FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 17, 2016 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC MAHLER’s DAS LIED VON DER ERDE Featuring Baritone Thomas Hampson and Tenor Stefan Vinke in His Philharmonic Debut SIBELIUS’s Symphony No. 7 April 20–22, 2016 “Discovering The Song of the Earth” Part of FREE INSIGHTS AT THE ATRIUM April 18, 2016 Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, featuring baritone Thomas Hampson and tenor Stefan Vinke, in his Philharmonic debut, and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 7, Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, April 22 at 11:00 a.m. “Thomas Hampson’s interpretation of Mahler is unbelievably distinctive — he has such an affinity for this music,” says Alan Gilbert. “The tenor part is enormous and fiendishly difficult, so we are delighted to have engaged Stefan Vinke, who has the power and agility that Das Lied requires.” Long acclaimed as an interpreter of Mahler’s music, particularly in performances with Philharmonic Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein — who called Das Lied von der Erde Mahler’s “greatest symphony” — Thomas Hampson was the first to serve as the New York Philharmonic’s Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, a position Alan Gilbert introduced in the 2009–10 season, his first as Music Director. Mr. Hampson returned for the Orchestra’s EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour, when he sang Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, led by Alan Gilbert. “First and foremost, I found Mahler’s music deeply inspiring, and then I started to discover him as a human being,” says Thomas Hampson. “It speaks to the character of this Orchestra that they still refer to themselves after 100 years as Mahler’s Orchestra. It moves me very deeply. Of course, performing anything with the Philharmonic is a thrill and a pleasure and a privilege. It has been a very beautiful relationship.” “Das Lied von der Erde is such profound music,” says Stefan Vinke. “I feel honored that my first approach to New York is with Mahler and his orchestra.” (more) Alan Gilbert / Thomas Hampson / Stefan Vinke / 2 This program is among several in the 2015–16 season to feature works by Gustav Mahler, Philharmonic Music Director from 1909 to 1911. The season also honors the 150th anniversary of Sibelius’s birth. “Sibelius’s music says something very true about all of humanity,” says Music Director Alan Gilbert. “His Seventh Symphony is an amazing piece, in part because of its enigmatic ending — it is difficult to decide whether it is happy or sad, a dilemma that is so true of life.” The New York Philharmonic will present “Discovering The Song of the Earth,” a free Insights at the Atrium event Monday, April 18, 2016, featuring baritone Thomas Hampson as speaker and The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence Matthew Mugmon as moderator. The event takes place at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Columbus Avenue at 62nd Street) and is co-presented with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Related Events 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. 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. Insights at the Atrium — “Discovering The Song of the Earth” Thomas Hampson, speaker New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence Matthew Mugmon, moderator Monday, April 18, 2016, 7:30 p.m. David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Columbus Avenue at 62nd Street) Insights at the Atrium events are free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first- come, first-served basis. Subscribers, Friends at the Fellow level and above, and Patrons may secure guaranteed admission by emailing [email protected]. Space is limited. Artists Music Director Alan Gilbert began his New York Philharmonic tenure in 2009, the first native New Yorker in the post. He and the Philharmonic have introduced the positions of The Marie- Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, and Artist-in-Association; CONTACT!, the new-music series; the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, an exploration of today’s music; and the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, partnerships with cultural institutions to offer training of pre-professional musicians, often alongside performance residencies. As The New Yorker wrote, “Gilbert has made an indelible mark on the orchestra’s history and that of the city itself.” Alan Gilbert’s 2015–16 Philharmonic highlights include R. Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben to welcome Concertmaster Frank Huang; Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala; and four World Premieres. He co-curates and conducts in the second NY PHIL BIENNIAL and performs violin in Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. He leads the Orchestra as part of the Shanghai (more) Alan Gilbert / Thomas Hampson / Stefan Vinke / 3 Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership and appears at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of the West. Philharmonic-tenure highlights include acclaimed stagings of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd starring Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson (for which Mr. Gilbert was nominated for a 2015 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction), and Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake starring Marion Cotillard; 24 World Premieres; The Nielsen Project, a performance and recording cycle; Verdi Requiem and Bach’s B-minor Mass; the score from 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside the film; Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on the tenth anniversary of 9/11; and nine tours around the world. In August 2015 he led the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in the U.S. Stage Premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, co-presented as part of the Lincoln Center–New York Philharmonic Opera Initiative. Conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and former principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, Alan Gilbert regularly conducts leading orchestras around the world. This season Mr. Gilbert makes debuts with four great European orchestras — Filarmonica della Scala, Dresden Staatskapelle, London Symphony, and Academy of St Martin in the Fields — and returns to The Cleveland Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award. Renée Fleming’s recent Decca recording Poèmes, on which he conducted, received a 2013 Grammy Award. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, where he holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies. His honors include an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music (2010), Columbia University’s Ditson Conductor’s Award for his “exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music” (2011), election to The American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2014), a Foreign Policy Association Medal for his commitment to cultural diplomacy (2015), and being named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Baritone Thomas Hampson hails from Spokane, Washington. He combined the role of The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence with that of The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence at the New York Philharmonic in the 2009–10 season. He has received many honors and awards for his probing artistry and cultural leadership. His discography, which comprises more than 150 albums, includes Grammy Award winners, five Edison Awards, and the Grand Prix du Disque. He received the 2009 Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award from the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. In 2010 he received a Living Legend Award by the Library of Congress, where he holds the title of Special Advisor to the Study and Performance of Music in America. Mr. Hampson was made honorary professor at the faculty of philosophy of the University of Heidelberg; holds honorary doctorates from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Whitworth College, and San Francisco Conservatory; and is an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. He carries the titles of Kammersänger of the Vienna Staatsoper and Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France, and was awarded the Austrian Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences. Thomas Hampson enjoys a singular international career as an opera singer, recording artist, and “ambassador of song,” maintaining an active interest in research, education, musical outreach, and technology. (more) Alan Gilbert / Thomas Hampson / Stefan Vinke / 4 Recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mr. Hampson has won worldwide recognition for thoughtfully researched and creatively constructed programs as well as recordings that explore the rich repertoire of song in a wide range of styles, languages, and periods. Through the Hampsong Foundation, which he founded in 2003, he employs the art of song to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. Thomas Hampson began his relationship with the New York Philharmonic in November 2009 as part of the Leonard Bernstein memorial concert at Carnegie Hall; he most recently traveled with the Orchestra during the EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour. German tenor Stefan Vinke completed his master’s at the Music Academy of Cologne. From 1999 to 2005 he regularly appeared at Mannheim’s National Theater in heroic tenor roles including Tristan, Parsifal, Logengrin, and Siegmund in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Lohengrin, and Die Walküre, and Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio; his other roles there included Mozart’s Idomeneo, Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, and Hoffmann in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann.