David Lockington, Music Director and Elena Urioste, Violin

Music Director David Lockington and the Pasadena Symphony open the 2016-2017 Singpoli Classics Series with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto on October 8, 2016 at Pasadena’s historic Ambassador Auditorium with matinee and evening performances at 2:00pm and 8:00pm. Audiences will delight in Mendelssohn’s most lyrical of violin concertos, book-ended by Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 and Andrew Norman’s The Great Swiftness to round what Lockington calls “a program of great variety – a wonderful celebration to open our 16-17 season.” This exhilarating performance kicks off the continuation of an expanded 6-concert Classics Series on the heels of last year’s record-breaking season, which played host to three consecutive sold-out performances.

Pasadena’s most anticipated opening night of the concert season will showcase acclaimed BBC New Generation Artist Elena Urioste performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Hailed by the Washington Post as “a drop-dead beauty who plays with equal parts passion, sensuality, brains and humor,” this young violinist’s lush tone and nuanced lyricism assure a captivating performance that will leave the audience breathless.

Composer Andrew Norman will be in attendance to witness the orchestra’s performance of his piece The Great Swiftness (La Grande Vitesse), inspired by Alexander Calder’s monumental sculpture in Grand Rapids, MI, where the piece premiered in 2010. A California native, Norman currently resides on the faculty of USC’s Thornton School of Music. Patrons who plan to arrive early can hear the young composer discuss his piece during Insights – a free pre-concert dialogue with David Lockington, Andrew Norman and soloist Elena Urioste, which begins one hour prior to each performance.

The Pasadena Symphony provides a socially vibrant experience specially designed for the music lover, the social butterfly or a date night out, and the inner epicurean in us all. Celebrate opening night in style in the luxurious Sierra Auto Symphony Lounge, yet another addition to the delightful and elegant concert experience the Pasadena Symphony offers. A posh setting at Ambassador Auditorium’s beautiful outdoor plaza, audiences enjoy uniquely prepared menus for both lunch and dinner at each concert from Claud &Co, fine wines by Michero Family Wines, plus music before the concert and during intermission.

All concerts are held at Ambassador Auditorium, 131 South St. John Ave, Pasadena. Subscription packages start at as low as $99. Single tickets start at $35 and may be purchased online at www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org or by calling (626) 793-7172.

About the Artists

David Lockington
Music Director

Over the past thirty-five years, David Lockington has developed an impressive conducting career in the United States. A native of Great Britain, he served as the Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony from January 1999 to May 2015, and is currently the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. He has held the position of Music Director with the Modesto Symphony since May 2007 and in March 2013, Mr. Lockington was appointed to the same position with the Pasadena Symphony. He also has a close relationship with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain where he is currently the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, and beginning with the 15/16 season he will be one of three Artistic Partners with the Northwest Sinfonietta in Tacoma, Washington.

In addition to his current posts, since his arrival to the United States in 1978 Mr. Lockington has also held additional positions with American orchestras, including serving as Assistant Conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra and Opera Colorado and Assistant and Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In May 1993 he accepted the position of Music Director of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, assumed the title of Music Director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in September 1995 and was Music Director of the Long Island Philharmonic for the 96/97 through 99/2000 seasons.

Mr. Lockington’s guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Saint Louis, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Oregon and Phoenix symphonies; the Rochester and Louisiana Philharmonics; and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has conducted the Northern Sinfonia in Great Britain, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Beijing and Taiwan and led the English Chamber Orchestra on a tour in Asia.

Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include appearances with the New Jersey, Indianapolis, Vancouver, Utah, Pacific, Colorado, Nashville, San Diego, Syracuse, Edmonton, Alabama, Columbus and Kansas City symphonies, the Florida and Louisville Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the Buffalo and Calgary Philharmonics. Mr. Lockington’s summer festival activities include appearances at the Grand Teton, Colorado Music, Interlochen, Chautauqua and Eastern Music festivals.

