 The LA Philharmonic joins the masterful pop-folk of the Decemberists for their debut performance with full orchestra; inventive songwriting, sweet tale-telling and lush melodies promise an epic evening under the stars. Special guests: Band of Horses. SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2007 at 7:30 PM
The Decemberists’ orchestral debut, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m., is the first date of a five-city summer tour featuring the band with orchestras in Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Chicago. The unconventional pairing is not a first for the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the orchestra has worked with non-classical artists in the past – most recently with Scottish indie pop band Belle & Sebastian in a sold-out performance, supported by the Shins, at the Bowl last season. All performances of The Decemberists’ songs in this summer’s tour feature brand-new orchestral arrangements by Sean O’Loughlin. Mark Watters conducts the Hollywood Bowl performance and O’Loughlin conducts the remaining concerts on the tour.
The tour, spearheaded by the Hollywood Bowl programming team, continues from Los Angeles to Atlanta’s Chastain Park Amphitheater with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on July 13; Baltimore’s Merriweather Post Pavilion with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on July 14; Philadelphia’s Mann Center with the Mann Festival Orchestra on July 15; and a free outdoor show in Chicago’s Millennium Park with the Grant Park Orchestra on July 18.
Led by songwriter and frontman Colin Meloy, The Decemberists have climbed the ranks of the indie music world with a series of bold and beloved albums. Their latest album, The Crane Wife, inspired by a Japanese folk tale that Meloy came across in the children’s section of a Portland bookstore, has been particularly well-received – producing AAA radio single “O Valencia!,” named one of the most-added albums in the history of the college radio charts and voted No. 1 album of 2006 by National Public Radio listeners, among many other accolades.
THE DECEMBERISTS include songwriter and frontman Colin Meloy, multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, bassist Nate Query and drummer John Moen. The Portland band is known for their group dynamic that embraces experimentation even as it celebrates classic pop and folk forms with a little klezmer, Irish jig, sea chantey and progressive rock thrown in. Playing to sold-out tours throughout the nation, The Decemberists have attained widespread popular and critical acclaim, while maintaining an aesthetic all their own. Their most recent release, The Crane Wife, released by Capitol Records is the band’s first major label appearance.
SEAN O’LOUGHLIN is a fresh voice and a rising name in the music industry. His music has been performed by such leading orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Seattle Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. As an arranger and orchestrator, he has worked with such artists as The Decemberists, Blue Man Group, Belle and Sebastian, Pink Martini, Nickel Creek, Christian McBride and others. His extensive musical background includes orchestrating, copying and proofreading scores for television and film in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times calls his orchestrating “…colorful” while adding “…even more dimension…” to the compositions. O’Loughlin is in demand as a guest conductor and composer in residence around the country. The former Henry Mancini Institute composition fellow is an annual ASCAP Special Awards winner and holds degrees from New England Conservatory and Syracuse University. His music is published exclusively by Carl Fischer.
MARK WATTERS is a five-time Emmy Award-winner whose composition credits include more than 300 episodes for various television series, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “A Very Muppet Christmas.” In 1996, he served as Music Director for the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta, for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Musical Direction and an Emmy nomination for the song “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” performed by opera legend Jessye Norman and co-written with lyricist Lorraine Feather. Watters returned to the Olympic podium again as Music Director for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games where he had the honor or working with the acclaimed Utah Symphony and the Grammy Award-winning Mormon Tabernacle Choir. As conductor and arranger for country music star, Trisha Yearwood, Watters has guest conducted such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony, Detroit Symphony and the Atlanta Symphony. His has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf and Michael Tilson Thomas. Other credits include the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Ojai Film Festival Orchestra, as well as numerous film and television scores.
One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 39th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2007, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the third year in a row at the 18th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.
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Editor's note: It is always a good idea to verify date, time and location information prior to going.
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