Season 2013-2014
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23 Season 2013-2014 Thursday, February 13, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, February 14, at 8:00 Saturday, February 15, at 8:00 Vladimir Jurowski Conductor Vsevolod Grivnov Tenor Alexey Zuev Piano Sherman Howard Speaker Tatiana Monogarova Soprano Sergei Leiferkus Baritone Westminster Symphonic Choir Joe Miller Director Rachmaninoff/ Songs orch. Jurowski I. “Christ Is Risen,” Op. 26, No. 6 II. “Dreams,” Op. 38, No. 5 III. “The Morn of Life,” Op. 34, No. 10 IV. “So Dread a Fate,” Op. 34, No. 7 V. “All Things Depart,” Op. 26, No. 15 VI. “Come Let Us Rest,” Op. 26, No. 3 VII. “Before My Window,” Op. 26, No. 10 VIII. “The Little Island,” Op. 14, No. 2 IX. “How Fair this Spot,” Op. 21, No. 7 X. “What Wealth of Rapture,” Op. 34, No. 12 (U.S. premiere of orchestrated version) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 I. Allegro vivace II. Largo III. Allegro vivace Intermission 24 Rachmaninoff The Bells, Op. 35 I. Allegro, ma non tanto II. Lento—Adagio III. Presto—Prestissimo IV. Lento lugubre—Allegro—Andante— Tempo I This program runs approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes. These concerts are presented in cooperation with the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 3 Story Title 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President orchestras in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s Cello and Violin Play-Ins, and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the shine a spotlight on the creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned Orchestra’s musicians, as experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with they spread out from the home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon stage into the community. Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. The Orchestra’s commitment Nézet-Séguin triumphantly to its education and Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural community partnership the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic initiatives manifests itself important relationship not leader of the Orchestra in numerous other ways, only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly including concerts for families the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- and students, and eZseatU, Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, a program that allows full- who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, time college students to other area performances paired with a fresh approach attend an unlimited number at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, of Orchestra concerts for Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by a $25 annual membership The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. fee. For more information on ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced The Philadelphia Orchestra, and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the please visit www.philorch.org. the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 8 Music Director Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary opera Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses. Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise- Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 26 Conductor Sheila Rock One of today’s most sought-after conductors, Vladimir Jurowski has been a frequent guest with The Philadelphia Orchestra since making his debut in 2005. He made his international debut in 1995 at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year made his debut at the Royal Opera House with Verdi’s Nabucco. Mr. Jurowski was appointed principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic in 2003 and became principal conductor in September 2007. From 2001 to 2013 he served as music director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He also holds the titles of principal artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and artistic director of the Russian State Academic Symphony. As a guest he has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston and Chicago symphonies, and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Recent and upcoming performance highlights include debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the NHK and San Francisco symphonies; tours with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; and return visits to the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Mr. Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999 with Verdi’s Rigoletto and has since returned for Janácˇek’s Jenu˚fa, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and, in 2013, Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. Mr. Jurowski’s discography includes the first-ever recording of the cantata Exile by Giya Kancheli for ECM, Meyerbeer’s L’Étoile du Nord for Marco Polo, Massenet’s Werther for BMG, and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic has released a wide selection of his live recordings on its LPO Live label. His tenure at Glyndebourne has been documented in CD releases of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, as well as DVD releases of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, all released by Medici Arts. 27 Soloists Kristen Loken Anstey Loken Kristen Russian tenor Vsevolod Grivnov makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. A principal soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre, recent performances with that company include Verdi’s La traviata, A Masked Ball, and Luisa Miller, and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. He has sung Levko in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night at the Wexford Festival; Dmitri in Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov; Fernando in Donizetti’s La favorita; and Prince Guidon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel at Nice Opera. He made his American debut as Dmitri in Boris Godunov at the Houston Grand Opera and later debuted at the Royal Danish Opera as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, a role he has also performed at the New Israeli Opera. Other engagements have included Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the San Francisco Symphony; Shostakovich’s Six Romances on Texts by Japanese Poets in Venice; and Stravinsky’s The Wedding with the RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, which was recorded by Harmonia Mundi.