La Sierra University Orchestra to play Disney Concert Hall

On June 29, the 45-member La Sierra University Orchestra will get a glimpse into the professional music world with a first performance in a high profile Los Angeles venue.

The orchestra, conducted by John Carter, will perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the West Coast Youth Orchestra Festival. Including La Sierra, the event involves six orchestras from Arizona, California, Utah and Ontario, Canada. Each orchestra will give a brief performance and a group of selected players from each group will perform in a combined festival orchestra.

The La Sierra University Orchestra will open a gala evening performance lineup at 7 p.m., performing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's “Capriccio Espagnol,” Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture—“Fingal's Cave,” Jean Sibelius's “Finlandia,” and movements of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's “Symphony No. 4.”

Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Tickets are $10, $15, and $25. All ticket sales benefit the La Sierra University Orchestra. Further information and ticket order forms are available at this link, or call 951-785-2036 for assistance.

The La Sierra University Orchestra is the only Inland Empire group performing in the festival. The Granite Youth Symphony from Salt Lake City, Utah and the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra from Orange, Calif. will give performances following La Sierra's concert during the gala evening portion of the festival. A 1 p.m. matinee will feature three groups including the Giocoso Youth Orchestra from Diamond Bar.

La Sierra was selected for participation in the West Coast Youth Orchestra Festival through a competitive process based on a recording Carter provided of the group's fall concert that included Tchaikovsky's “Symphony No. 5.”

“It's a huge opportunity for us to perform in one of the world's great concert halls,” Carter said. “It's important for the students' careers to give them a taste of the professional music world and to foster professional networks.”

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, renowned for its sophisticated, acoustically sensitive design by architect Frank Gehry, is home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by music director Gustavo Dudamel. The hall offers a wide variety of top-flight performances throughout the year in jazz, country, classical and other musical genres.

Guest festival conductor Markand Thakar will direct the combined festival orchestra. Thakar is music director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and is co-director of the internationally acclaimed graduate conducting program at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. He is a former assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic and has appeared with orchestras around the country. He previously served as a frequent commentator on National Public Radio's classical music program “Performance Today,” now aired by American Public Media.

PR Contact: Larry Becker

Executive Director of University Relations

La Sierra University

Riverside, California

951.785.2460 (voice)