Lionel Bringuier’s return to Los Angeles this week was met with acclaim for his two concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. The former LA Phil Assistant and later Resident Conductor opened the 94th season of classical music at the Bowl on Tuesday to an audience of 9,999. Of his performance with Yuja Wang in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, the Los Angeles Times praised Lionel’s ability to “partner very closely [with Wang], as if happily taking energy from her. He, too, has been a delight to watch come into his own since becoming an assistant conductor of the LA Phil at 20.” The Times went on to laud Lionel’s other works with the Phil on Tuesday evening, writing:
“He opened the concert with a charismatic performance of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. His big piece was Debussy’s La Mer, which he let flow with the naturalness of a conductor who was born in Nice and knows the French sea well. In Ravel’s Boléro, Bringuier did not inhibit individuality in the many instrumental solos, yet they would never have worked without his maintaining an ingratiating fluidity.”
The O.C. Register also praised Lionel’s account of La Mer in the context of a program “put over with considerable vigor and dash… Letting the sea pictures attend to themselves, Bringuier coaxed a propulsive account of the score, with fast tempos, taut phrases and bright textures. This was La Mer with snap.”
Thursday evening’s return to the Bowl with cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan received further acclaim from the Los Angeles Times for both Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture. “Bringuier brought fire and a lyrical bent that moved along without bathos. His command of this orchestra looks even more assured and expressive now than ever, and as the evening unfolded, the Phil’s playing grew smoother and more polished without losing any heat.”