LACO ANNOUNCE 2020-2021 Season

FEATURING 16 DIGITAL PROGRAMS

PRODUCED EXCLUSIVELY FOR STREAMING WITH
VISUAL DESIGN BY
GROUNDBREAKING DIRECTOR
JAMES DARRAH,
NAMED LACO’S 2020-21 CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL CONTENT

Darrah to Create First-of-Its-Kind LACO Digital Studio in Downtown L.A.

COST:

There is no cost to stream the programs (donations requested)

WHERE TO STREAM:
laco.org/laco-at-home
LACO’s YouTube channel
Facebook live

LACO Close Quarters, featuring a robust slate of 16 original digital programs with sweeping repertoire and compelling visual elements directed by groundbreaking director/designer/artist James Darrah, who has been named 2020-21 Creative Director of Digital Content. Martín, lauded for his "infectious music making" (Los Angeles Times), embarks on his second season with LACO, conducting half of the programs. Darrah – noted for visually and emotionally “striking (work) that injects real drama” (New York Times) at the intersection of theater, music and film – is establishing a first-of-its-kind LACO digital studio at Wilhardt & Naud, a film studio and multidisciplinary arts campus located in Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles. The studio will serve as a creative hub for developing artistic media content with L.A.-based artists and filmmakers, who, inspired by the Orchestra’s musical programming, will create works in a variety of mediums that will factor into the broadcasts and endure long after the season concludes. This marks the Orchestra’s first creative partnership with Darrah. LACO’s concerts, each between 30 and 40 minutes in length, are filmed at The Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall socially distanced with no audience and produced exclusively for streaming. Available to the public at no cost, the digital broadcasts air biweekly on Fridays, from November 6, 2020, through June 4, 2021, at 6:30 pm (PT), at LACO.org/laco-at-home, and on LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live.

This new slate of virtual programming, developed under the Orchestra’s LACO AT HOME brand, builds upon the highly successful LACO SummerFest series, the Orchestra’s first foray into streaming that concluded in September and featured five digital chamber music concerts that have attracted more than 130,000 viewers to date.

“It is a tremendous and exciting undertaking to present LACO’s entire 2020-21 season digitally, giving us an opportunity to creatively evolve how we present music, interface with new and current audiences, and integrate with L.A.’s creative community,” states LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. “LACO Close Quarters is designed to showcase LACO’s exceptional musicians with programs that look and feel digitally native. The all-digital format lends itself beautifully to James Darrah’s deft visual and artistic touch, which will add rich texture to these programs, enhancing and complementing the music. And since he will direct all 16 episodes, it enables us to develop a distinctive and cohesive identity for LACO’s streaming platform which we see continuing into future seasons.”

Martín, who is based in London and last appeared with LACO in February prior to Los Angeles shutting down due to the global pandemic, says, “I am elated to be able to return to Los Angeles and join LACO’s phenomenal artists on stage to make music together once again and connect virtually with the Orchestra’s dedicated audience. Music is integral to the fabric of our society; I have planned a season that reflects its vibrant diversity while showcasing both LACO’s versatility and virtuosity with wide ranging repertoire that includes beloved favorites and seldom heard works. While there are many notable highlights, I am particularly excited about conducting in the first half of the season a LACO-commissioned world premiere by composer and Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr., as well as playing flute in my first-ever joint appearance with LACO Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane, who will be featured on fortepiano, along with Assistant Concertmaster Tereza Stanislav, on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D-major. I also look forward to working closely with James Darrah, whose compelling artistry will greatly enrich our new virtual platform.”

States Darrah, "I'm thrilled to join LACO this season to develop an original platform for its digital content. We are creating a groundbreaking LACO art and film studio, where the Orchestra’s impressive musical programming will be ‘in dialogue’ with a diverse group of LA-based artists, who will generate visual and filmic content in a surprising mix of forms, styles and mediums entirely based on LACO’s performances this season. This exciting collaboration among the artists and LACO and Music Director Jaime Martín brings together LA’s creative community in a novel and impactful way. The art created will also provide a permanent record reflecting the season.” Wilhardt & Naud, the location of the LACO Digital Studio, is owned by Jonny Black.

LACO Close Quarters’ broadcast dates are Fridays, November 6 and 20, December 4 and 18, 2020, January 1, 15 and 29, February 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, April 9 and 23, May 7 and 21, and June 4, 2021, at 6:30 pm (PT).

