognized for combining Western classical and Mexican folk music in a single soundscape. His work has been performed by major orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Venezuela's Simon Bolivar Orchestra, the Mexico City and UNAM Philharmonics, the orchestras of Boca del Río, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, State of Mexico and Jalisco in Mexico, the Salta and Córdoba Symphonies in Argentina, the Victoria Bach Festival Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra in the United States. Contreras has received commissions from Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, The Riverside Choir, Carlos Prieto, and the Onix Ensamble. He has won awards, including the BMI William Schuman Prize, the Presser Music Award, the Jalisco Orchestral Composition Prize, the Brian Israel Prize, the Arturo Márquez Composition Contest, the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Dutch Harp Composition Contest, the Nicolas Flagello Awar, and the Young Artist Fellowship of Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts. Contreras has also served as Composer-in-Residence at the soundON Festival of Modern Music in San Diego, the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, and at the Turtle Bay Music School and the Concerts on the Slope in New York. He holds degrees in composition from the California Institute of the Arts and the Manhattan School of Music and currently is pursuing his DMA degree at the University of Southern California. He has been a guest lecturer at Baylor University, California State University at Fresno, the Portland State University, the University of Guadalajara, and the ITESO in Mexico. His most influential teachers include Richard Danielpour, Daniel Catán, Nils Vigeland, and Donald Crockett. Contreras’ music has been recorded on Albany Records, Epsa Music, and Urtext Digital Classics.

Contreras’ work was introduced to LACO audiences at last year's SESSION spiva concert, which featured the US premiere of Ángel Mestizo, followed by the February 2019 world premiere of his LACO-commissioned Musas Mexicanas as part the In Focus chamber series. Musas Mexicanas paid homage to women who played important roles in Mexico, including artist and icon Frida Kahlo, 17th century poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, and La Malinche, the Aztec woman who translated for Hernán Cortés during the Spanish Conquest.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (LACO), ranked among the world’s top musical ensembles, marks an exciting new era in Southern California as it welcomes Jaime Martín in his debut year as Music Director. Martín builds upon LACO's rich legacy as 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 is “more important with each passing year,” (Los Angeles Times), “America’s finest chamber orchestra” (Public Radio International) and “one of the world's great chamber orchestras" (KUSC Classical FM). Martín's appearance as LACO's Music Director Designate in early 2019 was described by the Los Angeles Times, as "a thrilling performance, and the orchestra played like it was having the time of its life," adding, "he will make fans very quickly." Overseas, he has been praised as "a visionary conductor, discerning and meticulous" (Platea Magazine), and London's The Telegraph said, "his infectious enjoyment of the music communicated to the orchestra and audience alike.” 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). LACO, with offices located in downtown Los Angeles, has toured Europe, South America and Japan, and performed across North America.

Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Concert Preludes, pre-concert talks held one hour before curtain and free for ticket holders, provide insights into the program's music and artists.

Tickets start at $28 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 groups of 12 or more. Students with valid student ID may purchase discounted tickets ($8), based on availability. For additional information about Sound Investment, please visit laco.org/support/sound-investment/ or contact Brandon Faber at 213 622 7001 × 221, brandonfaber@laco.org.