Season 2015-2016

23 Season 2015-2016 Thursday, May 12, at 8:00 Friday, May 13, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday, May 14, at 8:00 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Lang Lang Piano Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 I. Vivace II. Andante III. Allegro vivace Intermission Mahler/Cooke Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp major I. Adagio II. Scherzo III. Purgatorio (Allegretto moderato) IV. [Scherzo]— V. Finale (Lento non troppo) This program runs approximately 2 hours, 5 minutes. The May 12 concert is sponsored by Ballard Spahr. The May 12 concert is sponsored by Constance Smukler. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit WRTI.org to listen live or for more details. 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra Orchestra also reaches Carnegie Hall and the is one of the preeminent thousands of listeners on the Kennedy Center while also orchestras in the world, radio with weekly Sunday enjoying summer residencies renowned for its distinctive afternoon broadcasts on in Saratoga Springs, New sound, desired for its WRTI-FM. York, and Vail, Colorado. keen ability to capture the Philadelphia is home and The Philadelphia Orchestra hearts and imaginations the Orchestra nurtures an of audiences, and admired serves as a catalyst for important relationship with for a legacy of imagination cultural activity across patrons who support the and innovation on and off Philadelphia’s many main season at the Kimmel the concert stage. The communities, as it builds an Orchestra is transforming its Center, and also with those offstage presence as strong rich tradition of achievement, who enjoy the Orchestra’s as its onstage one. The sustaining the highest area performances at the Orchestra’s award-winning level of artistic quality, but Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, Collaborative Learning also challenging—and and other cultural, civic, initiatives engage over exceeding—that level by and learning venues. The 50,000 students, families, creating powerful musical Orchestra maintains a strong and community members experiences for audiences at commitment to collaborations through programs such as home and around the world. with cultural and community PlayINs, side-by-sides, PopUp organizations on a regional concerts, free Neighborhood Music Director Yannick and national level. Concerts, School Concerts, Nézet-Séguin’s highly collaborative style, deeply- Through concerts, tours, and residency work in rooted musical curiosity, residencies, presentations, Philadelphia and abroad. and boundless enthusiasm, and recordings, the Orchestra The Orchestra’s musicians, paired with a fresh approach is a global ambassador for in their own dedicated to orchestral programming, Philadelphia and for the roles as teachers, coaches, have been heralded by United States. Having been and mentors, serve a key critics and audiences alike the first American orchestra role in growing young since his inaugural season in to perform in China, in 1973 musician talent and a love 2012. Under his leadership at the request of President of classical music, nurturing the Orchestra returned to Nixon, The Philadelphia and celebrating the wealth recording, with two celebrated Orchestra today boasts a new of musicianship in the CDs on the prestigious partnership with the National Philadelphia region. For Deutsche Grammophon Centre for the Performing more information on The label, continuing its history Arts in Beijing. The ensemble Philadelphia Orchestra, of recording success. The annually performs at please visit www.philorch.org. 6 Music Director Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has renewed his commitment to the ensemble through the 2021-22 season. 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 him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” Highlights of his fourth season include a year-long exploration of works that exemplify the famous Philadelphia Sound, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and other pieces premiered by the Orchestra; a Music of Vienna Festival; and the continuation of a commissioning project for principal players. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling 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 two CDs on that label; the second, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Daniil Trifonov, was released in August 2015. He continues fruitful recording relationships 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 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 appointments as Companion of the Order of Canada and Officer of the National Order of Quebec, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, the Prix Denise-Pelletier, Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year, and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Westminster Choir College. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 27 Soloist Harald Hoffmann 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 2014 and 2015 Grammy Awards, where he performed with Metallica and Pharrell Williams; the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people 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 U.S. 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 2001; performed with them on tour in Asia in 2001, 2005, and 2008 (and also this month); and most recently appeared with the ensemble in 2014. 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 releases include an all-Mozart CD and Lang Lang in Paris, featuring works by Tchaikovsky, Bach, and Chopin. Lang Lang credits the Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” (featuring Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2) with introducing him to that composer’s music. He retains a childlike excitement about what he calls “his second career” bringing music into the lives of children around the world through his work for charities such as UNICEF and through the Lang Lang International Music 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. 28 Framing the Program Although Sergei Rachmaninoff had written some earlier Parallel Events pieces, he decided to present as his official Opus 1 the 1890 Music First Piano Concerto. He began composing the work Rachmaninoff Nielsen at age 17 and was soloist at 18 for its premiere. He Piano Concerto Symphony published the Concerto a few years later, but then cooled No. 1 No. 1 on the piece, declining to play it any longer. Twenty-five Literature years passed before he returned to this youthful venture Ibsen to thoroughly revise it. He gave the first performance Hedda Gabler of the new version in 1917 at Carnegie Hall and two Art decades later recorded it with Eugene Ormandy and The Cézanne The Philadelphia Orchestra. Cardplayers When Gustav Mahler died at age 50 in 1911 he had History drafted a five-movement symphony, which would have Global influenza been his Tenth. The opening movement was quite far epidemics advanced and some dozen years later Alma, his widow, decided it should be performed, as it has been frequently 1910 Music Mahler Stravinsky ever since then. The remaining four movements of the Symphony The Firebird work were in more preliminary states, some sections fully No. 10 Literature orchestrated while other parts were minimally sketched Forster with a basic melodic line. For the Mahler Centenary in Howard’s End 1960 the British musicologist Deryck Cooke created Art a performing version to accompany a BBC lecture Modigliani broadcast.

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