REPERTOIRE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FIRST HALF OF SEASON
The programming for the first half of LACO’s 2020-21 all-digital season includes a LACO-commissioned world premiere by composer and Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr. featuring actors from LA’s own Robey Theatre Company, and the first-ever joint appearance of Martín on flute and LACO Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane on fortepiano, who are featured together with Assistant Concertmaster Tereza Stanislav on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D-major. Other notable repertoire includes Copland’s Appalachian Spring, conducted by Martín with Kahane on piano; Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, again featuring actors from the Robey Theatre Company; and Voodoo Dolls by Jessie Montgomery, whose music weaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language and social justice.

Additionally, LACO presents Pueblos Mágicos by LA-based, Mexican-born composer Juan Pablo Contreras, recognized for blending Western classical and Mexican folk music and considered “one of the most prominent young composers in Latin America” (Milenio); Ccantu by Peruvian composer Jimmy López; Argentinian composer J.P. Jofre’s Tangódromo for violin and bandoneon; Concierto barroco by José Enrique González Medina, who is deeply connected to his home state of Baja California in Mexico. Also featured are Brazilian-American Clarice Assad’s Obrigado for mandolin and strings, which explores the music, chants and rhythms of the Afro-Brazilian religion called Umbanda, music she was introduced to as a child, as well as works for harpsichord, theorbo and baroque guitar by a range of Baroque-era Hispanic and Latin American composers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/WHERE TO STREAM CONCERTS
LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. James Darrah at LACO is generously underwritten by Ruth Eliel and Bill Cooney. The premiere episode of LACO Close Quarters on November 6, 2020, is sponsored in part by Anne and Jeff Grausam. For episode #4 premiering on December 18, 2020, Jaime Martín and Jeffrey Kahane at LACO are generously sponsored by Ned and Dana Newman. Juan Pablo Contreras and episode #5 premiering on January 15, 2020, are generously sponsored by Anne-Marie and Alex Spataru.

Cadwallader states, “LACO is proud to offer its exceptional concerts at no cost during this challenging time brought on by COVID-19. There is, however, a real cost commensurate with the level of the programs’ artistic quality, and LACO can continue to provide free virtual content only through the generosity of donors and underwriters like these. If you find this work as essential as we do, I urge you to support it by making a tax-deductible gift to LACO. Even a small amount makes a significant difference as it can be leveraged to attract additional gifts.”

To support LACO, its stellar artists and digital programming, please visit LACO.org/donate or call (213) 622-7001, EXT. 4. The broadcasts will be available on demand at laco.org/laco-at-home, LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live.

