The Bach Variations: a Philharmonic Festival
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 6, 2013 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] THE BACH VARIATIONS: A PHILHARMONIC FESTIVAL Perspectives on Bach by MASAAKI SUZUKI, ALAN GILBERT, BERNARD LABADIE, and ANDRÁS SCHIFF Mass in B Minor, Orchestral Suites, Mendelssohn, and Schumann CARTER BREY To Perform BACH’S COMPLETE CELLO SUITES SECOND DATE ADDED: APRIL 1, 2013 MARCH 6–APRIL 6, 2013 A COLLABORATION WITH 92ND STREET Y The New York Philharmonic will present The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival March 6–April 6, 2013. Four orchestral programs will be led by different conductors — Masaaki Suzuki, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Labadie, and András Schiff — each bringing a different perspective to the composer’s works. The Bach Variations marks the first time the New York Philharmonic has presented a festival of the music of the Baroque master. “Bach is the composer who, more often than not, ends up at the top of anybody’s list of greatest or favorite composers,” Music Director Alan Gilbert said. “The idea that great music, and particularly Bach’s music, can withstand interpretation — by which I mean it can be treated in different ways — led us to try to find different conductors who would approach the music through varied perspectives.” The festival’s first orchestral program, March 6–9, 2013, will be conducted by Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki in his Philharmonic debut; Alan Gilbert will lead the festival’s second orchestral program, featuring Bach’s Mass in B minor, March 13–16, 2013; Bernard Labadie, who takes an early-music approach performed with modern instruments, will conduct the concerts March 20–23, 2013; and pianist András Schiff will make his Philharmonic conducting debut leading the final program, April 3–6, 2013. “I think it will be fascinating to see Suzuki, who has mostly worked with his own ensembles, with his rigorous performance practice. Bernard Labadie has been very successful in applying the principles of historic performance practice with modern symphony orchestras. András Schiff’s program, in which he’ll be playing and conducting, is really exciting because it (more) The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival / 2 combines the music of Bach with that of Mendelssohn and Schumann, composers who both loved Bach very much and were very influenced by him. I’m conducting the B-minor Mass; I’m not a Bach specialist, but I will try to approach the music with sincerity as a musician. I think these weeks will be illuminating,” Alan Gilbert said. New York Philharmonic Principal Cello Carter Brey will perform Bach’s Complete Cello Suites at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Due to popular demand, a second date for the concert has been added on April 1, 2013, as the previously announced performance on March 27, 2013, is sold out. Also in 2012–13, 92nd Street Y presents Bach Through the Season, which began in fall 2012 and includes performances by some of the artists featured at the Philharmonic as well as “Interpreting Bach: A Symposium,” March 3, 2013, which will feature Alan Gilbert, Masaaki Suzuki, and Jennifer Koh, moderated by Hanna Arie-Gaifman. Current and upcoming Bach Through the Season events at the 92nd Street Y include guitarist Raphaella Smits performing Bach’s Lute Suite in G minor, BWV 995, and Partita in D minor, BWV 1004, plus works by Mertz, March 23, 2013, and guitarist Benjamin Verdery performing Bach’s Suite in E-flat major, BWV 1010, plus works by Albéniz, Laderman, Verdery, Mozart, and others, May 23, 2013. Together, the two institutions are offering a multidimensional portrait of Bach, featuring events that will explore varying interpretations of some of the composer’s greatest works. For more information visit 92Y.org/Bach. Related Events Pre-Concert Talks New York Philharmonic Program Annotator James M. Keller, The Leni and Peter May Chair, will introduce the program March 6–9; violist/violinist and Philharmonic Senior Teaching Artist David Wallace will introduce the program March 13–16; Joelle Wallach, composer and visiting professor at College of Music, University of North Texas, will introduce the concerts March 20–23; and composer/conductor Victoria Bond will introduce the concerts April 3–6. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. They take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656. Insights Series Event — “The Bach Variations: Mass in B Minor” Sir Nicholas Kenyon, speaker Monday, March 11, 2013, 6:30 p.m. New York Institute of Technology Auditorium on Broadway, 1871 Broadway at 61st Street Coinciding with the Philharmonic’s month-long The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival, Sir Nicholas Kenyon — managing director of London’s Barbican Center and author of the Faber Pocket Guide to Bach — examines Bach’s changing reputation and explores his great Mass in B minor, which Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct, March 13–26, 2013. Tickets: $20; $15 for Philharmonic Friends (Affiliate level and above) and current Subscribers; and $10 for Patrons. (more) The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival / 3 New York Philharmonic Offstage Carter Brey, speaker Isabelle Faust, speaker Jeff Spurgeon, host Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 7:00 p.m. David Rubenstein Atrium, Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets New York Philharmonic Offstage events are free and seated on a first-come, first-served basis. National and International Radio Broadcast The first program will be broadcast the week of March 27, 2013,* 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 second program will be broadcast the week of April 3, 2013,* the third program will be broadcast the week of April 10, 2013,* and the final program will be broadcast the week of April 17, 2013.* The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information. PROGRAM I Japanese Bach Specialist Masaaki Suzuki To Make His Philharmonic Debut Conducting J.S. Bach and Mendelssohn With the Bach Collegium Japan, Yale Schola Cantorum, and Soloists For the first orchestral program of the festival, March 6–9, 2013, Japanese Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki, known for his mastery of Bach and his work with period instruments, will make his New York Philharmonic debut conducting the Orchestra, sopranos Sherezade Panthaki (debut) and Joelle Harvey (debut), countertenor Iestyn Davies (debut), tenor Nicholas Phan, baritone Tyler Duncan (debut), the Bach Collegium Japan (debut), and Yale Schola Cantorum (debut) in an historically informed interpretation of Bach’s motet Singet dem Herrn and Magnificat, as well as Mendelssohn’s Christus and Magnificat. Bach composed the first version of the Magnificat in E-flat in 1723 for Christmas Vespers, during his first year as director of music at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. A revised version, from which Bach had removed the Christmas-specific portions and which he transposed to D major, was premiered at that church in July 1733. The Magnificat — a grand work for large orchestra, five-part choir, and five soloists — sets a libretto that is based on the canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is perhaps the most often-used liturgical text other than the Mass. Mendelssohn began to compose his unfinished oratorio Christus in 1846, and continued working on it until just before his death the (more) The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival / 4 following year. With a German libretto by Christian Karl Josias von Bunsen (who had suggested the idea of the piece to Mendelssohn), the completed portions include a tenor recitative on Christ’s birth, the chorus “Where is the Newborn,” the chorus “There Shall a Star from Jacob Shine Forth” (based on Philipp Nicolai’s chorale Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern), and the concluding chorale “Welt, sieh’ hier dein Leben.” Heavily influenced by Bach, Mendelssohn completed his own Magnificat in 1822, when he was only 13, while he was studying the music of the pre-Classical composers with Carl Friedrich Zelter at the Berlin Singakademie. Although he was still a student, Mendelssohn interpreted the Baroque ideas for a contemporary orchestra, creating a sound world that, while tipping his hand to Bach, is definitely Mendelssohn’s own. PROGRAM II Alan Gilbert Conducts the Mass in B minor With Soprano Dorothea Röschmann, Mezzo-Soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Tenor Steve Davislim, and Bass-Baritone Eric Owens, with the New York Choral Artists On the festival’s second orchestral program, March 13–16, 2013, Alan Gilbert will conduct the Philharmonic in Bach’s Mass in B minor, with soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, tenor Steve Davislim, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director. The 1749 work is considered by many to be one of the composer’s greatest, and one of the late-Baroque era’s monumental pieces. A setting of the complete Latin Mass — unusual for someone working in the Lutheran tradition — the Mass in B minor includes pieces Bach had previously composed, as well as new sections that were ultimately his last major compositions. The New York Philharmonic has presented selected movements from the Mass in B minor five times in the past (in 1917, 1918, 1927, 1935, and 2011), and has presented the entire work on only four occasions: in 1965, conducted by William Steinberg; 1982, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting his own arrangement; 1989, with Helmuth Rilling; and in 1996, with Kurt Masur.