In 2011, the Los Angeles Philharmonic presented LA Phil LIVE - a series of live simulcasts that included full-concert performances with the orchestra, led by dynamic Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel, live from Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Dudamel's home nation of Venezuela. LA Phil LIVE provided fans with access to a unique concert experience that included backstage access, Q&A with Gustavo Dudamel and guest artists and guest artists as well as special hosts and more.
In this clip from the first LA Phil LIVE of the 2011/12 season, Gustavo Dudamel explains to the orchestra how to "attack" a particular passage from Felix Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony.
As you will see, Dudamel is seeking to create a "heart attack" sensation amongst concertgoers through the sheer power of the orchestra when it attacks in unison. As the rehearsal progresses, he's not quite getting what he's looking for. Thankfully, Dudamel himself didn't have a heart attack!
Composer Felix Mendelssohn came from a famous family. His grandfather Moses was a preeminent philosopher. Mendelssohn wrote some of his greatest works - the Octet and the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, for example - as a teenager.
Experience the music of Mendelssohn LIVE at the Hollywood Bowl on July 28, 2015, when the entire incidental-music score for Midsummer Night's Dream will be performed by Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil! Details and tickets available now at www.hollywoodbowl.com/midsummer.
Pleasing to the ear and deft in its use of the orchestra, Felix Mendelssohn's music won him acclaim throughout Europe during his lifetime. However, it also gained him a reputation for being the most conservative of the Romantics. His work as a conductor, in fact, played a large role in reviving music of Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1800s. As a conductor, Mendelssohn was responsible for the revival of Bach's music in the 19th century. Many of Mendelssohn's later works - such as the oratorio St. Paul and the "Hymn of Praise" Symphony (No. 2) - owe much to the Baroque master.
For a complete rundown of when and where you can hear Felix Mendelssohn at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall, visit www.laphil.com/philpedia/felix... and consult the schedule on the right-hand side of the webpage.