Season 2014-2015
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27 Season 2014-2015 Friday, September 26, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday, September 27, at 8:00 Sunday, September 28, Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor at 2:00 Lang Lang Piano Saint-Saëns “Bacchanale,” from Samson and Delilah (9/26 only) Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia (9/27 only) Williams Essay for Strings (9/28 only) Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Allegretto—Presto Intermission Strauss An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64 This program runs approximately 2 hours, 5 minutes. The opening works on these concerts were voted on and chosen by the audience. designates a work that is part of the 40/40 Project, which features pieces not performed on subscription concerts in at least 40 years. 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. 28 Please join us immediately following the September 28 concert for a Chamber Postlude, featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Strauss Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18 I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Improvisation: Andante cantabile III. Finale: Andante—Allegro Dara Morales Violin Amy Yang Piano 3 Story Title 29 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s 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 since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording with a celebrated CD of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions on the Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM. Philadelphia is home, and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level. Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The ensemble annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Vail, Colorado. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a decades-long tradition of presenting learning and community engagement opportunities for listeners of all ages. The Orchestra’s recent initiative, the Fabulous Philadelphians Offstage, Philly Style!, has taken musicians off the traditional concert stage and into the community, including highly-successful Pop- Up concerts, PlayINs, SingINs, and ConductINs. The Orchestra’s musicians, in their own dedicated roles as teachers, coaches, and mentors, serve a key role in growing young musician talent and a love of classical music, nurturing and celebrating the wealth of musicianship in the Philadelphia region. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org. 6 Music Director Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues his inspired leadership of The Philadelphia Orchestra, which began 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 Nézet-Séguin “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” He has taken the Orchestra to new musical heights. Highlights of his third season as music director include an Art of the Pipe Organ festival; the 40/40 Project, in which 40 great compositions that haven’t been heard on subscription concerts in at least 40 years will be performed; and Bernstein’s MASS, the pinnacle of the Orchestra’s five- season requiem cycle. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. He has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 2008 and artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. He also continues to enjoy a close relationship with the London Philharmonic, of which he was principal guest conductor. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and he 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 Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with a CD on that label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. He continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic and Choir 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; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 30 Soloist Outumuro Superstar pianist Lang Lang has played sold-out concerts in every major city across the globe, from intimate recital halls to the grandest of stages—including the 2014 World Cup concert in Rio de Janeiro with Plácido Domingo; the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the last night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall; and the Liszt 200th birthday concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Lang Lang is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna, Berlin, and New York philharmonics and is a regular soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his debut with the Philadelphians in May 2001 at the Academy of Music under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch and most recently appeared in May 2013 at Verizon Hall with Simon Rattle. Named one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people in the world,” Lang Lang has formed enduring musical partnerships with numerous artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Gustavo Dudamel, to artists from outside classical music, including singer Julio Iglesias, jazz titan Herbie Hancock, and hip hop dancer Marquese “Nonstop” Scott. He served as the first official ambassador of the YouTube Symphony, a role that combined two of his great loves: music and outreach through technology. An exclusive recording artist with Sony Music Entertainment since February 2010, Lang Lang’s latest release is a recording with Mr. Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic featuring piano concertos by Prokofiev and Bartók. He also serves as cultural ambassador of the cities of Shenzhen and Shenyang. Lang Lang credits the Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” (featuring Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2) with introducing him to the music of that composer. He retains a childlike excitement about what he calls “his second career”: bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for charities such as UNICEF and through the Lang Lang International Foundation. A Steinway piano, specially designed for early music education, has been named for him. And his biography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, includes a version for younger readers. 31 Framing the Program The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 115th season takes flight Parallel Events by initiating the 40/40 Project, a broadening of the 1784 Music ensemble’s repertoire that will feature 40 works not Mozart Salieri performed on subscription concerts in at least the last Piano Concerto Les Danaïdes 40 years (or ever), in honor of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s No. 17 Literature 40th birthday. Philadelphia audiences were asked to vote Kant through electronic and social media and three favorites “What is open the three respective concerts this weekend. Enlightenment?” Art Few concertos more delightfully display Mozart’s David extraordinary capacity to combine the instrumental and Oath of the dramatic sides of his genius than the Piano Concerto in Horatii G major. The marvelous final movement reminds us of the History great creator of comic operas. Its opening theme (said to Treaty of be based on tune sung by his pet starling) breathes the Constantinople same air as the bird-catcher Papageno in The Magic Flute.