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Home , Bernard Haitink, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Gewandhaus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2016 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected]

CHRISTOPH VON DOHNÁNYI TO CONDUCT NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC IN BRAHMS’S A GERMAN REQUIEM

Featuring Soprano and Baritone

March 3–5 and 8, 2016

Christoph von Dohnányi returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Brahms’s A German Requiem, featuring soprano Camilla Tilling, baritone Matthias Goerne, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, Thursday, March 3, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 4 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.

“The Requiem is one of the very greatest pieces Brahms ever wrote,” Christoph von Dohnányi said. “But it was written early in his life — he wasn’t much more than 35 — and it should sound that way. No self-pity, not too meditative, not too romantic. It is very easily mistaken for a piece emphasizing sadness. It is emphasizing just the opposite. There’s consolation. It’s very positive.”

The Boston Globe wrote of his performance of Brahms’s A German Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012: “He led an eloquent, wisely shaped performance that seemed true to the gentle spirit of this requiem.” The New York Times wrote of Mr. Dohnanyi’s 2011 appearance with the New York Philharmonic, when he led Brahms’s No. 1: “The orchestra under Mr. Dohnányi, who has few equals in Brahms, played superbly.”

Related Events  Philharmonic Free Fridays The New York Philharmonic is offering 100 free tickets for young people ages 13–26 to the concert Friday, March 4 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 2015–16 season’s 15 Friday evening subscription concerts.

 Pre-Concert Insights Author Fred Plotkin will introduce the program. Pre-Concert Insights are $7, and discounts are available for three (3) or more talks and for students. They take place one hour before these performances in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org/preconcert or (212) 875-5656.

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Artists Christoph von Dohnányi started his career as assistant to in Frankfurt and thereafter held chief posts in Frankfurt, , , and Paris. He was principal conductor and artistic adviser of the in London, where he is honorary conductor for life. As the sixth music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1984–2002), Mr. von Dohnányi led the orchestra on tours to Asia and Europe; founded the Cleveland Youth Orchestra; oversaw the extension and renovation of Severance Hall; and initiated a new commissioning project. In 2002 he was named the orchestra’s first music director laureate. Since then, he has been a regular guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, , Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and , as well as with The Cleveland Orchestra. In Europe he continues to appear regularly with the orchestras in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, Milan, Israel, and elsewhere. Mr. von Dohnányi has conducted at the world’s great opera houses including House, Covent Garden, as well as Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Opernhaus , and in Berlin and Paris. In the U.S. he has led productions at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera Chicago. Mr. von Dohnányi’s London/Decca opera recordings with Vienna include Beethoven’s Fidelio, Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, ’s Salome, and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, as well as orchestral works by Schubert, Strauss, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky, as well as the complete Mendelssohn symphonies. His Decca recordings with Cleveland include works by Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss, Ives, Varèse, and John Adams. A compilation of all the Beethoven symphonies was recorded in Cleveland by Telarc, and a collection of the complete Brahms symphonies by Teldec. Christoph von Dohnányi was born in Berlin in 1929 and studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and at Florida State University with his grandfather, pianist and composer Ernst von Dohnányi. He completed his studies in the U.S. by attending a 1952 class at Tanglewood. He has received honorary doctorates from the Eastman School of Music, Oberlin College of Music, and Cleveland Institute of Music; an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Anti-Defamation League’s Torch of Freedom Award. He is the recipient of the Goethe plaque of the city of Frankfurt, Bartók medal in Hungary, Verdienstkreuz of the Republic of Austria, and Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland, and he is a member of the Order of Arts and Letters of . Christoph von Dohnányi made his New York Philharmonic debut in May 1981 leading works by Weber, Mendelssohn, and Schubert; he most recently helmed DOHNÁNYI / DVOŘÁK: A Philharmonic Festival in December 2014.

Since her acclaimed 1999 debut as Corinna in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims at New York City Opera, Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling has appeared on the stages of the world’s most prominent opera houses and concert halls, and in regular collaborations with the greatest orchestras and conductors. Current season highlights include Berg’s Seven Early Songs with the London Symphony Orchestra led by Francois Xavier Roth and Schumann’s Faustszenen with the NDR Symphony Orchestra and . She performs Brahms’s A German Requiem with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and with the orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, both conducted by Bernard Haitink, and also with the New York Philharmonic led by Christoph von Dohnányi. She also returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Dutilleux’s Correspondances

(more) Christoph von Dohnányi / 3 and concert performances as Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Esa- Pekka Salonen. Consistently in demand for concert appearances, Ms. Tilling’s recent highlights include Strauss’s Four Last Songs at the Salzburg Festival with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Dohnányi, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at the BBC Proms with the London Symphony Orchestra and Haitink, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Berlin’s Waldbühne with the and . Among Ms. Tilling’s many recordings are three recital discs with Paul Rivinius on the BIS label; the most recent, I Skogen, released in the summer of 2015, is dedicated to songs from Nordic composers. She appears on Die Schöpfung with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Haitink, and Mozart’s Mass in C minor, with Paul McCreesh. She performs the role of Ilia in Mozart’s on DVD from the Teatro alla Scala conducted by . Ms. Tilling made her New York Philharmonic debut in December 2014 conducted by Gary Thor Wedow, as part of the annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah.

