LOS ANGELES YOUTH ORCHESTRA WRAPS ITS

25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH

CONCERT AT GLENDALE’S ALEX THEATRE

Conductors Russell Steinberg and Jorge Padron

Feature Classics with Wide Appeal,

Niv Ashkenazi Solos on Violin

WHAT: Los Angeles Youth Orchestra (LAYO), made up of talented students ages 8-18, wraps up its 25th anniversary with a performance of classics at the Alex Theatre in Glendale Monday, March 31, 2025, at 7:30 pm.  Tickets are now available for this concert, which will feature violinist Niv Ashkenazi playing a solo with Zigeunerweisen.  Several LAYO alumni are returning to perform in this special concert which includes:

·       Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 in C Minor

·       Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture

·       Three Cornered Hat Suite by Manuel de Falla

·       Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), with soloist Niv Ashkenazi

·       World premiere by Conductor Russell Steinberg, “Palisades is Gone” and

“Net of Indra”

The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra serves nearly 100 student musicians each year, hailing from over 50 schools throughout the greater LA area.  LAYO students work for entire semesters with a team of coaches, comprised of many of LA’s most experienced professional musicians.  The Orchestra has performed at Walt Disney Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, UCLA Schoenberg Hall and Colburn’s Zipper Concert Hall, among other prestigious institutions, and had a successful international tour last summer to Vienna and Prague.

WHO: LAYO’s Founder and Artistic Director, Russell Steinberg, PhD, is a Harvard-trained, Los Angeles-based composer, conductor, pianist and educator.  He lectures for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is known for his vibrant classical music lectures on Zoom.  More about Steinberg life’s work of building a passion in people for classical music can be found at www.russellsteinberg.com

LAYO’s Assistant Conductor, Jorge Padron, is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.  Padron’s passion for music and teaching children has resulted in posts as a site conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA program and directing the district-wide honors orchestra for the Harmony Project.

Soloist Niv Ashkenazi is a virtuoso violinist who has captivated audiences with his heartfelt musicianship and emotional performances. He holds both a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, where his teachers include Itzhak Perlman and Glenn Dicterow.  Niv has made several Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center appearances and performed chamber music with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Juilliard String Quartet, and others.  He is an active supporter of Violins of Hope, a collection of instruments that survived the Holocaust, and is the only North American violinist authorized to possess and play one of the restored violins.

WHERE/WHEN: Los Angeles Youth Orchestra will perform in Glendale Monday, March 31, 7:30 pm – Alex Theatre, 216 N Brand Blvd, Glendale, 91203

Parking:   Orange Street Parking Garage –222 N. Orange Street, Glendale

                      Exchange Parking Garage – 115 N. Artsakh Avenue, Glendale

Please join us – and support youth in music!

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW:  www.losangelesyouthorchestra.org/concerts/

MEDIA CONTACT: Bonnie Winings --  blynn32600@gmail.com    818-621-2434

                                           Holly Bridges – hollybridges1@gmail.com