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Home , Adolph Brodsky, Emmanuel Pahud, Flute Concerto (Rouse), Gorgon (composition), Joelle Wallach, Violin Concerto (Rouse)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 28, 2014 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected]

ALAN GILBERT AND THE

WORLD PREMIERE of The Marie Josée-Kravis Composer-in-Residence CHRISTOPHER ROUSE’s Thunderstuck

LISA BATIASHVILI To Give First Performances as The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Performing BRAHMS’s

Program Also To Include Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, Drumroll

October 9–11 and 14, 2014

Saturday Matinee Concert To Feature Dvořák’s in F major, American, Performed by Philharmonic Musicians

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in the World Premiere of Thunderstuck, a Philharmonic commission by The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse; Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, Drumroll; and Brahms’s , featuring Lisa Batiashvili in her first appearance as The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence, Thursday, October 9, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, October 10 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 11 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Thunderstuck is the third Philharmonic-commissioned orchestral work by The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse, whose term has been extended for a third season, through 2014–15. The rock-inspired piece pays homage to some of Mr. Rouse’s favorite artists from the 1960s and 1970s.

“In essence, Thunderstuck is a rock ’n’ roll piece, and it’s all in fun,” Christopher Rouse said. “The bands from my younger days that I really love will be referenced, though most of the references will be twisted around to the point of being virtually unrecognizable. That’s the fun part for me, sneaking these things in.”

Also this season, the Philharmonic will perform the New York Premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Concerto, featuring Principal Flute Robert Langevin and led by Leonard Slatkin (October 30–31 and November 1, 2014), and Iscariot, led by David Zinman (February 5–7, 2015).

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“Christopher Rouse has been truly great as our Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in- Residence since he began in 2012,” Alan Gilbert said. “There’s a palpable connection between him and the , and he has written pieces for us based on how that chemistry feels to him at the moment. It was natural to extend his term into a third season, as there’s just simply more to do.”

In these performances violinist Lisa Batiashvili will inaugurate her Philharmonic residency, which will include three orchestral appearances — featuring by Brahms, Barber, and Bach as well as a U.S. Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission written for her by ; an appearance on CONTACT!, the new-music series; and a recital, presented in association with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with pianist Paul Lewis. A friend of the Philharmonic, she made her debut in 2005 and has returned annually since Alan Gilbert became Music Director.

“The New York Philharmonic has become my favorite musical family,” Lisa Batiasvhili said. “Working with Alan Gilbert is an amazing pleasure: he is one of the people I would love to work with my whole life. Whenever I play, he can guess everything that will come, which makes the life of a soloist much easier and more pleasant. I also feel so welcomed by this Orchestra and its audience, which is so open-minded, warm, and supportive.”

“Lisa Batiashvili is beloved by our audiences and the Orchestra,” Alan Gilbert said. “Her astounding technique makes her playing seem effortless, but her passionate and fierce approach to music imbues everything she does with a life and death quality. I’ve worked with her for more than ten years now, and we are very much on the same wavelength: things just fall into place in rehearsal and performance without our ever having to speak about them. It’s a great chemistry. Hers is one of the great versions of the Brahms Violin Concerto, so it is the perfect way to start her residency.”

“I also consider Haydn a particular friend,” said Alan Gilbert, speaking of the second work on the program, Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, Drumroll. “I love his music, and the Philharmonic musicians love playing it. He is so human — there’s much in his music that you can really identify with, and he’s a composer who really does have a sense of humor without being forced or trite. It’s just profoundly funny, and it makes everybody smile.”

The Saturday Matinee Concert October 11 at 2:00 p.m. features Christopher Rouse’s Thunderstuck; Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, Drumroll; and Dvořák’s String Quartet in F major, American, with Philharmonic principal players: Acting Principal Associate Concertmaster Michelle Kim; Acting Principal, Second Violin Group, Lisa Kim; Associate Principal Rebecca Young, and Associate Principal Eileen Moon. Each of the concerts on this season’s Saturday Matinee series features by Dvořák.

Related Events  Pre-Concert Insights Composer Joelle Wallach will introduce the program. Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts (more) Alan Gilbert / Lisa Batiashvili / 3

available for multiple talks, students, and groups. They take place one hour before these performances in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org/preconcert or (212) 875-5656.

 National and International Radio Broadcast The program will be broadcast the week of November 16, 2014,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m., and will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org.

The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Brothers Fund, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information, which is subject to change.

Artists Music Director Alan Gilbert began his New York Philharmonic tenure in September 2009, the first native New Yorker in the post. He and the Philharmonic have introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence, and the Artist-in-Association; CONTACT!, the new-music series; and the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, an exploration of today’s music by a wide range of contemporary and modern composers inaugurated in spring 2014. As New York magazine wrote, “The Philharmonic and its music director Alan Gilbert have turned themselves into a force of permanent revolution.”

In the 2014–15 season Alan Gilbert conducts the U.S. Premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Concerto, a Philharmonic co-commission, alongside Mahler’s First Symphony; La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema; Verdi’s ; a staging of Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake featuring Oscar winner Marion Cotillard; World Premieres; a CONTACT! program; and Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. He concludes The Nielsen Project — the multi-year initiative to perform and record the Danish composer’s symphonies and concertos, the first release of which was named by The New York Times as among the Best Recordings of 2012 — and presides over the EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour. Last season’s highlights included the inaugural NY PHIL BIENNIAL; Mozart’s final three symphonies; the score from 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside the film; a staging of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd starring and Emma Thompson; and the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour.

Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies and holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The . Conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, he regularly conducts leading around the world. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award. Renée Fleming’s recent Decca recording Poèmes, on which he conducted, received a 2013 Grammy Award. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. In May 2010 Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of (more) Alan Gilbert / Lisa Batiashvili / 4

Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and in December 2011, ’s Ditson Conductor’s Award for his “exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music.” In 2014 he was elected to The American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

As the 2014–15 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, Lisa Batiashvili will make three orchestral appearances — featuring concertos by Brahms, Barber, and Bach as well as a U.S. Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission written for her by Thierry Escaich; an appearance on CONTACT!, the new-music series; and a recital, presented in association with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, with pianist Paul Lewis. This season the Georgian violinist also serves as artist-in-residence for Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, where she and her husband, François Leleux, give the World Premiere of Escaich’s Concerto for Violin and , led by Alan Gilbert, before giving the work’s U.S. Premiere with the New York Philharmonic. Other 2014–15 season engagements include Filarmonica della Scala and Berlin Staatskapelle, both led by ; Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, led by ; The Philadelphia Orchestra’s European tour, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Rotterdam Philharmonic’s Gergiev Festival; and concerts with Mr. Leleux at the Salzburg Festival and in Amsterdam’s televised annual Prinsengracht concert. Ms. Batiashvili frequently works with the , Dresden Staatskapelle, Berlin Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and other major orchestras worldwide. Her chamber music appearances this season include recitals with Mr. Lewis in Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto, as well as New York, and Schubert’s Trout Quintet alongside Mr. Lewis and Lawrence Power at Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw and London’s Wigmore Hall.

Lisa Batiasvhili records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon, and her most recent release is dedicated to works by J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, featuring François Leleux, Emmanuel Pahud, and Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra. Past recordings include Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Dresden Staatskapelle, led by Christian Thielemann (also available on DVD) and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen. A student of Ana Chumachenko and Mark Lubotski, Lisa Batiashvili gained international recognition at age 16 as the youngest-ever competitor in the Sibelius Competition. She lives in Munich and plays a Joseph Guarneri “del Gesu” violin from 1739, generously loaned by a private collector in Germany. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in March 2005 performing Chausson’s Poème and Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, conducted by then Music Director ; she most recently appeared with the Orchestra in January and February 2014, performing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, led by Alan Gilbert, in New York as well as Tokyo and Taipei during the Orchestra’s ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour

Repertoire The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse composed the Philharmonic-commissioned Thunderstuck to pay homage to some of his favorite rock artists from the 1960s and 1970s. For example, Thunderstuck contains a reference to Jay Ferguson’s 1978 “Thunder Island,” in both the title and the music itself. Christopher Rouse has long taught a (more) Alan Gilbert / Lisa Batiashvili / 5 course in rock history at the Eastman School of Music, and rock’s influence is evident in some of his early works, including (1984), in which he aimed to “bring back the allegro with a vengeance” to concert music. The Orchestra began its relationship with Mr. Rouse in 1984, when it performed The Infernal Machine, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Since then, the Philharmonic has commissioned and presented the World Premieres of his Pulitzer Prize–winning Concerto for and Orchestra (1992, with Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi, led by Mr. Slatkin); , for and Orchestra (with Emanuel Ax, led by Mr. Slatkin in 1999 and David Zinman in 2003); and Odna Zhizn (2010, led by Alan Gilbert). His current Philharmonic tenure has led to the commissions and premieres of Prospero’s Rooms (2013, led by Alan Gilbert) and Symphony No. 4 (as part of the 2014 NY PHIL BIENNIAL, conducted by Alan Gilbert).

Joseph Haydn composed his Symphony No. 103, Drumroll, during his second journey to London, in 1794–95, where he was basking in the glow of an enthusiastic reception by his British fans. The Drumroll was the 11th of his 12 “London Symphonies” — which would be the last of his symphonic catalogue — and it was an immediate success on its premiere in March 1795 at the King’s Theatre. The work earned its nickname from the opening, a long roll on the . As a whole, this symphony reflects a mature composer exploring the process of how the music unfolds and can be shaped, while at the same time acknowledging an audience that had grown into attentive, interested listeners. Haydn made a small cut in the last movement when he presented the work in , and that version is the one generally performed to this day. Conductor Carl Bergmann led the Philharmonic’s first performance of the Drumroll Symphony at the Academy of Music in March 1865; conducted the Orchestra’s most recent performance in December 2004.

Johannes Brahms wrote his only Violin Concerto in 1878 for Joseph Joachim, a close friend and the most celebrated virtuoso of the day. The composer repeatedly asked for Joachim’s advice on the technical aspects of violin writing — and then ignored almost all of his suggestions. Nevertheless, the concerto shows Joachim’s influence throughout: in the first-movement cadenza written by Joachim, in the Hungarian-inspired rhythms of the finale, and in the concerto’s technical difficulty. The work’s innovative metrical effects and the striking thematic unity are hallmarks of Brahms. The New York Philharmonic first performed the work in 1891, led by , with the New York Symphony (which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today’s New York Philharmonic), with Adolph Brodsky as soloist. The most recent performance took place in February 2013, performed by Christian Tetzlaff and conducted by Andris Nelsons.

* * * Christopher Rouse is The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence.

* * * Lisa Batiashvili is The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence.

* * * Classical 105.9 FM WQXR is the Radio Home of the New York Philharmonic.

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* * * Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

* * *

Tickets Tickets for these performances start at $32. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $20. Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $16 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]

For press tickets, call Lanore Carr in the New York Philharmonic Marketing and Communications Department at (212) 875-5714, or e-mail her at [email protected].

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New York Philharmonic

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center

Thursday, October 9, 2014, 7:30 p.m. Open Rehearsal — 9:45 a.m. Friday, October 10, 2014, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, October 11, 2014, 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 7:30 p.m.

Pre-Concert Insights (one hour before each concert) with composer Joelle Wallach

Alan Gilbert, conductor Lisa Batiashvili, violin

Christopher ROUSE Thunderstuck (World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Commission) HAYDN Symphony No. 103, Drumroll BRAHMS Violin Concerto ______

Saturday Matinee Concert

Saturday, October 11, 2014, 2:00 p.m.

Alan Gilbert, conductor Michelle Kim, Lisa Kim, violin Rebecca Young, viola Eileen Moon, cello

DVOŘÁK String Quartet in F major, American Christopher ROUSE Thunderstuck (New York Philharmonic Commission) HAYDN Symphony No. 103, Drumroll

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Photography is available in the New York Philharmonic’s online newsroom, nyphil.org/newsroom, or by contacting the Communications Department at (212) 875-5700; [email protected].