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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 30, 2017 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5700; [email protected] ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence LEONIDAS KAVAKOS To Perform WORLD PREMIERE–NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC COMMISSION of Lera AUERBACH’S NYx: Fractured Dreams (Violin Concerto No. 4) Program Also To Include MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 4 With Soprano CHRISTINA LANDSHAMER March 1–3, 2017 BARTÓK’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta MAHLER’s Symphony No. 4 March 4, 2017 Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in the World Premiere– New York Philharmonic Commission of Lera Auerbach’s NYx: Fractured Dreams (Violin Concerto No. 4), with The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos as soloist, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with soprano Christina Landshamer, Wednesday, March 1, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra will again perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with soprano Christina Landshamer, as well as Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta on Saturday, March 4 at 8:00 p.m. The Philharmonic commissioned Lera Auerbach’s NYx: Fractured Dreams (Violin Concerto No. 4) at Leonidas Kavakos’s suggestion; these performances mark the Philharmonic’s first of a work by Ms. Auerbach. Mr. Kavakos’s past collaborations with Ms. Auerbach, an acclaimed pianist, include a performance of her Preludes for Violin and Piano at the 2010 Verbier Festival. “Lera is a very special personality. What she says is extremely profound and very essential,” said Leonidas Kavakos. “It’s a great opportunity to play something for the very first time, but I don’t like to commission for the sake of commissioning. You don’t know what kind of birth it will be: it could be beautiful, but it’s a risk. Some composers one just trusts: Lera is one of them.” With these performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, during his tenure Alan Gilbert will have conducted seven out of nine complete works in the genre composed by the former Philharmonic (more) Alan Gilbert / Leonidas Kavakos / Christina Landshamer / 2 Music Director (1909–11); he has led the Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9. In the 2010–11 season Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic commemorated the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s final Philharmonic season and the 150th anniversary of his birth with performances of Kindertotenlieder, featuring baritone Thomas Hampson, in New York and on the EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour. In September 2011, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Alan Gilbert led the Philharmonic in A Concert for New York, featuring a critically acclaimed performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. In April 2016 Mr. Gilbert led the Orchestra, Mr. Hampson, and tenor Stefan Vinke in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. The New York Times wrote that Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic’s October 2016 performance of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta was “excellent … achingly sustained in the opening Andante, vibrantly taut and energetic in the Allegros, featuring virtuoso soloists from the orchestra.” The New York Times called Christina Landshamer “honey-toned” in its review of her New York Philharmonic debut, singing Handel’s Messiah in December 2016, led by Alan Gilbert. Related Events Philharmonic Free Fridays The New York Philharmonic is offering 100 free tickets to young people ages 13–26 for the concert Friday, March 3 as part of Philharmonic Free Fridays. Information is available at nyphil.org/freefridays. Philharmonic Free Fridays offers 100 free tickets to 13–26-year-olds to each of the 2016–17 season’s 16 Friday evening subscription concerts. Insights at the Atrium — “An Evening with Leonidas Kavakos and Lera Auerbach” The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos, speaker Composer Lera Auerbach, speaker Vice President, Education, Theodore Wiprud, moderator Tuesday, February 28, 2017, 7:30 p.m. David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Broadway at 62nd Street) Artists As Music Director of the New York Philharmonic since 2009, Alan Gilbert has introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, and Artist-in-Association; CONTACT!, the new-music series; the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, an exploration of today’s music; and the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, partnerships with cultural institutions to offer training of pre-professional musicians, often alongside performance residencies. The Financial Times called him “the imaginative maestro- impresario in residence.” Alan Gilbert concludes his final season as Music Director with four programs that reflect themes, works, and musicians that hold particular meaning for him, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony alongside Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, Wagner’s complete Das Rheingold in concert, and an exploration of how music can effect positive change in the world. Other (more) Alan Gilbert / Leonidas Kavakos / Christina Landshamer / 3 highlights include three World Premieres, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, and Manhattan, performed live to film. He also leads the Orchestra on the EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour and in performance residencies in Shanghai and Santa Barbara. Past highlights include acclaimed stagings of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd starring Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson (2015 Emmy nomination), and Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake starring Marion Cotillard; 28 World Premieres; a tribute to Boulez and Stucky during the 2016 NY PHIL BIENNIAL; The Nielsen Project; the Verdi Requiem and Bach’s B-minor Mass; the score from 2001: A Space Odyssey, performed live to film; Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on the tenth anniversary of 9/11; performing violin in Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time; and ten tours around the world. Conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and former principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, Alan Gilbert regularly conducts leading orchestras around the world. This season he returns to the foremost European orchestras, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, and Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He will record Beethoven’s complete piano concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Inon Barnatan, and conduct Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, his first time leading a staged opera there. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award, and he conducted Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles on a recent album recorded live at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, where he holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies. His honors include Honorary Doctor of Music degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music (2010) and Westminster Choir College (2016), Columbia University’s Ditson Conductor’s Award (2011), election to The American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2014), a Foreign Policy Association Medal for his commitment to cultural diplomacy (2015), Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2015), and New York University’s Lewis Rudin Award for Exemplary Service to New York City (2016). The New York Philharmonic has named violinist and conductor Leonidas Kavakos The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the 2016–17 season. His residency features three solo appearances in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary, his Philharmonic conducting debut, a recital with pianist Yuja Wang (presented in association with Lincoln Center’s Great Performers), and a Young People’s Concert. Also in the season he appears with The Philadelphia Orchestra; plays and conducts the Houston Symphony; embarks on a recital tour with Ms. Wang in both Europe and the U.S.; and undertakes a European tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra and a tour to Switzerland with the Mariinsky Orchestra. Mr. Kavakos had already won three major competitions by age 21: the Sibelius (1985), the Paganini (1988), and the Naumburg (1988). This success led to his making the first recording in history of the original Sibelius Violin Concerto (1903–04), which won the 1991 Gramophone Concerto of the Year Award. He has since appeared regularly as soloist with the Vienna, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles philharmonic orchestras; London, Boston, and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Philadelphia Orchestras. As a conductor Mr. Kavakos has (more) Alan Gilbert / Leonidas Kavakos / Christina Landshamer / 4 worked with the Atlanta, Boston, London, and Vienna symphony orchestras; Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; and Budapest Festival Orchestra. This season he makes conducting debuts with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. An exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Mr. Kavakos’s first release on the label, of the complete Beethoven violin sonatas with pianist Enrico Pace (2013), earned him an ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year award. Later recordings include Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly; Brahms’s violin sonatas with Yuja Wang; and, his most recent recording, Virtuoso (released in April 2016). His earlier discography includes recordings for BIS, ECM, and Sony Classical. Mr. Kavakos was named Gramophone Artist of the Year 2014. Leonidas Kavakos plays the “Abergavenny” Stradivarius violin of 1724. He made his New York Philharmonic debut playing Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy as part of a July 2002 Concerts in the Parks performance, led by Bramwell Tovey; most recently, in October 2016, he made his Philharmonic conducting debut leading and performing J.S.