Director and Designer JAMES DARRAH's visually and emotionally arresting work at the intersection of theater, opera and film is in demand around the globe. His productions of opera, theater, music videos, film and installations are known for their cinematic elegance, abstract yet visceral staging, and a multidisciplinary merging of narrative heft, innovative design and dance that “injects real drama" (The New York Times). His current projects include new films, debuts and productions that continue to blur the lines between film, visual art and opera. Amid production cancelations and the pandemic-related shutdown, Darrah has generated a wide range of new work for the digital space and helped organizations transform existing productions into viable projects that allow for remote collaboration between artists and designers across multiple mediums. This season he devises and directs two projects with Boston Lyric Opera: a new animated adaptation of Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher and the world premiere of desert in, a new episodic operatic television series with Darrah as director and co-creator in collaboration with composer Ellen Reid and writer christopher oscar peña. With Opera Philadelphia, Darrah returns in 2020 to help executive produce and design a new Soldier Songs by David T. Little, directed by and starring Jonathan McCullough, and is in post-production for his new film of Poulenc’s La voix humaine. Upcoming projects include a new music video for LA Opera’s Digital Shorts series and his LA Opera mainstage debut with the Los Angeles premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s operatic adaptation of Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves. In March 2021, he makes his Long Beach Opera debut with an outdoor re-imagining of his own production of Glass’ Les enfants terribles, and in the summer directs the world premiere of The Lord of Cries by Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano and librettist Mark Adamo in his Santa Fe Opera debut. Highlights from this past season included debuts and new productions with The Kennedy Center, Theater an der Wien, Prototype Festival in New York and Theatro Nacional São Paolo in Brazil as well as an original art installation with composer Ellen Reid and LA Opera. Postponed projects due to the global pandemic include a new production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony and Frank Gehry designing as well as the Chicago Lyric Opera premiere of Mazzoli’s Proving Up, both to be rescheduled for future seasons. His track record developing and directing acclaimed productions of new operas includes the world premieres of Reid's Pulitzer Prize-winning p r i s m and Missy Mazzoli's acclaimed Breaking the Waves and Proving Up, the New York premiere of Julian Wachner’s Rev23 in the Prototype Festival, Philip Glass' Les enfants terribles and the lauded U.S. West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. Darrah has also crafted music videos with “enigmatic twists” (NPR) for artists including Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orlinski on the Warner Music and Erato record label, and he directed and produced a video for Mazzoli’s Grammy Award nominated VESPERS. He is currently in development for the world premiere of Dante with composer Patrick Cassidy and film producer Martha De Laurentiis, an expansion of Cassidy’s popular aria “Vide Cor Meum” originally written for the 2001 film Hannibal. Darrah is currently Artistic Director of Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival, where he is "expanding the boundaries of the operatic form" (The Wall Street Journal) by framing opera in a context that is both inclusive and relevant while establishing a first of its kind operatic artist residency for artists in the genre. He is also committed to training the next generation of performers, joining the UCLA Faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music and School of Theater, Film and Television in 2019 and was named the new Creative Director of Music Academy of the West’s Vocal Institute in 2018. He was co-artistic director/co-founder of Chromatic, a new collective of artists and production company in Los Angeles from 2013-2016 and has made additional work with Boston Lyric Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, The International Handel Festspiele, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, Salle Playel in Paris, Barbican Centre, Sun Valley Music Festival, Kaufman Music Center, Bard Summerscape and Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Merola/ San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, Pacific Musicworks, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Union for Contemporary Art, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon. Darrah holds an MFA in Theater, Film and Television from UCLA and later continued studies with Stephen Wadsworth at The Juilliard School. He has received the national Princess Grace Award in Theater, the James Pendelton Foundation Grant, was a directing nominee in the 2015 International Opera Awards, has led world premieres of two operas to win “Best New Opera” awards from Music Critics Association of North America and was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for December 2015. He is a native of San Antonio, Texas and lives in Los Angeles, California.

as Creative Hub for Artistic Media Content;

Concerts, Filmed at The Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall
Socially Distanced and with No Audience,
To Stream at No Cost Biweekly on

LACO Close Quarters, featurin a robust slate of 16 original digital programs with sweeping repertoire and compelling visual elements directed by groundbreaking director/designer/artist James Darrah, who has been named 2020-21 Creative Director of Digital Content. Martín, lauded for his "infectious music making" (Los Angeles Times), embarks on his second season with LACO, conducting half of the programs. Darrah – noted for visually and emotionally “striking (work) that injects real drama” (New York Times) at the intersection of theater, music and film – is establishing a first-of-its-kind LACO digital studio at Wilhardt & Naud, a film studio and multidisciplinary arts campus located in Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles. The studio will serve as a creative hub for developing artistic media content with L.A.-based artists and filmmakers, who, inspired by the Orchestra’s musical programming, will create works in a variety of mediums that will factor into the broadcasts and endure long after the season concludes. This marks the Orchestra’s first creative partnership with Darrah. LACO’s concerts, each between 30 and 40 minutes in length, are filmed at The Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall socially distanced with no audience and produced exclusively for streaming. Available to the public at no cost, the digital broadcasts air biweekly on Fridays, from November 6, 2020, through June 4, 2021, at 6:30 pm (PT), at LACO.org/laco-at-home, and on LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live.

This new slate of virtual programming, developed under the Orchestra’s LACO AT HOME brand, builds upon the highly successful LACO SummerFest series, the Orchestra’s first foray into streaming that concluded in September and featured five digital chamber music concerts that have attracted more than 130,000 viewers to date.

“It is a tremendous and exciting undertaking to present LACO’s entire 2020-21 season digitally, giving us an opportunity to creatively evolve how we present music, interface with new and current audiences, and integrate with L.A.’s creative community,” states LACO Executive Director Ben Cadwallader. “LACO Close Quarters is designed to showcase LACO’s exceptional musicians with programs that look and feel digitally native. The all-digital format lends itself beautifully to James Darrah’s deft visual and artistic touch, which will add rich texture to these programs, enhancing and complementing the music. And since he will direct all 16 episodes, it enables us to develop a distinctive and cohesive identity for LACO’s streaming platform which we see continuing into future seasons.”

