Hollywood Bowl Orchestra

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO) is a symphony orchestra which is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl.

John Mauceri led the orchestra from its founding in 1990 until he stepped down after the 2006 Hollywood Bowl season. During this time, his titles included Conductor, Principal Conductor, and finally, Director. He now holds the title of Founding Director. [cite web |url=http://www.johnmauceri.com/bio/bio8.php|title= John Mauceri Biography|accessdate=2008-02-23]

No replacement for Mauceri has yet been named; however, in March 2008, Thomas Wilkins was named "Principal Guest Conductor" of the orchestra for a two year contract beginning in Summer of 2008. [ cite news|first=Chris|last=Pasles|title=New conductors at Bowl unveiled |work=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=2008-03-18]

Musicians and cross-over with other orchestras

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra is comprised of 80-100 players drawn from the large pool of world-class freelance musicians in the Southern California area, many of whom perform regularly with movie studios, regional orchestras, and other entertainment-related organizations.

There is no cross-over between the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra musicians and the regular roster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. [cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/music/musicians_roster.cfm |title= Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Roster|accessdate=2007-12-28] This is in notable contrast to the Boston Pops Orchestra which draws its players directly from the Boston Symphony (i.e. the Boston Symphony without its principal players), or the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra which is simply the Cincinnati Symphony playing under a different name. [ cite web |url=http://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/AboutUs/history.asp |title=Cincinnati Symphony: History |accessdate=2008-04-27]

History

Stokowski's orchestra

The first incarnation of the orchestra was in 1945 as the "Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra" under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. They had a number of recordings under Stokowski plus others under different conductors, including:
* Music of George Gershwin with Felix Slatkin conducting and Leonard Pennario piano soloist
* Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Vladimir Horowitz as soloist and William Steinberg conductingHowever, after only two seasons, the orchestra was disbanded, and all the summer orchestral concerts at the Hollywood Bowl were subsequently performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. [cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/music/hollywood_bowl_orch.cfm |title= Hollywood Bowl Orchestra|accessdate=2007-12-28]

Re-establishment in 1990

On October 17, 1990, the management of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association (LAPA) led by Ernest Fleischmann (LAPA Executive VP and Managing Director at the time) held a press conference announcing the formation of a second orchestra under its auspices, this time titled "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra." There were four primary reasons for its existence:
* Relieve the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra some of its responsibilities of playing weekend concerts at the Hollywood Bowl during the summer.
* Reinvent the "pops" format. During the announcement, both Fleischmann and Mauceri took great pains to avoid the term "pops" in relation to the orchestra and/or its repertoire. Mauceri said, "This is something unique in our century, that there seems to be a division between music that is 'popular' and music that is 'serious.' This ensemble will cut across these artificial barriers to become an orchestra for all tastes." [cite news | title=THE BIRTH OF A NEW ORCHESTRA | work=Los Angeles Times | author=Daniel Cariaga | date=October 18, 1990] The HBO would be dedicated to the preservation of American musical heritage from movies to musicals to the concert hall. [cite news | title=Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Makes the Pop Connection | work=Christian Science Monitor | author=Daniel B. Wood | date=October 24, 1990]
* Record this reinvented pops repertoire. At the press conference, the orchestra announced that it had signed a 15-CD recording contract with Philips Classics; in fact, Fleischmann noted that the impetus for forming the orchestra began when Philips lost its recording contract with the Boston Pops to Sony Classical. [cite news | title=THE BIRTH OF A NEW ORCHESTRA | work=Los Angeles Times | author=Daniel Cariaga | date=October 18, 1990]
* Tour internationally, with the first tour set for Japan in December 1991.

Mauceri Years

The first public performances by the orchestra were for Independence Day concerts on July 2-4, 1991 at the Hollywood Bowl with Mauceri conducting and Bruce Hubbard (baritone) as soloist. The program included works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern among others. John Henken's concert review in the Los Angeles Times praised Mauceri for choosing "an Americana program that was nicely paced, reasonably varied and made musical as well as patriotic points. More important still, he got his orchestra to project it all with exuberance and flair." [cite news | title=MUSIC REVIEW; STEPPING OUT; HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA DEBUT A GIDDY, FESTIVE POPS EXTRAVAGANZA | work=Los Angeles Times | author=John Henken | date=July 4, 1991]

During Mauceri's tenure, he and the orchestra largely fulfilled the goals announced when the orchestra was founded.
* They performed a wide variety of repertoire, from Broadway musicals to traditional "classical" works including concert performances of full operas. Mauceri frequently conducted classic and contemporary motion picture scores, and performed and recorded compositions for the concert hall by musicians traditionally known only as "film composers" such as Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Miklos Rozsa, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Alfred Newman. He even re-introduced forgotten music, including the "Fanfare for the Hollywood Bowl" by Arnold Schoenberg. He became known for speaking to the audience from the stage about the evening's performance in an easy-going, educational, and entertaining way. And he began every concert by saying, "I'm John Mauceri. And this is the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra." [cite news | title=MUSIC REVIEW; A fond farewell for a beloved musical icon | work=Los Angeles Times | author=Mark Swed | date=September 13, 2000]
* They made 13 recordings for Philips. Among their recordings of their stated repertoire, most noteworthy is "The King and I," with Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley in the lead roles, Lea Salonga, Peabo Bryson, and Marilyn Horne in supporting roles, and film stars Roger Moore and Martin Sheen in special cameo appearances. This was the first recording in 35 years to use the original orchestrations of the Academy Award-winning movie version. The recording was No. 1 on the Billboard classical crossover chart in only its second week of release, and also received Billboard's 1993 Crossover CD of the Year award. [cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/music/hollywood_bowl_orch.cfm |title= Hollywood Bowl Orchestra|accessdate=2007-12-28]
* They had a number of tours: New Year's Eve concerts December 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1997 in Japan, and November 1996 concerts in Brazil.
*In 2006 the orchestra teamed with the band Counting Crows for an exclusive concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, using orchestral arrangements of Counting Crows' music as backing for the band.

References

External links

* [http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/music/hollywood_bowl_orch.cfm Official website]
* [http://www.johnmauceri.com/bio/bio8.php John Mauceri's bio on his webpage, with substantial portion on the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra]