Outstanding Artists
A wide spectrum of outstanding guest performers joins us for 2013/14. Many of these brilliant artists and friends have helped shape the first decade in Walt Disney Concert Hall and will continue to have a major impact on our shared musical experience.
Emanuel Ax
A frequent and always-welcome guest at Walt Disney Concert Hall since its opening in 2003, pianist Emanuel Ax will be an even more familiar face by the time the 2013/14 season comes to a close. Ax will be playing no fewer than eight concerts as part of his “Ax Brahms Project,” wherein he’ll be performing programs that pair the works of the great composer with new pieces specifically selected to complement Brahms’ monumental concertos. He’ll also collaborate with other artists on the project – Yo-Yo Ma, Anne Sofie von Otter and LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, to name a few.
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Emanuel Ax discusses Walt Disney Concert Hall's place in the pantheon of the world's great places to hear music
Joshua Bell
No stranger to performing with the LA Phil or on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage, Joshua Bell dazzled audiences in that inaugural season with the West Coast premiere of John Corigliano’s Red Violin Concerto. He returns in the 10th Anniversary season to team with Gustavo Dudamel and the orchestra for Sibelius’ colossus of the violin canon, the haunting and brooding Violin Concerto in D.
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Yefim Bronfman
A Grammy-winner for his 1997 recording of the three Bartók Piano Concerti with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Phil, Bronfman was a standout of Walt Disney Concert Hall’s inaugural season and is a vital part of its 10th Anniversary season. A frequent collaborator with former Music Director Salonen and a favorite of current Music Director Dudamel, this virtuoso pianist tackles Tchaikovsky’s quintessentially Romantic Piano Concerto No. 1 in what’s sure to be a highlight of our anniversary season.
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Cameron Carpenter
If anyone was born to play the breathtaking Walt Disney Concert Hall organ, it’s certainly Cameron Carpenter. Known for his revolutionary interpretations, dazzling virtuosity and tireless championing of the inclusiveness of music, Carpenter is as unorthodox as the Gehry-designed instrument that graces the auditorium. When composer Terry Riley nicknamed the organ “Hurricane Mama,” he may well have envisioned Carpenter at its keys – and that’s exactly where he’ll be in April 2014, when he plays the world premiere of Riley’s Organ Concerto as part of our Minimalist Jukebox Festival.
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Judy Collins
A classically-trained pianist who made her debut at the age of 13, Judy Collins felt the pull of the folk revival of the early 1960s and abandoned the piano for the guitar – and the world, one could argue, is richer for it. The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter is known for her diverse body of work, eclectic sources of inspiration and utterly unique take on the American songbook, as well as for her artistic collaborations and social activism. Collins will take part in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s annual holiday concert series Deck the Hall with the show A Judy Collins Christmas.
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Hélène Grimaud
A musician, a wildlife conservationist, an author, an activist – pianist Hélène Grimaud attacks all her passions with the same intensity as she strikes the keys. After a long absence from the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage for almost half a decade, she returned for a recital in November 2012 that was marked by the elan, freedom and technical bravado that has defined her career since she first burst on the scene in the 1990s. Not content to be considered merely a musician, she founded the Wolf Conservation Center in upstate New York in 1999, and she equates her love of canis lupus with her primal style of playing. Such abandon will serve her well in her May 2014 with the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel, when she’ll tackle Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in D.
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Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn has been a much-anticipated guest at Walt Disney Concert Hall ever since her recital during the inaugural season, and for good reason. Known for her daring selections, blistering technique and wry Internet presence, Hahn is as engaging and iconoclastic as the Hall that welcomes her back every year. As is her custom, she brings a relative rarity to her 10th Anniversary program; namely, Nielsen’s seldom-performed Violin Concerto.
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Evgeny Kissin
A mere four days after the Opening Gala in 2003, pianist Evgeny Kissin became the first soloist to give a recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall – a fact that seems perfectly in step with his bold performing career. First appearing on world’s music scene as a child prodigy in the former Soviet Union who gave his recital debut at age 11, then as a coveted soloist and recitalist, Kissin has won a Grammy, Russia’s prestigious Shostakovich Award and an Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London. He returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall in March 2014 with a recital program of Romantic works, of which he is considered a peerless interpreter.
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Lang Lang
Equally at home performing in front of a worldwide audience of a billion during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics or in front of a relatively intimate crowd of 2,200 at Walt Disney Concert Hall as he did in the Hall's inaugural season, Chinese pianist Lang Lang has a rare combination of prodigious talent and rockstar charisma. His passion for performance and the music shines through in all he does, and his star wattage will only be bolstered by performing alongside Gustavo Dudamel when they collaborate on Prokofiev’s propulsive Piano Concerto No. 3 in May 2014.