Martín, who is based in London and last appeared with LACO in February prior to Los Angeles shutting down due to the global pandemic, says, “I am elated to be able to return to Los Angeles and join LACO’s phenomenal artists on stage to make music together once again and connect virtually with the Orchestra’s dedicated audience. Music is integral to the fabric of our society; I have planned a season that reflects its vibrant diversity while showcasing both LACO’s versatility and virtuosity with wide ranging repertoire that includes beloved favorites and seldom heard works. While there are many notable highlights, I am particularly excited about conducting in the first half of the season a LACO-commissioned world premiere by composer and Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr., as well as playing flute in my first-ever joint appearance with LACO Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane, who will be featured on fortepiano, along with Assistant Concertmaster Tereza Stanislav, on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D-major. I also look forward to working closely with James Darrah, whose compelling artistry will greatly enrich our new virtual platform.”

States Darrah, "I'm thrilled to join LACO this season to develop an original platform for its digital content. We are creating a groundbreaking LACO art and film studio, where the Orchestra’s impressive musical programming will be ‘in dialogue’ with a diverse group of LA-based artists, who will generate visual and filmic content in a surprising mix of forms, styles and mediums entirely based on LACO’s performances this season. This exciting collaboration among the artists and LACO and Music Director Jaime Martín brings together LA’s creative community in a novel and impactful way. The art created will also provide a permanent record reflecting the season.” Wilhardt & Naud, the location of the LACO Digital Studio, is owned by Jonny Black.

LACO Close Quarters’ broadcast dates are Fridays, November 6 and 20, December 4 and 18, 2020, January 1, 15 and 29, February 12 and 26, March 12 and 26, April 9 and 23, May 7 and 21, and June 4, 2021, at 6:30 pm (PT).

REPERTOIRE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FIRST HALF OF SEASON
The programming for the first half of LACO’s 2020-21 all-digital season includes a LACO-commissioned world premiere by composer and Artistic Advisor Derrick Spiva Jr. featuring actors from LA’s own Robey Theatre Company, and the first-ever joint appearance of Martín on flute and LACO Conductor Laureate Jeffrey Kahane on fortepiano, who are featured together with Assistant Concertmaster Tereza Stanislav on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D-major. Other notable repertoire includes Copland’s Appalachian Spring, conducted by Martín with Kahane on piano; Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, again featuring actors from the Robey Theatre Company; and Voodoo Dolls by Jessie Montgomery, whose music weaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language and social justice.

Additionally, LACO presents Pueblos Mágicos by LA-based, Mexican-born composer Juan Pablo Contreras, recognized for blending Western classical and Mexican folk music and considered “one of the most prominent young composers in Latin America” (Milenio); Ccantu by Peruvian composer Jimmy López; Argentinian composer J.P. Jofre’s Tangódromo for violin and bandoneon; Concierto barroco by José Enrique González Medina, who is deeply connected to his home state of Baja California in Mexico. Also featured are Brazilian-American Clarice Assad’s Obrigado for mandolin and strings, which explores the music, chants and rhythms of the Afro-Brazilian religion called Umbanda, music she was introduced to as a child, as well as works for harpsichord, theorbo and baroque guitar by a range of Baroque-era Hispanic and Latin American composers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/WHERE TO STREAM CONCERTS
LACO recognizes the generous support of the Colburn Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Steinway is the official piano of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The Orchestra also receives public funding via grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. James Darrah at LACO is generously underwritten by Ruth Eliel and Bill Cooney. The premiere episode of LACO Close Quarters on November 6, 2020, is sponsored in part by Anne and Jeff Grausam. For episode #4 premiering on December 18, 2020, Jaime Martín and Jeffrey Kahane at LACO are generously sponsored by Ned and Dana Newman. Juan Pablo Contreras and episode #5 premiering on January 15, 2020, are generously sponsored by Anne-Marie and Alex Spataru.

Cadwallader states, “LACO is proud to offer its exceptional concerts at no cost during this challenging time brought on by COVID-19. There is, however, a real cost commensurate with the level of the programs’ artistic quality, and LACO can continue to provide free virtual content only through the generosity of donors and underwriters like these. If you find this work as essential as we do, I urge you to support it by making a tax-deductible gift to LACO. Even a small amount makes a significant difference as it can be leveraged to attract additional gifts.”

