Sunday, November 9, 2008, 7 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Ung’s Piece is Third Installment in Chorale’s LA is the World Commissioning Initiative and Features Cambodian Dancer/Choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, Sopranos Elissa Johnston and Kathleen Roland, and Cambodian Percussionist Ros Sokun

The Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Music Director Grant Gershon, takes a musical journey to the Far East when it pairs seminal composer Lou Harrison’s Eastern-influenced anthem La Koro Sutro, written for choir, American Gamelan and organ, with the world premiere of a work by noted Cambodian-born, San Diego-based composer Chinary Ung on Sunday, November 9, 2008, 7:00 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Ung’s piece, entitled SPIRAL XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth, is written for chorus, two sopranos, tenor, bass, an 11-piece instrumental ensemble and dancers. It features legendary Cambodian dancer and creative partner Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, artistic director of the Khmer Arts Academy, with a complement of seven female dancers from her troop, and is the third installment of “LA Is the World,” a multi-year commissioning project that unites immigrant master musicians, composers and the Chorale. Ung’s piece also features sopranos Elissa Johnston and Kathleen Roland, and Cambodian percussionist Ros Sokun.

“Listen Up!,” the Chorale’s lively pre-concert conversation with KUSC’s Alan Chapman, Gershon and Ung, is open to ticket holders at no charge at 6 p.m., in BP Hall.

Colorful, exotic and evocative, both pieces are marbled with ritual overtones, dance elements and shades of another era. Gershon says, “The concert is the kind of experience that can only happen in this city. It’s a collaboration between our audience and the performers – a literal and metaphorical intersection of LA.”

Reflecting the city’s strong Cambodian ties, Ung’s piece, commissioned by the Chorale, was created in collaboration with the Chorale and Cheam Shapiro, founder of the Khmer Arts Academy, with bases in Long Beach and Phnom Penh, whose mission is to preserve the Khmer classical dance and singing traditions. Embodying the spirit of the ancient Cambodian classical tradition, she is one of only a few artists of her generation to survive the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. She is also a member of the first generation to graduate from Phnom Penh’s Royal University of Fine Arts after the fall of the regime. She currently resides in Cambodia and divides her time between that country and Long Beach, California.

Ung, a practicing Buddhist born in Takeo, Cambodia, in 1942, immigrated to America with his family in 1964 to study at The Manhattan School of Music. His music is a synthesis of Western techniques and craft and the aesthetics and principals found in the many traditions and instrumental techniques of Asia. Spiral XII continues his ongoing exploration of a musical spiral in which a central idea is repeatedly revisited from constantly shifting perspectives. Reconnecting with his native Cambodia in a visit to the country in 2002, he says sparked “a renewal of purpose,” shaping his decision “to employ my music as an agent of spiritual healing through aesthetic experience.” Music as meditation, a concept central to Spiral XII and Ung’s other recent works, bridges “the spiritual and physical dimensions in order to achieve a musical expression that is both personal and communal.” The work also bridges Western and indigenous Cambodian musical traditions with its unique scoring. It further blurs the roles of singers and instrumentalists, a Southeast Asian musical technique, by having the percussionists and string players vocalize, chant and whistle in addition to their playing, as if they are participants in a village ritual. Visually, the dancers also add a communal aspect as they reenact the suffering of Cambodia’s brutal history, and then transform their movement to reflect the renewal and hope fueling the culture today. Ung, a professor of composition at the University of California at San Diego since 1995, previously taught at Northern Illinois University, Connecticut College, University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State University. In 1989, he became the first American to receive what is often termed the “Nobel Prize” for music composition, the international Grawemeyer Award, for his orchestral piece “Inner Voices.” He has been widely commissioned and performed by chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras throughout the world. He is also a master Roneat Ek performer, the traditional solo xylophone.

The instrumentalists for Spiral XII include Lisa Edelstein, flute/piccolo/alto flute; Paul Sherman, oboe/English horn; Jim Foschia, B-flat clarinet/E-flat clarinet/bass clarinet; Shalini Vijayan, violin I; Lisa Dondlinger, violin II; Susan Ung, viola; Peter Jacobson, cello; Tom Peters, double bass; Ros Sokun, percussion I; and Nick Terry and Lynn Vartan, percussion II.

Lou Harrison (1917 -2003), a native of Portland, Oregon who resided in Northern California for the majority of his life, was in the vanguard of American composers for fifty years. An innovator of musical composition and performance that transcends cultural boundaries, Harrison's highly acclaimed work juxtaposes and synthesizes musical dialects from virtually every corner of the world. Among the nearly 50 pieces of gamelan music Harrison wrote is the standout La Koro Sutro, which in Esperanto means “the Heart Sutra.” Among the most popular and profound of Buddhist sutras, it refers to the heart of divine wisdom. The San Francisco Chronicle proclaims Harrison’s piece, “Nonpareil, to say the least.” The American gamelan featured in this performance is a collection of non-traditional percussion “instruments,” such as sawed-off gas cylinders and steel tube electrical conduit built by Harrison.

Funding for the third installment of LA is the Word is supported, in part, by generous grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the Durfee Foundation, and the Multi-Arts Production Fund (a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation).

Tickets to the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s concert range from $19 to $124. Student Rush seats are $10 and are available at the box office two hours before the performance. For tickets and information, please call (800) 787-5262 (outside California call 213-972-7282), or visit www.lamc.org. (Tickets can no longer be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office except on concert days starting 2 hours prior to the performance.) The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in downtown Los Angeles.

