Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is an American chamber orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. LACO presents its Orchestral Series concerts at two venues, the
Alex Theatre The Alex Theatre is a landmark located at 216 North Brand Boulevard in Glendale, California, United States. It is currently owned by the city of Glendale and operated by Glendale Arts. The theater’s capacity is 1,400. Architecture The Alex The ...
in
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...
and
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
's
Royce Hall Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison (James Edward Allison, 1870–1955, and his brother David Clark Allison, 1881–1962) and completed ...
.


History

James Arkatov, a cellist, established LACO in 1968 as an artistic outlet for musicians from local film and record studios to perform the classical music repertoire at a chamber orchestra-scale of about 40–45 musicians. David Mermelstein wrote in 2005 on Arkatov's guiding principle of LACO: : "The idea was to create a group that would play works written expressly for chamber orchestra, many of them from the baroque era—music that the os AngelesPhilharmonic either wasn't interested in or suited to. The ensemble was never meant to compete with the Philharmonic; there was even a time when LACO's supporters hoped to see it take up permanent residence at the Music Center." At the beginning of its history, LACO did not have a residency at a single concert hall. The orchestra performed in such venues as the
Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...
,
Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...
(Thorne Hall), the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(Beckman Auditorium). Currently, in addition to its Orchestral Series concerts at Alex Theatre and Royce Hall, LACO also presents a
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
music series at Zipper Hall at The Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles, and "In Focus" (a chamber music and discussion series) in Santa Monica at the Moss Theatre and San Marino at The Huntington. Its repertoire ranges from the baroque to newly commissioned works, the latter through its patron commissioning club, Sound Investment. LACO's first music director was
Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of th ...
, who used the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as a guiding model for LACO.
Gerard Schwarz Gerard Schwarz (born August 19, 1947), also known as Gerry Schwarz or Jerry Schwarz, is an American symphony conductor and trumpeter. As of 2019, Schwarz serves as the Artistic and Music Director of Palm Beach Symphony and the Director of Orche ...
was LACO's second music director, and expanded the orchestra's repertoire to include more American works.
Iona Brown Iona Brown, OBE, (7 January 19415 June 2004) was a British violinist and conductor. Early life and education Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury and was educated at Cranborne Chase School, Dorset. Her parents, Antony and Fiona, were b ...
was named LACO's music advisor for the 1986–1987 season, and became music director the next season, serving through 1992.
Christof Perick Christof Prick (born 1946) is a German orchestra conductor. He uses the name Christof Perick in English-speaking countries. His father was the concertmaster of the Hamburg Philharmonic. Biography Born in Hamburg, Prick studied at the Universi ...
was the next LACO Music Director, from 1992 to 1995. Conductor and pianist
Jeffrey Kahane Jeffrey Alan Kahane (born September 12, 1956) is an American classical concert pianist and conductor. He was music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 20 years, the longest of any music director in the orchestra's history. He is t ...
, was music director from 1997 to 2017. During Kahane's tenure, LACO made its
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
debut in April 2002. In June 2005, LACO received the First place Award for Programming of Contemporary Music, offered by the
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
(ASCAP) and the American Symphony Orchestra League. Kahane now has the title of conductor laureate with LACO. In September 2017,
Jaime Martín Jaime Martín (born 1 September 1965) is a Spanish conductor and flautist. Biography Born in Santander, Spain, Martín began his music studies on the flute at age 8, and became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Spain at age 13. He was ...
first guest-conducted LACO. On the basis of this appearance, in February 2018, LACO named Martín its next music director, effective with the 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. In June 2021, LACO announced an extension of Martín's contract as its music director through 2027. During the 2020-2021
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, LACO began producing digital content in lieu of live performances. James Darrah was hired as their inaugural Creative Director of Digital Content and
Derrick Spiva Derrick Skye (born Derrick Spiva Jr; 19 November 1982) is a composer, conductor, musician, and educator based in the Los Angeles area who often integrates musical practices from cultures around the world in his work with classical music communitie ...
was appointed as Artistic Advisor. As of January 2021, the orchestra's current composer-in-residence is
Ellen Reid Ellen Lorraine Reid (born 14 July 1966) is a Canadian musician. She provides backing vocals, piano, keyboards and accordion for the Canadian rock band Crash Test Dummies. Early life and education Reid was born and grew up in Selkirk, Manito ...
. Past LACO composers-in-residence have included
Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956, Philadelphia, United States) is an American classical and jazz pianist and composer. Biography Early years The son of Burton Caine, a professor at Temple Law School, and poet Shulamith Wechter Caine, Caine began p ...
and
Andrew Norman Andrew Norman (born October 31, 1979) is an American composer of contemporary classical music whose texturally complex music is influenced by architecture and the visual arts. His string trio ''The Companion Guide to Rome'' (2010), was a runner- ...
.


References


External links


Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra official website

''Los Angeles Times'', Chris Pasles, "It turns out it's a player after all" (September 25, 2005)
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1968 Music of Los Angeles Chamber orchestras 1968 establishments in California Orchestras based in California