FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 20, 2016 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718;
[email protected] CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH TO CONDUCT NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC IN WORKS BY BARTÓK AND DVOŘÁK VIOLINIST BAIBA SKRIDE TO MAKE PHILHARMONIC DEBUT PERFORMING BARTÓK’S VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 2 February 25–27 and March 1, 2016 Christoph Eschenbach returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct a program of works by Eastern European composers with folk influences: Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring violinist Baiba Skride in her Philharmonic debut and first New York City orchestral appearance, and Dvořák’s Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 8, Thursday, February 25, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m.; Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. The Guardian wrote of Baiba Skride’s performance of Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra in May 2015: “A passionate, heart-on-sleeve player, she attacked the opening with such richness of tone that her Stradivarius sounded more like a viola than a violin. The subsequent swerves between lyricism and aggression were superbly negotiated.” Christoph Eschenbach and Baiba Skride last collaborated together in an acclaimed November 2012 performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. “It’s amazing that, out of the single tiniest movement, he can change the whole atmosphere in the whole piece,” Baiba Skride says of Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. “Especially with Bartók you have to be so exact, and a conductor has really hard work to do in this piece.