Last Thursday night, Colleen and I were hosted in a premium box at the Hollywood Bowl by Linda and Jim. We were treated by the return of Esa-Pekka Salonen as conductor at the bowl, first time since he left us six years ago. He was greeted with vigorous applause and led the orchestra in creations of two Russian composers, Prokefiev and Shostakovich and their first symphonies and piano concertos.
The program began with Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 1 written when he was 19 in 1911 during a time of revolutionary fervor in Russia. He wrote his symphony six years later. Shostakovich wrote his first symphony when he was 20 in 1925 and his first piano concerto seven years later. All four were played with vigor by the L.A. Phil under Solonen's leadership.
The star of the evening was the 28 year-old Chinese pianist, Yuja Wang. Her playing was exciting and her dress matched her style. As Mark Swed in the L.A. Times wrote: "She took off like a rocket, all glitter and rhythmic sass." Swed wrote that the orchestra was in top form with great solos from Joanne Pearce Martin, pianist, concertmaster Martin Chalifour, cellist Robert de Maine, clarinetist Burt Hara, and Joseph Pereira, timpanist. Swed wrote that this was a timpani concerto too at one point.
Here are a few pictures from the Times and a couple of mine:
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| Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor Laureate of the L.A. Phil |
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| Yuja Wang, first act |
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| Martin Chalifour, Principal Concertmaster |
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| Yuja Wang, coming out for her second act. |
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| Marion Arthur Kuszyk, Associate Principal Oboe |
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| Robert deMaine, Principal Cello |
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| Burt Hara, Associate Principal Clarinet |
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| Yuja Wang in full form. |
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