Timo Andres' 'Bathtub Shrine' to Receive Southern California Première by the American Youth Symphony

Good vibrations will resound through UCLA's Royce Hall when Alexander Treger leads the American Youth Symphony in the West Coast première of Timo Andres' Bathtub Shrine at their season-opening concert on October 6.

This free program also includes Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique and Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, with AYS principal cellist Allan Steele as soloist.

Bathtub Shrine, originally commissioned by the Yale Symphony Orchestra, is Andres' playful tribute to that orchestra's "warm camaraderie" and famously reverberant concert hall.

Andres describes Woosley Hall as having "a staggering 13-second reverberation...the effect of a giant bathroom."

Andres, 27, is a young composer who has "shaken up classical music circles" with his first two critically acclaimed recordings, according to critic Lidia De Leon.

The Los Angeles Times has said that his music demonstrates "a strong sense of building on classical music tradition, while also moving that tradition into a new and hip place."

As is only appropriate for an orchestra located in Southern California, land of filmmakers and producers, the orchestra will present the film Keeping Score: Symphonie Fantastique before the concert at 5:30 p.m.

This film, narrated by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, tells the story of Berlioz' obsession with Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson. His love, passion and jealousy, possibly fueled by opium addiction, drove him to compose the Symphonie Fantastique.

This film is part of the San Francisco Symphony's Keeping Score film series.

More information about this free concert and screening is available at AYSymphony.org.

The American Youth Symphony is one of the nation's leading professional training orchestras for musicians ages 15 to 27. AYS has trained more than 2,300 musicians since it was founded, and many of its alumni hold principal positions with the world's top orchestras--including the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony.