As I type, our offices are emptying out as everyone gears up for our first official GRAMMY Week event - tonight's GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music. The event will honor Sir Neville Marriner and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) with LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane. LACO will perform two tributes conducted by Marriner and Kahane, with John Lithgow serving as master of ceremonies. As with any GRAMMY event, the music to be performed is not yet announced.

A bit of background on Sir Neville Marriner: Starting his career as a violinist, Marriner founded The Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 1958 and has conducted orchestras throughout the world. He became the first Music Director of the LACO in 1969 where he developed new works for the orchestra and performed numerous world premieres. Did you ever see Amadeus? Never to say that a movie should be your only cultural touchstone for an artist, but Marriner not only founded The Academy of St Martin, he conducted its performance for Amadeus's musical score and there, he also developed new works for the orchestra and performed numerous world premieres.

Currently celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by Kahane, performs a diverse repertoire ranging from baroque to new works and focuses on cultivating the careers of emerging artists. Committed to bringing classical music to everyone, it has created programs such as Meet the Music, which reaches thousands of elementary students throughout the year. Expect a lot of Twitters live from the Walt Disney Concert Hall as we kick off the 51st GRAMMY Week in elegant style. Check back here tomorrow morning for a multimedia recap on the event - we've enlisted the help from a crew of GRAMMY U students! They'll help us give you a behind the scenes look at the event.