Bowl adds new post for 2005 season

For the first time in its 84-year history, the Hollywood Bowl will have a principal guest conductor this season, Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn. officials announced Monday.

Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony, will hold the initial two-year rotating post. He will lead three weeks of summer concerts, including a crossover Gershwin Festival (July 12-16) featuring Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell in “Porgy and Bess,” among other programs, as well as music by Ives (Aug. 23) and Bach (Aug. 25).

“We envision this new position to be held by a variety of distinguished conductors over the next decade, each bringing their own ideas and viewpoints to the Hollywood Bowl,” Philharmonic Assn. President Deborah Borda said in a prepared statement.

During the season, which runs June 24 to Sept. 25, conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra will celebrate their 300th concert together. The milestone will be reached during the weekend of July 29, when Mauceri will lead a “Great American Concert” with singers Barbara Cook, Dianne Reeves and Deborah Voigt.

Mauceri will also conduct Act 3 of Wagner’s “Gotterdammerung” (July 10) and Lerner & Loewe’s “Camelot” (Aug. 14).

Other highlights include a concert celebrating Stephen Sondheim’s 75th birthday, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and artists including Jason Alexander, Nathan Lane, Angela Lansbury and Bernadette Peters, all led by Paul Gemignani (July 8); cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (Aug. 7); and Nicholas McGegan conducting the Philharmonic in works by Bach and Vivaldi (Aug. 9).

Bowl debuts will include L.A. Philharmonic assistant conductor Alexander Mickelthwate leading Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” (Aug. 4) and the Paul Taylor Dance Company performing to Bach (Aug. 25).

Finally, tenor Luciano Pavarotti will make his only Los Angeles stop on his farewell tour at the Bowl on Sept. 24.