27 Season 2012-2013 Thursday, November 15, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, November 16, at 2:00 Stéphane Denève Conductor Saturday, November 17, Michelle DeYoung Mezzo-soprano at 8:00 The Philadelphia Singers Chorale David Hayes Music Director Alexander Nevsky Original Production Credits (1938) Director Sergei M. Eisenstein D.I. Vasiliev Music Sergei Prokofiev Story Sergei M. Eisenstein Pyotr A. Pavlenko Cinematography Edward Tisse Concert Presentation Credits Producer John Goberman Music Adaptation William D. Brohn Subtitles Sonya Friedman Music Copying and Preparation Peggy Serra Alexander Nevsky is a production of PGM Productions, New York, presented by arrangement with IMG Artists, New York. 28 Cast Prince Alexander Nevsky Nikolai Cherkasov Vassily Buslai N.P. Okhlopkov Gavrilo Olexich A.L. Abrikosov Ignat D.N Orlov Pavsha V.K. Novikov Damash N.N. Arski Amefla Timofeyevna V.O. Massalitinova Olga V.S. Ivasheva Vassilissa A.S. Danilova This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes, and will be performed without an intermission. 3 Story Title 29 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin Renowned for its distinctive vivid world of opera and Orchestra boasts a new sound, beloved for its choral music. partnership with the keen ability to capture the National Centre for the Philadelphia is home and hearts and imaginations Performing Arts in Beijing. the Orchestra nurtures of audiences, and admired The Orchestra annually an important relationship for an unrivaled legacy of performs at Carnegie Hall not only with patrons who “firsts” in music-making, and the Kennedy Center support the main season The Philadelphia Orchestra while also enjoying a at the Kimmel Center for is one of the preeminent three-week residency in the Performing Arts but orchestras in the world. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and also those who enjoy the a strong partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra’s other area the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Orchestra has cultivated performances at the Mann Festival. an extraordinary history of Center, Penn’s Landing, artistic leaders in its 112 and other venues. The The ensemble maintains seasons, including music Philadelphia Orchestra an important Philadelphia directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Association also continues tradition of presenting Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, to own the Academy of educational programs for Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Music—a National Historic students of all ages. Today Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Landmark—as it has since the Orchestra executes a and Christoph Eschenbach, 1957. myriad of education and and Charles Dutoit, who community partnership Through concerts, served as chief conductor programs serving nearly tours, residencies, from 2008 to 2012. With 50,000 annually, including presentations, and the 2012-13 season, its Neighborhood Concert recordings, the Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Series, Sound All Around is a global ambassador becomes the eighth music and Family Concerts, and for Philadelphia and for director of The Philadelphia eZseatU. the United States. Having Orchestra. Named music been the first American For more information on director designate in 2010, orchestra to perform in The Philadelphia Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin brings a China, in 1973 at the please visit www.philorch.org. vision that extends beyond request of President Nixon, symphonic music into the today The Philadelphia 30 Conductor J. Henry Fair Stéphane Denève is chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and the former music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He is a familiar presence on stage in Verizon Hall, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, having appeared as guest conductor numerous times since making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2007. He conducts the ensemble in two subscription series this month. Mr. Denève regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s leading orchestras and soloists. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Boston Symphony earlier this year. Other recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago, London, Bavarian Radio, Hamburg NDR, and Swedish Radio symphonies; the Los Angeles and Munich philharmonics; the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Highlights of the 2012- 13 season include tours to Europe and Asia; his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; and return visits to the Boston, New World, Toronto, São Paulo, and BBC symphonies. In the field of opera Mr. Denève has conducted productions at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Paris Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Comunale Bologna, and Cincinnati Opera. He enjoys close relationships with many of the world’s leading artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Nikolaï Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos, Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, and Natalie Dessay. A graduate of and prizewinner at the Paris Conservatory, Mr. Denève began his career as Georg Solti’s assistant at the Orchestre de Paris and the Opéra National de Paris; he also assisted Georges Prêtre and Seiji Ozawa during that time. Mr. Denève is a champion of new music and has a special affinity for the music of his native France. In 2012 he was shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award. 31 Soloist Christian Steiner Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. She has appeared with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the New York, Vienna, Los Angeles, and Royal philharmonics; the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, BBC, and São Paulo symphonies; the Cleveland, Royal Concertgebouw, Metropolitan Opera, and Bavarian State Opera orchestras; the Met Chamber Ensemble; London’s Philharmonia; the Orchestre de Paris; and the Staatskapelle Berlin. She has also appeared at the prestigious festivals of Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen, Cincinnati, Saito Kinen, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Lucerne. This season Ms. DeYoung returns to the Boston Symphony (in Boston and Carnegie Hall) and the Chicago Symphony, and appears in Europe with the Finnish, Swedish, and Stockholm radio symphony orchestras, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Hamburg State Opera. Ms. DeYoung has sung at many of the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, La Scala, the Bayreuth Festival, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Theater Basel, and Tokyo Opera. Her many roles include Fricka, Sieglinde, and Waltraute in Wagner’s Ring Cycle; Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal; Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser; Brangäne in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde; Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlos; Amneris in Verdi’s Aida; Marguerite in Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust; Judith in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle; Dido in Berlioz’s Les Troyens; the title role in Saint-Saëns’s Samson and Delilah; Gertrude in Thomas’s Hamlet; Jocasta in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex; and the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She also created the role of the Shaman in Tan Dun’s The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera. Ms. DeYoung’s recording of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Symphony No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony was awarded the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. She also won 2001 Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording for Les Troyens with Colin Davis and the London Symphony. 32 Chorus Celebrating its 40th anniversary in the 2012-13 season, the Philadelphia Singers is a professional chorus with a mission to preserve and strengthen America’s rich choral heritage through performances, commissions, and music education. The ensemble was described by Wolfgang Sawallisch as “one of the musical treasures of Philadelphia.” The chorus performs regularly with leading national and local performing arts organizations, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Kimmel Center Presents, and the Mannes Orchestra. In 1991 the Philadelphia Singers founded the Philadelphia Singers Chorale, a symphonic chorus composed of professional singers and talented volunteers, and the ensemble made its Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1992. The Chorale was resident chorus of the Orchestra from 2000 to 2011. In addition to these current concerts, the Chorale will appear with the Orchestra this season for performances of Handel’s Messiah and Orff’s Carmina burana. Past performances have included Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Das klagende Lied; Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet, The Damnation of Faust, and Requiem; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; and the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms. Most recently the Chorale appeared with the Orchestra for performances of Ravel’s complete Daphnis and Chloe, celebrating Charles Dutoit’s final concerts as chief conductor. David Hayes was appointed music director of the Philadelphia Singers in 1992. Music director of the Mannes Orchestra of the Mannes College of Music in New York, he is also staff conductor of the Curtis Symphony and from 2000 to 2010 served as a cover conductor for The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Hayes studied conducting with Charles