CONCERT TO SHOWCASE BLACK MEN'S WORKS.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Works by two African-American composers will debut on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Japan American Theatre, reflecting the spirit of the civil rights leader in a city torn by ethnic discord just four years ago. A new arrangement by David Soley will be performed today by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Philharmonic's New Music Group. The Philharmonic's conductor and music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen ( ) (b. June 30 1958) is a prominent Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. , will conduct the performance of Soley's arrangement of "Hoquetus David" by Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut: see Machaut, Guillaume de. , 14th century composer and poet. The New Music Group also will perform "A Pond Within the Drifting Dusk" by African-American composer Jeffrey Mumford Jeffrey Mumford (born 1955 in Washington, D.C.) is a U.S. composer. He holds degrees from the University of California, Irvine (B.A., 1977) and the University of California, San Diego (M.A., 1981). He was a student of Elliott Carter. . This will be the West Coast premiere of the piece. Soley and Mumford will meet the audience at a dessert reception after the concert in the heart of the city's Little Tokyo district. The reception will be catered by the nearby New Otani The New Otani is a chain of hotels, with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The main hotel in Tokyo opened in 1964, to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics of that year, and is known for the revolving restaurant atop the hotel, along with the New Otani Art Museum located on its sixth floor. Hotel. The works by Soley and Mumford are part of the Green Umbrella concerts, a contemporary music series that began a decade ago. The concept was inspired from Ernest Fleischmann, the Philharmonic's managing director who wanted a series that would promote new music and up-and-coming artists and ensembles. Why green? "No one really knows," responded Philharmonic spokeswoman Norma Flynn. "Perhaps because it symbolizes fertility, new growth, a rebirth of sorts." In the spring of 1992, riots erupted in the city, mostly in the predominantly African-American South-Central neighborhood, killing 55 and injuring 2,383. Damage was about $1 billion, mainly from 1,044 fires. |
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