Baritone Matthias Goerne has collaborated with the world’s leading orchestras, conductors, and pianists. Born in Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in , and later with and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Mr. Goerne has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the , Covent Garden, as well as Teatro Real in Madrid, Paris National Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, and The Metropolitan Opera. Mr. Goerne has performed on numerous prize-winning recordings, including The Goerne/Schubert Edition, a series of selected Schubert works on 11 CDs for harmonia mundi. Highlights in the 2015–16 season include concerts with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (with Yuri Temirkanov), , London Philharmonic (), ’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra (), Swedish Radio Symphony (Daniel Harding), and NHK Symphony (Paavo Järvi), as well as a series of recitals with Daniil Trifonov, Markus Hinterhäuser, Alexander Schmalcz, and the Quatuor Ebène at Lincoln Center, the San Francisco Opera, London’s Wigmore Hall, Opéra de Lille, the new Philharmonie de Paris, Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Gulbenkian in Lisbon, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, Abu Dhabi, Schubertiade Hohenems, and the Sydney Festival. In addition, Mr. Goerne sang Orest in Richard Strauss’s Elektra at the Vienna Staatsoper in November 2015, and in January 2016 makes his debut as Wotan in a concert version of Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Hong Kong Philharmonic led by Jaap van Zweden. In the summer of 2016 he will return to prestigious festivals including those in Salzburg and Verbier. Matthias Goerne made his New York Philharmonic debut in March 2006 performing in Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle led by Christoph von Dohnányi; he most recently joined the Orchestra and for J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in March 2008.

Founded in 1979 by Joseph Flummerfelt, the New York Choral Artists has been a regular part of the New York Philharmonic season. Their many collaborations include a memorial performance of Brahms’s A German Requiem conducted by Kurt Masur immediately following 9/11 and, in more recent years, Britten’s and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Lorin Maazel and, with Alan Gilbert, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Ligeti’s Le Grande Macabre, and the Verdi Requiem. Noteworthy among its recordings with the Philharmonic are Mahler Symphony No. 3 conducted by (nominated for a Grammy award), Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 with Masur, and John Adams’s Grammy–winning On the Transmigration of Souls with Maazel. In 2014 the New (more) Christoph von Dohnányi / 4

York Choral Artists also appeared with the and the San Francisco Symphony in Carnegie Hall. Jacqueline Pierce is the group’s manager. After this season, Joseph Flummerfelt is retiring after 44 seasons of preparing choral works for the New York Philharmonic. These numerous collaborations included the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which he directed from 1971 to 2004, and the New York Choral Artists, which he founded in 1979. From 1977 to 2013 he also served as an artistic director of the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina. His choirs have performed with such conductors as , , Leonard Bernstein, , , Bernard Haitink, , Alan Gilbert, , Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, , , Seiji Ozawa, , Robert Shaw, and , and been featured on 45 recordings, including Grammy Award–winning performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Bernstein, Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, and John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, for which he received a Grammy. Named Musical America’s Conductor of the Year in 2004, he has also received two Grammy nominations, and his Delos recording of Brahms’s choral works with the Westminster Choir, Singing for Pleasure, was chosen by The New York Times as a favorite among Brahms recordings. Mr. Flummerfelt’s honors include Le Prix du Président de la République from L’Académie du Disque Français and five honorary doctoral degrees. He is sought out as a guest conductor and master teacher of choral conducting in New York and throughout the United States.

Repertoire ’s (1833–97) non-liturgical Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) is often noted as the finest of his vocal works. With Biblical texts drawn from the Old and New Testaments, this grave and moving music focuses on humanity and the shared experience of death and suffering. Early glimpses of what would become the Requiem — particularly the second movement — exist in the composer’s 1854 work on a discarded first symphony. But however frustrating Brahms found his youthful attempts at composing a symphony, initial performances of A German Requiem — the first three movements in 1867, the first six the following year — sealed his reputation as a master composer. Brahms completed the choral work with the addition of a seventh movement in 1868. The New York Symphony (which merged with the Philharmonic Society of New York in 1928 to create the New York Philharmonic) first performed A German Requiem in March 1912, Walter Damrosch conducting; Lorin Maazel led its most recent presentation in June 2007.

* * * Christoph von Dohnányi’s appearance is made possible through the Florence Blau Trust.

* * * These concerts are made possible through the Helen Huntington Hull Fund.

* * * Major support for Philharmonic Free Fridays is provided by The Pratt Foundation.

* * * Philharmonic Free Fridays was created, in part, by a donation from an anonymous donor through the New York Philharmonic’s 2014 Share the Music! campaign.

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* * * Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Tickets Single tickets for this performance start at $29. Pre-Concert Insights are $7 (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the David Geffen Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $16 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. (Ticket prices subject to change.)

For press tickets, call Lanore Carr at the New York Philharmonic at (212) 875-5714, or e-mail her at [email protected].

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New York Philharmonic

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 7:30 p.m. Open Rehearsal — 9:45 a.m. Friday, March 4, 2016, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, March 5, 2016, 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 7:30 p.m.

Pre-Concert Insights (one hour before each concert) with author Fred Plotkin

Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor Camilla Tilling, soprano Matthias Goerne, baritone New York Choral Artists Joseph Flummerfelt, director

BRAHMS A German Requiem

* denotes New York Philharmonic debut

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