To support LACO, its stellar artists and digital programming, please visit LACO.org/donate or call (213) 622-7001, EXT. 4. The broadcasts will be available on demand at laco.org/laco-at-home, LACO’s YouTube channel and Facebook live.

Director and Designer JAMES DARRAH's visually and emotionally arresting work at the intersection of theater, opera and film is in demand around the globe. His productions of opera, theater, music videos, film and installations are known for their cinematic elegance, abstract yet visceral staging, and a multidisciplinary merging of narrative heft, innovative design and dance that “injects real drama" (The New York Times). His current projects include new films, debuts and productions that continue to blur the lines between film, visual art and opera. Amid production cancelations and the pandemic-related shutdown, Darrah has generated a wide range of new work for the digital space and helped organizations transform existing productions into viable projects that allow for remote collaboration between artists and designers across multiple mediums. This season he devises and directs two projects with Boston Lyric Opera: a new animated adaptation of Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher and the world premiere of desert in, a new episodic operatic television series with Darrah as director and co-creator in collaboration with composer Ellen Reid and writer christopher oscar peña. With Opera Philadelphia, Darrah returns in 2020 to help executive produce and design a new Soldier Songs by David T. Little, directed by and starring Jonathan McCullough, and is in post-production for his new film of Poulenc’s La voix humaine. Upcoming projects include a new music video for LA Opera’s Digital Shorts series and his LA Opera mainstage debut with the Los Angeles premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s operatic adaptation of Lars Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves. In March 2021, he makes his Long Beach Opera debut with an outdoor re-imagining of his own production of Glass’ Les enfants terribles, and in the summer directs the world premiere of The Lord of Cries by Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano and librettist Mark Adamo in his Santa Fe Opera debut. Highlights from this past season included debuts and new productions with The Kennedy Center, Theater an der Wien, Prototype Festival in New York and Theatro Nacional São Paolo in Brazil as well as an original art installation with composer Ellen Reid and LA Opera. Postponed projects due to the global pandemic include a new production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony and Frank Gehry designing as well as the Chicago Lyric Opera premiere of Mazzoli’s Proving Up, both to be rescheduled for future seasons. His track record developing and directing acclaimed productions of new operas includes the world premieres of Reid's Pulitzer Prize-winning p r i s m and Missy Mazzoli's acclaimed Breaking the Waves and Proving Up, the New York premiere of Julian Wachner’s Rev23 in the Prototype Festival, Philip Glass' Les enfants terribles and the lauded U.S. West Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain. Darrah has also crafted music videos with “enigmatic twists” (NPR) for artists including Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orlinski on the Warner Music and Erato record label, and he directed and produced a video for Mazzoli’s Grammy Award nominated VESPERS. He is currently in development for the world premiere of Dante with composer Patrick Cassidy and film producer Martha De Laurentiis, an expansion of Cassidy’s popular aria “Vide Cor Meum” originally written for the 2001 film Hannibal. Darrah is currently Artistic Director of Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival, where he is "expanding the boundaries of the operatic form" (The Wall Street Journal) by framing opera in a context that is both inclusive and relevant while establishing a first of its kind operatic artist residency for artists in the genre. He is also committed to training the next generation of performers, joining the UCLA Faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music and School of Theater, Film and Television in 2019 and was named the new Creative Director of Music Academy of the West’s Vocal Institute in 2018. He was co-artistic director/co-founder of Chromatic, a new collective of artists and production company in Los Angeles from 2013-2016 and has made additional work with Boston Lyric Opera, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, The International Handel Festspiele, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Getty Villa Museum in Malibu, Salle Playel in Paris, Barbican Centre, Sun Valley Music Festival, Kaufman Music Center, Bard Summerscape and Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Merola/ San Francisco Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Festival, Pacific Musicworks, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, The Union for Contemporary Art, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon. Darrah holds an MFA in Theater, Film and Television from UCLA and later continued studies with Stephen Wadsworth at The Juilliard School. He has received the national Princess Grace Award in Theater, the James Pendelton Foundation Grant, was a directing nominee in the 2015 International Opera Awards, has led world premieres of two operas to win “Best New Opera” awards from Music Critics Association of North America and was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for December 2015. He is a native of San Antonio, Texas and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Jaime Martín, praised as “a visionary conductor, discerning and meticulous” (Platea Magazine), began his tenure as Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Music Director in the 2019-20 season. Following a prominent career on flute, he turned to conducting full time in 2013 