The Colburn Orchestra performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The group will visit the hall twice this year, as well as venues in Pasadena and Northridge.
Summer is coming to an end, and our students are getting ready for a new year of classes, rehearsals, lessons, and performances. This year, esteemed guest artists and conductors, our remarkable faculty, and soloists of their peers will join them in a season featuring the best of music and dance at Colburn and venues around Los Angeles.
Starting today, you can reserve your seat in their audience when you purchase tickets and subscriptions to 2018–19 concerts and events at the Colburn School. The season brings together today’s and tomorrow’s stars on our flagship Colburn Orchestra and Colburn Chamber Music Society series, as well as Gibson Dunn Rush Hour, dance performances, and special one-time engagements.
A compelling roster of guest and faculty artists take the stage with students for Colburn Chamber Music Society, intimate performances in Zipper Hall featuring everything from well-known classical chamber works to contemporary pieces by living composers. Our new oboe faculty and incoming Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Ramón Ortega Quero opens the season with his Colburn debut, and recently appointed Director of Chamber Music Scott St. John, violin, returns to the series. Guest artists include innovative percussionist She-e Wu and renowned Georgian pianist Elisso Virsaladze. Faculty artists Martin Beaver, Paul Coletti, Clive Greensmith, and Fabio Bidini also take the stage together.
The Colburn Orchestra, our flagship ensemble under Musical Director Yehuda Gilad, will perform favorites old and new, like Strauss’s iconic Also Sprach Zarathustra and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, and works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bernstein, Mozart, and more. The orchestra performs under the baton of Yehuda Gilad, and guest conductors Catherine Larsen-Maguire, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Xian Zhang. The legendary Valery Gergiev takes the podium for the “Celebrate Colburn” gala concert in Walt Disney Concert Hall. Student soloists on the cusp of stardom shine in this series, which features violist Emma Wernig, pianist Dominic Cheli, violinist Felicity James, clarinetist Cristina Mateo Sáez, and harpist Alyssa Katahara.
Dance lovers can look forward to a variety of events, featuring ballet, tap, and more. New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Joaquin De Luz joins us for the annual See the Music, Hear the Dance event in Zipper Hall. The family-friendly Nutcracker Prelude is also back, which introduces young audiences to the story of The Nutcracker. In the spring, Tap Fest returns as a roster of professional tappers present a celebratory performance as part of the weekend-long festival. Youth Ballet closes out the year with Postcards and Pliés from LA, an original work by Ballet Chair Kelly Ann Sloan.
Audiences can once again skip the traffic on select Thursdays with Gibson Dunn Rush Hour. Each themed performance features Colburn School students in Thayer Hall, and concertgoers can mingle with the musicians in a complimentary post-concert reception. Throughout the season, the world-renowned performing artists on Colburn School faculty members take the stage with friends and students in the Faculty Recital series.
Hundreds of free events happen on campus and off throughout the school year. Browse our full calendar to view them all.