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Home , Dennis Russell Davies, Esther (Weisgall opera), Galileo Galilei (opera), Lauren Flanigan

BAM Presents the World Premiere of ’ Symphony No. 8

Dennis Russell Davies leads in a Glass symphonic program including Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode)

BAM 2005 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc.

Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode) and Symphony No. 8 By Philip Glass Bruckner Orchestra Linz Conducted by Dennis Russell Davies :

BAM Howard Gilman House Nov 2, 4 & 5 at 7:30pm Tickets: $20, 40, 60

BAMdialogue with Philip Glass, interviewed by John Schaefer Hillman Attic Studio Nov 4 at 6pm Tickets: $8 ($4 for Friends of BAM)

Brooklyn, NY, Sept 23, 2005—Following the 2005 Next Wave Festival’s presentation of Philip Glass’ Orion, BAM will celebrate two symphonic works by the renowned American composer: Symphony No. 8, in its world premiere performance, and Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode)—a work from 2002 based on a poem by Allen Ginsberg. The symphonies will be performed by Austria’s 100-member Bruckner Orchestra Linz, in their U.S. debut. Longtime Glass collaborator and esteemed conductor, Dennis Russell Davies, will lead the ensemble, featuring soprano Lauren Flanigan in Symphony No. 6.

Three performances of Symphonies No. 6 and No. 8 will take place in the Howard Gilman Opera House on Nov 2, 4, and 5 at 7:30pm. Tickets, priced at $20, 40, and 60, may be purchased by calling BAM Ticket Services (718.636.4100) or by visiting www.bam.org Whereas Philip Glass’ most recent symphonies (Symphony No. 5 Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya; Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode); and Symphony No. 7—A Toltec Symphony) were driven by text, Symphony No. 8 marks a return to symphonic writing based on instrumental music alone. “Dennis Russell Davies asked me to think of the orchestra as a collection of virtuoso instruments as you would find in a concerto formation,” says Glass. “Symphony No. 8 starts from this point in presenting ideas involved with timbre, density, structure, and melody.”

Philip Glass describes the genesis of his sixth symphony: “During the last ten years of Allen’s life we had performed frequently together in poetry/music collaborations. Allen was a superb reader of his own work and I was often inspired to compose new piano music for these occasional collaborations…it had been our plan to make a new, major collaboration based on his epic poem Plutonion Ode (1978). Before he died in 1997, Allen had made several recordings for me of the poem in preparation for the new work. At that time I had in mind simply an extended piano work to accompany Allen in live performance. I put aside the project in 1997, feeling that I wouldn’t want to go ahead without Allen. A few years passed and the commission of a new symphony from Carnegie Hall and the Brucknerhaus Linz reawakened my interest in the project. I felt, then, that Plutonian Ode was unfinished business between Allen and myself and this would be the opportunity to complete it. By then, the piano music I had originally imagined had grown to a full orchestra and Allen’s resonant speaking voice to a lyric soprano.”

Dennis Russell Davies is considered among a handful of international conductors/pianists at the forefront of the contemporary orchestral, chamber, and operatic worlds. He has been a champion of Philip Glass’ music for the past 25 years and has played/conducted the debut performances of the composer’s first six symphonies, the and , the original six piano études, and the Tirol Concerto. Davies also has been affiliated with leading modern composers including , John Cage, and , and has collaborated with artists including Laurie Anderson, Jan Garbarek, Marianne Faithfull, and the late Cab Calloway. American-born Davies is currently Chief Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra, the Linz Opera, and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz (where he also serves as Music Director). He has been recorded extensively as both a conductor and pianist. Davies last appeared at BAM in the U.S. premiere of Glass’ Symphony No. 5 (2000 Next Wave Festival).

Bruckner Orchestra Linz, with a history stretching back 200 years, is one of the leading orchestras of Europe and serves as both the opera orchestra at the Landestheater in Linz and the concert orchestra for Upper Austria. In addition to substantial recordings and radio broadcasts, the orchestra has gained an outstanding reputation through tours of Europe, Japan, and China, and performances at festivals including the Carinthian Summer Festival, the Bratislava, the Brighton and Bath Festivals, the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn, and the Athens Festival. Dennis Russell Davies has served as Chief Conductor since 2002.

Soprano Lauren Flanigan made her debut at the Opera and began her relationship with the in 1991. She has been a champion for contemporary opera and vocal music and has won critical acclaim for many performances, including the Central Park trilogy (City Opera), ’s (City Opera), the world premiere of ’s Ghosts of Versailles (), Marvin David Levy’s Mourning Becomes Electra (), and (English National Opera), among others. Flanigan has been honored with the ASCAP Bravissimo Award and the Emanuel Ungaro Diva Award from the New York City Opera.

Philip Glass, one of America’s most celebrated composers, applied his musical encounters in India, North Africa, and the Himalayas to his own compositions and, by 1974, had created a large body of work in a distinct idiom. His early music inspired pieces by the Mabou Mines theater company, which he co-founded; he later formed his own performing group, the . This period reached its apogee with , a landmark in 20th-century music-theater presented at BAM’s 1984 Next Wave Festival (and revived in 1992).

Glass’ work since that groundbreaking piece has included opera, film scores, dance music, symphonic work, string quartets, and unclassifiable work such as /Far From The Truth (BAM, 1983) and 1000 Airplanes on the Roof. Glass has a rich performing history at BAM, including the world premieres of Low Symphony (1992) and Symphony No. 2 (1994); revivals of Einstein on the Beach in 1984 and 1992; The CIVIL warS, Act V—The Rome Section in 1986; the New York premieres of Orphée (BAM, 1993) and La Belle et La Bête (BAM, 1994), and a presentation of Les Enfants Terrible: Children of the Game (BAM, 1996)—all parts of his operatic trilogy based on the work of Jean Cocteau; 1998’s ; a live musical performance accompanying a screening of (BAM, 1999); and 1999’s Dracula: The Music and Film, featuring the Kronos Quartet. Both Koyaanisqatsi and Dracula were reprised for the Philip on Film series at BAM in Spring 2000, alongside Anima Mundi and . Philip Glass collaborated with director Mary Zimmerman for the opera Galilei, presented as part of the 20th anniversary season of the Next Wave Festival (2002). This past June, Orange Mountain Music released a live recording of Orion (a global collaboration which was presented at BAM in October). In November, a recording of Symphony No. 6 (Plutonian Ode)—featuring Bruckner Orchestra Linz and Lauren Flanigan in a performance conducted by Dennis Russell Davies—will be released on Orange Mountain Music.

Credits Major support for Glass’ Symphonies 6 & 8 is provided by The Robert W. Wilson Foundation. BAM 2005 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors, including: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Inc., Skirball Foundation, Bloomberg, Time Warner, Inc., and The Kovner Foundation. JPMorgan Chase is BAM’s Lead Corporate Partner. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for the Next Wave Festival. Yamaha is the official piano of BAM. R/GA is the sponsor of BAM.org.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafé is available Thu-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafé is open Thursday-Saturday from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.bam.org.

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