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EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Calendar Listing

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The Grammy-nominated LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE, currently celebrating its 45th Season, has been cited as a national leader for its innovative and dynamic programming. Los Angeles Times states the Chorale “has become the most exciting chorus in the country under Grant Gershon.” Since its founding in 1964, LAMC has presented more than 450 concerts, including choral music from the earliest writings to the most recent contemporary compositions. In 2003 the Chorale became one of two resident companies in Walt Disney Concert Hall, launching a period of incredible artistic and organizational growth. The Chorale has commissioned 21 and premiered 51 new works, and has recorded 6 CD's. The Chorale’s most recent recording with Gershon, Daniel Variations, was released on Nonesuch in spring 2008. LAMC performs a season of eight concerts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, plus two performances of the Messiah Sing-Along; family-friendly Holiday Wonders concerts in December; and performs regularly with the L.A. Philharmonic. The Los Angeles Master Chorale has more than 1,000 subscribers, serves over 40,000 audience members of all ages, and provides education outreach to approximately 13,000 children each year. In 2008, one of the Chorale’s highly successful outreach programs, “Voices Within,” earned the coveted Chorus America Education Outreach Award.

Los Angeles Master Chorale Music Director GRANT GERSHON is equally at home with symphonic and choral music, opera, and musical theater. He was named Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2001, and was recently appointed LA Opera Associate Conductor/Chorus Master. During his tenure with the Chorale, he has expanded the choir’s repertoire considerably, conducting dozens of world, U.S., West Coast and Los Angeles premieres. His Nonesuch recording with the Chorale of Steve Reich’s You Are (Variations) was honored with the WQXR Gramophone America Award in 2006. The New York Times, Washington Post and Newsday, among others, selected it as one of the top ten classical recordings of 2005. In 2002 he made his first CD with the Master Chorale, featuring the world premiere recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first choral work as well as Philip Glass’s Itaipú (RCM 12004). Gershon has also served as chorus master on two Grammy Award-nominated CD’s, Sweeney Todd (New York Philharmonic Special Editions) and Ligeti’s Grand Macabre (Sony Classical). He recently appeared on the Great Performers series at Lincoln Center leading the LA Master Chorale, and on the Making Music Series at Zankel Hall. He received his bachelor of music degree cum laude in piano performance from USC, and currently serves on the USC Thornton School of Music Board of Councilors.

Soprano ELISSA JOHNSTON has appeared in a wide range of repertoire. Her orchestral engagements include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Atlanta Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the San Francisco Contemporary Players. She has performed numerous times with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s New Music Group both in Los Angeles and at the Ojai Festival with conductors Tan Dun, David Zinman, Daniel Harding, and Steven Stucky. She recently made her Lincoln Center debut singing Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes with the New York City Ballet and also premiered with the ballet Morgen!, a set of ten orchestral songs by Richard Strauss, choreographed by Peter Martins. Johnston also appeared in the New York Philharmonic’s Copland Festival and Lincoln Center’s Stravinsky Festival. Her recital appearances include programs at the Aldeburgh Festival in England and at the Aspen Festival’s Winter Music Series with composer Ricky Ian Gordon. Also in Aspen she sang the role of “Pat Nixon” in the world premiere of John Adams’ The Nixon Tapes, with the composer conducting. Johnston’s operatic engagements include “Pamina” in Die Zauberflöte at the Snape Proms in England, the role of “Female Chorus” in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Aldeburgh October Britten Festival, and “Marzelline” in concert performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio at both the Aspen Festival, and with the Wheeling Symphony. With the Los Angeles Opera, she has appeared in Il Trovatore, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

Soprano KATHLEEN ROLAND is active as a soloist in the realms of opera and orchestral music. A featured singer with many music festivals, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Britten-Pears Institute in England, the Tanglewood Festival, and Cumberland Music Festival, Roland has also been heard on the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella series and the Los Angeles County Museum Sundays at Four concert series. She has sung with many notable conductors, including Reinbert de Leeuw, Oliver Knussen, and Kent Nagano. Her operatic credits include the roles of Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus and Giulietta in Tales of Hoffmann. Roland has been a lecturing professor of voice on the faculty of the University of Southern California, where she has been a frequent soloist with the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has also sung numerous times with Southwest Chamber Music, Long Beach Opera, and Pacific Serenades. Additionally, she gave the premiere of Kurt Weill's The Eternal Road with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, has appeared with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and given concerts in Stockholm, Sweden of American music. Roland may be heard on a recently recorded CD of the music of American composer Libby Larsen with pianist Katarina Strom-Harg. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in vocal performance from the University of Southern California, and is a member of the music faculty at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

SOPHILINE CHEAM SHAPIRO is a leading choreographer, dancer, vocalist and educator in the Cambodian classical dance form. She has set her original choreography on Cambodia’s finest performing artists and toured these works to three continents. Notable venues include Amsterdam’s Het Muziektheater, Cal Performances, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, New York’s Joyce Theater, the Venice Biennale and Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival. She has received numerous honors, including Asia 21, Creative Capital, Durfee Foundation, Guggenheim and Irvine Dance Fellowships. She was awarded the Nikkei Asia Prize for Culture in 2006. She was a member of the first generation to graduate from Phnom Penh’s Royal University of Fine Arts after the fall of Pol Pot, and studied dance ethnology at he undergraduate and graduate level at UCLA.

Artists, program and ticket prices subject to change.

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10/8/08