Season 2013-2014
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27 Season 2013-2014 Thursday, March 27, at 8:00 Friday, March 28, at 2:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday, March 29, at 8:00 Donald Runnicles Conductor Tal Rosner Video Artist Janine Jansen Violin Britten Four Sea Interludes, Op. 33a, from Peter Grimes I. Dawn II. Sunday Morning III. Moonlight IV. Storm Video and animation by Tal Rosner Video co-commissioned by the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy; the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association; The Philadelphia Orchestra Association; and the San Francisco Symphony Britten Violin Concerto, Op. 15 I. Moderato con moto— II. Vivace— III. Passacaglia: Andante lento (un poco meno mosso) Intermission Pärt Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten First Philadelphia Orchestra performances Mozart Symphony No. 36 in C major, K. 425 (“Linz”) I. Adagio—Allegro spiritoso II. Andante III. Menuetto—Trio—Menuetto da capo IV. Presto This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 228 Story Title The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President orchestras in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s PlayINs, shine a spotlight on and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the the Orchestra’s musicians, creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned as they spread out from the experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with stage into the community. home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon The Orchestra’s commitment Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. to its education and Nézet-Séguin triumphantly community partnership Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural initiatives manifests itself the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic in numerous other ways, important relationship not leader of the Orchestra including concerts for families only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly and students, and eZseatU, the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- a program that allows full- Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, time college students to who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, attend an unlimited number other area performances paired with a fresh approach of Orchestra concerts for at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, a $25 annual membership Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by fee. For more information on The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. The Philadelphia Orchestra, ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced please visit www.philorch.org. and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 8 Music Director Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary opera Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise- Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 29 Conductor Johannes Ifkovits Donald Runnicles is the general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, and principal guest conductor of the Atlanta Symphony. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2005 and has conducted the ensemble on numerous occasions, most recently on its 40th Anniversary Tour of China in 2013. He also maintains regular relationships with the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Symphony. A Scot by birth, Mr. Runnicles has literally returned home as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, leading subscription concerts in various cities in Scotland and northern England, and anchoring the Symphony’s substantial presence at the U.K.’s two largest festivals, the Edinburgh International Festival and the London Proms. One of today’s leading Wagnerian specialists, Mr. Runnicles was music director of San Francisco Opera from 1992 to 2008, having unexpectedly won the job after stepping in for a colleague and conducting two Wagner Ring cycles in 1990. During his many years with the company, he led more than 60 productions, including the world premieres of John Adams’s Dr. Atomic and Conrad Susa’s Les Liaisons dangereuses, and the U.S. premieres of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise and Aribert Reimann’s Lear. Mr. Runnicles was given the San Francisco Opera Medal, previously given to such luminaries as Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, and Plácido Domingo. Other awards include the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and honorary degrees from Edinburgh University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Mr. Runnicles’s recordings with the Atlanta Symphony include a critically acclaimed concert disc of works by Strauss and Wagner with soprano Christine Brewer, Mozart’s Requiem, and Orff’s Carmina burana. Also in his discography are a live recording of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (Warner Classics); a Grammy-nominated recital of German Romantic opera arias with tenor Ben Heppner (RCA); and excerpts from the Ring with the Dresden Staatskapelle (Teldec). His latest recording of Wagner arias with tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra for Decca won the 2013 Gramophone Award for best vocal recording. 30 Video Artist Martin Lengemann Artist and filmmaker Tal Rosner works closely with musicians, combining multiple layers of sound and visuals to create a new language of classical/contemporary music videos. In Seven Days (Piano Concerto with Moving Image), his collaboration with world-renowned British composer Thomas Adès, was commissioned by the Southbank Centre in London and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in 2008. Following its U.K. and U.S. premieres at the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, In Seven Days began a three- year world tour in the