David Lockington began his career as a cellist and was the Principal with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cambridge, Mr. Lockington came to the United States on a scholarship to Yale University where he received his Master’s degree in cello performance and studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and served as assistant principal cellist for three years with the Denver Symphony Orchestra before turning to conducting.

Elena Urioste
Violin

Elena Urioste, recently selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and featured on the cover of Symphony magazine, has been hailed by critics and audiences alike for her lush tone, the nuanced lyricism of her playing, and her commanding stage presence. Since first appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age thirteen, she has made acclaimed debuts with major orchestras throughout the United States, including the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Chicago, National, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Richmond, and San Antonio Symphony Orchestras. Abroad, Elena has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Würzburg Philharmonic, Hungary’s Orchestra Dohnányi Budafok and MAV Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad de Guanajuato.

She has performed recitals in such distinguished venues as Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Sage Gateshead in Newcastle, and the Mondavi Center at the University of California-Davis. Recent engagements have included return performances with the Chicago Symphony and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, the BBC Philharmonic, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; and debuts with the Tucson, Asheville, and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the New York Youth Symphony, with whom she toured Argentina in the summer of 2015.

Elena’s 2015/16 season highlights include debuts with the San Francisco, Alabama, Kitchener-Waterloo, South Florida, and Des Moines Symphony Orchestras; returns to the Knoxville, Tucson, and Amarillo Symphony Orchestras and the Heartland Festival Orchestra; and residencies at the Roman River Festival in England, the Verbier Festival at Schloss Elmau in Germany, and Chamber Music Sedona WinterFest in Arizona.

As first-place laureate in both the Junior and Senior divisions of the Sphinx Competition, Elena debuted at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium in 2004 and has returned annually as soloist. She has collaborated with acclaimed conductors Sir Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Robert Spano, and Keith Lockhart; pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Dénes Várjon, Christopher O’Riley, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn; cellists Peter Wiley, Colin Carr, and Carter Brey; violists Kim Kashkashian and Michael Tree; and violinists Joseph Silverstein, Shlomo Mintz, and Cho-Liang Lin. An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Elena frequently performs in recital with pianist Michael Brown and cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has been a featured artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, La Jolla, and Sarasota Music Festivals, as well as Switzerland’s Sion Valais International Music Festival.

Elena’s awards include the inaugural Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a London Music Masters Award, a Salon de Virtuosi career grant, and first prize in the Sion International Violin Competition, which also awarded her its audience prize and the prize for best performance of the competition’s newly commissioned work.

Her media credits include the popular radio programs From the Top and Performance Today, appearances on Telemundo and NBC’s Today Show, and a McGraw Young Artists Showcase performance for a live studio audience at WQXR’s Greene Space in New York City. She was featured in the Emmy award-winning documentary Breaking the Sound Barrier, and in numerous magazines including Symphony, The Strad, Strings, and Latina, which included her in its 15th anniversary issue as one of its “Future Fifteen.” Her first CD was released on the White Pine label, and her second recording — with pianist Michael Brown — will be released in 2015.

Elena made her acting debut in the independent feature film But Not For Me, written and directed by Ryan J. Carmichael, as the lead female role of Hope. The film premiered at the 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival and won the award for Best Original Score, to which Elena contributed.

Elena is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, and Ida Kavafian. She completed graduate studies with Joel Smirnoff at The Juilliard School. Other notable teachers include David Cerone, Choong-Jin Chang, Soovin Kim, and the late Rafael Druian.

The outstanding instruments now being used by Elena are an Alessandro Gagliano violin, Naples c. 1706, and a Nicolas Kittel bow, both on generous extended loan from the private collection of Dr. Charles E. King through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

About the Pasadena Symphony Association

Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS (http://www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org/)

“The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction…teeming with vitality…dripping with opulent, sexy emotion.” Los Angeles Times.

“…full of pulsating energy from first note to last… the strings were lushly resonant, the wind principals were at the top of their games, and the brass rang out with gleaming vigor.” –Pasadena Star News.

Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.

The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.

A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO) comprised of five performing ensembles, with over 250 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO Symphony often performs on the popular television show GLEE.

The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.