Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 25, 2012 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC MUSIC DIRECTOR TO LEAD TWO CONCERTS IN ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN FEBRUARY 23–24, 2013 Cellist Jan Vogler To Perform Bloch’s Schelomo Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, will lead the New York Philharmonic in two performances in Ann Arbor, Michigan, at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium Saturday, February 23, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, February 24 at 2:00 p.m. These concerts mark Mr. Gilbert’s first appearances in Michigan as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The February 23 program will feature Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, Linz, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1. On the February 24 program, Alan Gilbert will conduct Musorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Bloch’s Schelomo with cellist Jan Vogler as soloist, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique. The New York Philharmonic last performed in Ann Arbor March 7–8, 2009, as part of former Music Director Lorin Maazel’s final tour with the Orchestra. Previous appearances took place in 2005, also with Mr. Maazel; 1972 with then-Music Director Pierre Boulez; 1969 with Seiji Ozawa; 1963 and 1967 with then-Music Director Leonard Bernstein; 1955 with then-Music Director Dimitri Mitropoulos; 1939 and 1940 with then-Music Director Sir John Barbirolli; and 1916 with then-Music Director Josef Stransky. Artists Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, launching what New York magazine called “a fresh future for the Philharmonic.” The first native New Yorker in the post, he has introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, an annual multi-week festival, and CONTACT!, the new-music series, and he has sought to make the Orchestra a point of civic pride for the city and country. In 2012–13, Alan Gilbert conducts world premieres; presides over a cycle of Brahms’s complete symphonies and concertos; continues The Nielsen Project, the multi-year initiative to perform and record Nielsen’s symphonies and concertos; and leads the EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. (more) NY Philharmonic To Perform in Ann Arbor / 2 The season concludes with June Journey: Gilbert’s Playlist, four programs showcasing themes he has introduced, including the season finale: a theatrical reimagining of Stravinsky ballets with director/designer Doug Fitch and New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Sara Mearns. Last season’s highlights included tours of Europe and California, several world premieres, Mahler symphonies, and Philharmonic 360, the Philharmonic and Park Avenue Armory’s acclaimed spatial-music program featuring Stockhausen’s Gruppen, about which The New York Times said: “Those who think classical music needs some shaking up routinely challenge music directors at major orchestras to think outside the box. That is precisely what Alan Gilbert did.” Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies and holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School. Conductor Laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, he regularly conducts leading orchestras 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. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. In May 2010 Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and in December 2011, Columbia University’s Ditson Conductor’s Award for his “exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music.” Cellist Jan Vogler has performed with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, Fabio Luisi, David Robertson, and Manfred Honeck and with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic; Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Montreal, and Cincinnati symphony orchestras; and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. A passionate recitalist and chamber musician, he performs regularly with pianists Hélène Grimaud and Martin Stadtfeld and with violinist Mira Wang. Recent performances of new works include compositions by Tigran Mansurian (with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Semyon Bychkov), John Harbison (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Udo Zimmermann (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). A prolific and award-winning recording artist, Mr. Vogler records exclusively for SONY Classical. Upcoming releases include Bach’s Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello (2012) and Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic (2013). With The Knights and Eric Jacobsen he recorded Experience: Live from New York, which includes Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 and “Machine Gun” by Jimi Hendrix in a special arrangement for cello and orchestra. This live CD was recorded at Le Poisson Rouge, formerly the Village Gate, home to many Hendrix concerts. A cello prodigy at age six, Mr. Vogler first studied with his father, Peter Vogler, and subsequently with Josef Schwab in Berlin, Heinrich Schiff, and Siegfried Palm. At 20 he became principal cello of the Staatskapelle Dresden and was named the youngest concertmaster in the orchestra’s history. He has won the Echo-Award (the German equivalent of the Grammy) and (more) NY Philharmonic To Perform in Ann Arbor / 3 the 2006 European Cultural Award. Mr. Vogler is the general director of the Dresden Musikfestspiele and founder and artistic director of the Moritzburg Chamber Music Festival. He plays the 1707–10 Stradivarius “Ex Castelbarco/Fau” and the 1721 Domenico Montagnana “Ex- Hekking” cellos. Jan Vogler made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2004 performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto under David Robertson. He last appeared with the Philharmonic in November 2005 performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto and both the World Premiere (on the Philharmonic’s 75th Anniversary European Tour at Dresden’s Frauenkircheled) and U.S. Premiere (at Avery Fisher Hall) of Colin Matthews’s Berceuse for Dresden, conducted by then- Music Director Lorin Maazel. About the New York Philharmonic Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world; on May 5, 2010, it performed its 15,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world. The Orchestra has always played a leading role in American musical life, championing the music of its time, and is renowned around the globe, having appeared in 431 cities in 63 countries — including its October 2009 debut in Vietnam and its February 2008 historic visit to Pyongyang, DPRK, earning the 2008 Common Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy. The Philharmonic’s concerts are broadcast on the weekly syndicated radio program The New York Philharmonic This Week, streamed on nyphil.org, and have been telecast annually on Live From Lincoln Center on U.S. public television since the series’ premiere in 1976. The Philharmonic has made almost 2,000 recordings since 1917, with more than 500 currently available. The first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live, the Philharmonic released the first- ever classical iTunes Pass in 2009–10; the self-produced recordings continue with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2012–13 Season. The Orchestra has built on the long-running Young People’s Concerts to develop a wide range of education programs, including the School Partnership Program, enriching music education in New York City, and Learning Overtures, fostering international exchange. Alan Gilbert became Music Director, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, in September 2009, succeeding Lorin Maazel in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical giants that goes back to Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini. Credit Suisse is the New York Philharmonic’s exclusive Global Sponsor. Repertoire, February 23 The first opera produced by the celebrated collaboration between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte was the comic masterpiece Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), an adaptation of Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais’s play Le Mariage de Figaro. Only moderately successful when first performed at Vienna’s Burgtheater, in May 1786, it became a sensation when it was produced at Prague’s National Theatre later that year. The Overture was the last item to be composed, as was Mozart’s custom, and contains no musical material from the opera itself; instead it reflects the high spirits and light touch that characterize both the music and action. The Overture was first performed by the New York Symphony (which merged in 1928 with the New York Philharmonic to form today’s New York Philharmonic) in May 1891, led by Walter Damrosch. The most recent performance was in April 2008, led by Charles Dutoit. (more) NY Philharmonic To Perform in Ann Arbor / 4 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his bride, Constanze, finally visited the composer’s father, Leopold, nearly a year after their marriage. Upon returning home to Vienna, they were invited to spend a few days in Linz as the guest of Count Thun. Expected to perform new music for his host, Mozart wrote to his father, “On Thursday, November 4, I am giving a concert in the theater here, and, as I have not a single symphony with me, I am writing a new one at a head-over-heels pace.” The resulting Symphony No. 36, Linz, was completed three days later and premiered by Mozart on November 4, 1783. The Philharmonic gave its first performance of the symphony in 1928 with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. Alan Gilbert led the Orchestra’s most recent performance of the work in October 2012.