and has since emerged not only as a talented technical conductor but also one with stylistic authenticity who is known for making deep connections to the musicians under his direction. In September 2019, he also became Principal Conductor of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra. He has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Gävle Symphony Orchestra since 2013, and his time there has brought the orchestra a new level of international recognition through highly acclaimed recordings and touring performances. Martín also serves as Artistic Director of the Santander Festival, where over the last five years, he brought financial stability and created a platform for some of the most exciting artists in their fields, ranging from symphony orchestras and baroque ensembles to education workshops and ballet companies. As conductor, he has worked with an impressive list of orchestras that include the London Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Queensland Symphony, Essen Philharmonic, Gulbenkian and Philharmonia orchestras, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Autumn 2018 saw his highly successful debut performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and Christian Tetzlaff in Madrid and London, with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Joshua Bell, and with the Colorado Symphony and Pinchas Zukerman. In January 2019, he completed a nine-concert tour of Europe with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, including performances at the Gasteig in Munich and the Cologne Philharmonie. Martín made his conducting debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Gävle Symphony in September and, later this season, he will undertake an extensive tour of Switzerland and an appearance at the Prague Spring Festival with the Orquestra de Cadaqués. Other future orchestral debuts include engagements with the Melbourne and West Australian symphony orchestras, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Staatskapelle Halle, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Martín's recording for Ondine Records with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, released in February 2019, includes the Brahms Serenades, Songs of Destiny, Brahms choral works with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and Brahms Piano Quartet, arranged by Schoenberg. He has also recorded Schubert Symphony No. 9 and Beethoven Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," with the Orquestra de Cadaqués and various discs with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra for Tritó Records. In 2015, he recorded James Horner’s last symphonic work, “Collages” for four horns and orchestra, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Martín made his operatic debut conducting The Magic Flute at El Escorial Madrid and San Sebastián Festival in August 2012. His debut at the English National Opera in February 2013 conducting The Barber of Seville led to a return in autumn 2014 to conduct The Marriage of Figaro. As a flautist, Martín was principal flute of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, English National Opera, Academy of St Martin in the Fields and London Philharmonic Orchestra. A much sought-after soloist, he made a recording of Mozart flute concertos with Sir Neville Marriner, the premiere recording of Sinfonietta Concerto for Flute and Orchestra written for him by Xavier Montsalvatge and conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, and Bach works for flute, violin and piano with Murray Perahia and Academy of St Martin in the Fields for Sony. He was also a founding member of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and, while he has held the title of Chief Conductor with the orchestra since 2012, his association with them has spanned over 30 years. Martín is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London, where he was a flute professor. He now enjoys working with many of his former students in orchestras around the world.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), led by Music Director Jaime Martín, ranks among the world’s top musical ensembles. Beloved by audiences and praised by critics, LACO is a preeminent interpreter of historical masterworks and, with eight ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming, a champion of contemporary composers. Headquartered in the heart of the country's cultural capital, LACO has been proclaimed “America’s finest chamber orchestra” (Public Radio International), “LA’s most unintimidating chamber music experience” (Los Angeles magazine), “resplendent” (Los Angeles Times), and “one of the world's great chamber orchestras"(KUSC Classical FM). Martín, who builds upon LACO's rich legacy, made his first appearance as LACO's Music Director Designate in early 2019 in a concert described by the Los Angeles Times, as "a thrilling performance, and the orchestra played like it was having the time of its life," adding, "he will make fans very quickly." Overseas, he has been praised as "a visionary conductor, discerning and meticulous" (Platea Magazine), and London's The Telegraph said, "his infectious enjoyment of the music communicated to the orchestra and audience alike.” Performing throughout greater Los Angeles, the Orchestra presents orchestral, Baroque and chamber concerts as well as salon evenings in private spaces and unique experiences that explore classical music's cutting-edge sounds. The Orchestra has made 32 recordings, including, most recently, a 2019 BIS Records release of works for violin and chamber orchestra that features Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and the world premiere recording of Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto (a LACO co-commission). LACO, with offices located in downtown Los Angeles, has toured Europe, South America and Japan, and performed across North America.

Fridays, from November 6, 2020, to June 4, 2021, at 6:30 (PT)