Electric guitar virtuoso Wiek Hijmans teamed with LACO’s music director of 15 years, Jeffrey Kahane, and the acclaimed Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra to deliver an electrifying performance of modern guitar fused with classical music to kick off LACO’s 2011-'12 season and to celebrate Kahane’s 15-year anniversary with the orchestra. The concert was held Saturday, Sept. 24 at the Alex Theatre and Sunday, Sept. 25 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Saturday, the L.A. Chamber Orchestra played to a nearly full house and lived up to its claim as being “America’s finest chamber orchestra” by Public Radio International. It is one of the world’s top musical ensembles. Distinguished pianist and conductor, Jeffrey Kahane, has led the group since 1997 and constantly brings something new to the table with each performance. LACO is nationally recognized for its support of new music by ASCAP and has been a leader in creating meaningful relationships with prominent composers throughout its 43-year history. This concert was not to be missed, and you are encouraged to attend one of LACO’s upcoming shows.

Music director Jeffrey Kahane, composer-in-residence Derek Bermel, and Hijmans held a preshow one hour before curtain to provide insight into the music being played that evening and their individual musical backgrounds. Later, they treated the audience to improvisations on Mozart’s Overture to "The Magic Flute." They cracked jokes and made the audience feel very welcome and comfortable, almost as if they were just listening in on a jam session. Also in the preshow, LACO principal cello Andrew Shulman and Kahane masterfully executed Beethoven’s 12 Variations for Piano and Cello in F major Op. 66 on "Ein Madchen oder Weibchen."

The show itself began with a traditional rendering of Mozart’s Overture to "The Magic Flute," which demonstrated Kahane’s skillful use of vibrant contrasts. The next piece — the first West Coast premiere of the evening, "Sidereus" by Osvaldo Golijov — resonated like the soundtrack from "The Lord of the Rings," as it was dark, gloomy and tastefully executed. At times the cellos would approximate sounds of stampedes, breaking the silence and livening up the piece. The orchestra’s execution of Sidereus was superb.

For the third song of the evening, Hijmans hit the stage with his electric guitar, reverb, delay and distortion pedals, and delivered the much-anticipated whirlwind of a piece, "Ritornello." Bermel, its composer, wrote "Ritornello" leaving open space for Hijmans’ improvisational approaches and background influences. This is what makes him a leading classical electric guitarist and one of the big reasons his performance with the electric guitar quartet CATCH received a Grammy nomination.

After the show, I asked what Hijmans "sees" when he plays. He said: "I don’t see, I just feel the music, react to what I hear, and then play." It worked — his performance was outstanding. He started with a fiddle-like guitar riff for about 12 bars, and after climaxing the riff on a high note, the orchestra came in mimicking his same riff. As we were listening to the piece, our ears became accustomed to hearing this riff in a major key, when suddenly, Hijmans altered the mood and started playing minor arpeggios to add dimension, taking the song in another direction. It was risky, it was different, and it was entertaining.

When it came time for Hijmans to solo, he used the guitar’s whammy bar to give an "OK, now let’s get down to business" cue and felt the music with his face and body. Hijmans created very different but interesting sounds on his guitar by tapping his pick on the strings starting at the headstock, making his way down to the bridge, and using a glass slide for other effects. It felt like the soundtrack to a movie was being created in front of our eyes. He also played single notes off of the fret board, ringing them out beautifully — a true master at his craft.

What’s intriguing is that there was only one melodic part of the song — the hook, which was his fiddle-like guitar riff he started with at the beginning and repeated throughout. The rest of the song was an improvisational — a series of different musical patterns that encouraged the audience to choose how they wanted to feel throughout. It is now understandable what Kahane’s statement at the beginning of the performance meant when he said, "This performance you hear tonight will not be the same tomorrow. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that cannot be replicated."

Although most of the audience was age 50 and up, the kid in Hijmans came out when he went on a metal music-sounding rampage, strumming his guitar like he was the rhythm guitarist in a metal band. One would typically think, if you had no guitar experience, this is what most guitarists would sound like; however, this was a virtuoso basically claiming that noise is still music as long as it is executed creatively. Bermel said about his creation: "There’s a thrash-metal solo that evokes the Baroque aesthetic in its mannered, epic style." As a result, Hijmans delivered to us his unique integrations of contemporary electric guitar sounds into classically styled music.

After intermission, Kahane concluded the concert with Beethoven’s serene Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58. This piano concerto was Beethoven’s final performance with an orchestra, and it had just the right concluding feel for the evening. It was the absolute best piano performance I have seen. It was an up-tempo, classical, Disney-sounding piece with many dynamics, and Kahane executed each note he played beautifully. There was one section where the song became so moving, it built to the point where Kahane just stopped and bowed his head to the piano. The orchestra then took the lead, and Kahane slowly came back in playing a quiet solo. It was a very emotional performance.

This Beethoven piano concerto was supposed to be the last piece, but Kahane was so in the moment that he continued his soft piano playing, and played entirely through Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, 2nd movement. This was his encore piece, and it highlighted his virtuosity on the piano. Kahane had a wonderful 15th Anniversary kickoff with LACO, and they are ready to rock you this season. 

Reach reporter Ruth Bram here.