Tuesday night’s program at the Hollywood Bowl is entitled Beethoven Masterpieces. And indeed there are a couple major works by Beethoven on the program: the Piano Concert #2 and the 7th Symphony. But what makes this program exciting is that the conductor is Thomas Adés.
Adés has made regular appearances with the LA Philharmonic. His most recent opera, The Exterminating Angel was performed last year at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He’s written such pieces as Totentanz, Polaris, In Seven Days and Tevot. The latter piece is opening this program on Tuesday night.
In a March 2008 review of an evening of the composer’s work in New York, Anthony Tommassini of the New York Times referred to Tevot as “a complex, atmospheric and visionary 25-minute work.”
It’s always exciting to hear a composer conduct his or her own work. As good as the Beethoven will be (and Víkingur Ólafsson will be playing the piano concerto), getting a chance to hear Adés conduct Tevot is an opportunity not-to-be-missed.