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Yo-Yo Ma
Not many musicians can say they’ve performed for presidents, prime ministers, senators AND the residents of Sesame Street - but, then again, most musicians aren’t cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Arguably the most decorated musician of his generation, he’s won Grammys, the Avery Fisher Prize and a Presidential Medal of Freedom; he’s appeared on the soundtracks of Hollywood blockbusters; and he involves himself in a dizzyingly eclectic array of musical projects. Yo-Yo Ma helped open Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003 when he performed Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto under the baton of then-Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, and he returns 10 years later to open the 2013/2014 10th Anniversary Season with Gustavo Dudamel.
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Mariza
The worldwide face of fado, Portuguese-African singer Mariza took Walt Disney Concert Hall by storm in its inaugural season, so impressing architect Frank Gehry that he designed a set especially for her return the following season. She revisits the scene of her opening season triumph to take part in the 10th Anniversary Celebration with another sure-to-be-unforgettable headlining turn on the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage.
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Hugh Masekela
Legendary South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela is known for his innovation, eclecticism and activism. In addition to performing with a veritable who’s who of jazz greats over the years, he’s collaborated with artists as diverse as Paul Simon, U2 and Fela Kuti. He’s played at the Kennedy Center and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup, and he comes to Walt Disney Concert Hall in March 2014 to celebrate his 75th birthday with a joyous, life-affirming concert event.
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Christian McBride
Three-time Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride has studied at Juilliard, appeared on over 300 recordings and served as the LA Phil’s second Creative Chair for Jazz from 2006 until 2010. Many would call that a pretty solid career, but McBride doesn't appear to be resting on his laurels just yet. The virtuoso will be taking part in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s 10th Anniversary Celebration when he performs in a truly one-of-a-kind concert with former AND current Creative Chairs for Jazz Dianne Reeves and Herbie Hancock.
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Midori
As much a part of Los Angeles as Walt Disney Concert Hall and just as recognizable worldwide, Midori's prodigious talent as a performer and soloist has been well-known for more than 30 years. Midori made her debut at age 11 under the baton of former LA Phil Music Director Zubin Mehta and has been dazzling audiences with her breathtaking skill and virtuosic interpretations ever since. She is a committed educator, teaching violin not only at USC’s Thornton School of Music, but also as a part of her Midori and Friends philanthropic organization. She’ll be performing in recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall in April 2014, bringing to the stage works by Bach, Lutosławski and more.
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Itzhak Perlman
What can still be said about the violinist of a generation? Not content merely to shine as a soloist, Itzhak Perlman has taken to the podium as well, leading the world’s finest orchestras. A dedicated performer, conductor and educator, Perlman has performed at presidential inaugurations, in countless movies and television programs and regularly at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where he’ll lead the LA Phil in “Summer” and “Winter” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in November 2013.
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Dianne Reeves
A relentless collaborator, performer and recording artist, jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves has no shortage of firsts in her 30-plus years as a solo artist. Not only was she the first artist to win the Grammy for Best Vocal Jazz Performance on three consecutive albums, but she was also the LA Phil’s first-ever Creative Chair for Jazz, holding the position from 2002 until 2006. During the 10th anniversary season of the Concert Hall which she helped fill with the sounds of jazz, she’ll perform with the other two Creative Chairs for Jazz, Christian McBride and Herbie Hancock, in a one-of-a-kind concert event in February 2014.
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Gil Shaham
Perhaps no performer embodies the openness and warmth of Walt Disney Concert Hall better than the inimitable Gil Shaham. The gregarious virtuoso’s combination of technical mastery and generosity of spirit have made him an audience favorite over the years at both Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, not to mention a sought-after soloist and collaborator the world over. Shaham will continue his study of the violin concertos of the 1930s with Bartók’s brilliant Second Violin Concerto with guest conductor Stéphane Denève in April 2014.
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Jean-Yves Thibaudet
A fixture in the world’s greatest concert halls for more than 30 years, the French pianist and current LA resident Jean-Yves Thibaudet is equal parts substance and style – and anyone who’s seen his custom-designed Vivienne Westwood performance outfits knows that’s saying a lot. Much like Walt Disney Concert Hall, where he’s a perennial performer, he combines amazing flair with technical wizardry in a seamless package – both of which will be immediately evident when he takes on Beethoven’s aptly-named “Emperor” Piano Concerto No. 5 with fellow Frenchman Charles Dutoit in March 2014.
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Yuja Wang
Dazzling, passionate, iconoclastic – in other words, a perfect fit for Walt Disney Concert Hall. Pianist Yuja Wang is widely considered one of the most charismatic pianists of her generation, unafraid to take on the most technically demanding works in the repertoire. Wang made her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in 2009 with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and sticks with the Russian finger-busters when she plays Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Gustavo Dudamel in December 2013.
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Pinchas Zukerman
Israeli violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman, after four decades of performing, recording and teaching, has no plans to slow things down anytime soon. The head of the Zukerman Performance Program at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, the Music Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the founder of the Zukerman Chamber Players, his commitment to classical music’s future is unwavering and peerless. Zukerman will share the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage with pianist Yefim Bronfman in April 2014 in a rare meeting of powerhouse performers.
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