FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 23, 2012 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] THREE ONE-NIGHT-ONLY CONCERTS MR. KEILLOR AT 70 Multifaceted Program Fêtes Garrison Keillor’s Birthday Featuring Mr. Keillor and Broadway Performer Christine DiGiallonardo Rob Fisher Conducts October 16, 2012 SYMPHONIC SONDHEIM Evening of Broadway Giant Stephen Sondheim’s Works Paul Gemignani Conducts January 29, 2013 AN EVENING WITH PAULO SZOT Tony Award–Winner To Sing Ravel, Broadway Favorites, Brazilian Songs, and More Ted Sperling Conducts June 4, 2013 The New York Philharmonic announced three one-night-only concerts in the 2012–13 season. Versatile raconteur Garrison Keillor will return to the Philharmonic as narrator and vocalist for Mr. Keillor at 70 with conductor Rob Fisher and vocalist Christine DiGiallonardo on October 16, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. Mr. Keillor described the concert as: “A personal narrative of 70 years of music in a man’s head, featuring Brethren hymns, nonsense, rousers, show tunes, blues, ribaldry, Pomp and Circumstance, “My Girl,” as well as music by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Brian Wilson, Ligeti, and Jerry Garcia. Plus: ‘Hot Bananas Poetry and Piano Ping-Pong.’” Conductor Paul Gemignani will lead the Philharmonic in Symphonic Sondheim, a program of symphonic suites by Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, Academy Award, and Grammy Award– winning composer Stephen Sondheim. The program, January 29, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., includes a newly commissioned arrangement from Sunday in the Park with George and orchestral selections from The Enclave, Pacific Overtures, Stavisky, Passion, and Sweeney Todd. Tony Award–winning performer and Metropolitan Opera singer Paulo Szot will join the Philharmonic and conductor Ted Sperling for An Evening with Paulo Szot, a diverse program of Brazilian, operatic, Broadway, and concert songs, including works by Ravel and Cole Porter and selections from Gigi and Man of La Mancha on June 4, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. (more) Mr. Keillor at 70 / Symphonic Sondheim / An Evening with Paulo Szot / 2 Full program details for all three concerts will be announced at a later date. Tickets available now only to New York Philharmonic subscribers and donors; tickets will become available to the general public on August 30, 2012. An Evening with Paulo Szot is the New York Philharmonic’s Spring Gala. For more information about the Gala, which includes a pre-concert reception, concert, and post-concert dinner, please call Courtney Ford at New York Philharmonic Special Events (212) 875-5757, or e-mail her at [email protected]. Artists Mr. Keillor at 70, October 16, 2012 Garrison Keillor is the host and writer of the radio program A Prairie Home Companion and the author of numerous books, including Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Love Me, and Homegrown Democrat. He was born in Anoka, Minnesota, in 1942 and graduated from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Keillor lives in St. Paul with his wife and daughter. He has two grandsons. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters and St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church. With conductor Philip Brunelle he has performed with many orchestras, including the Minnesota Orchestra; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; the Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Dallas, and National symphony orchestras; and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in March 2006. Rob Fisher is an internationally distinguished artistic director, conductor, and pianist, as well as a leading figure in American music and musical theater. He was founding music director and conductor of the Encores! series at New York City Center from its inception in 1994 until 2005; the series earned a 2000 Tony Award and, in 1997, he was given the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Special Achievement. Mr. Fisher has made numerous recordings for the series, including the Grammy Award–winning Chicago cast album. He continues to be supervising music director of Chicago productions around the globe. Currently, he is music supervisor of the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Anything Goes. This year, Mr. Fisher was producer/music director of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series’ Gershwin program, following his 2009 tribute to Cole Porter and 2007 tribute to Leonard Bernstein. He has recently collaborated in concert with such artists as Kristin Chenoweth, Kelli O’Hara, Victoria Clark, Idina Menzel, the King’s Singers, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and David Hyde Pierce. Within the past decade Mr. Fisher has been a guest as conductor or pianist of virtually every major orchestra in the U.S. He has conducted Patti LuPone’s engagements with the Pacific, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Fort Worth symphony orchestras and Idina Menzel’s appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. In 2007 he led a critically acclaimed revival of My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic. Other recent highlights include debuts with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and National symphony orchestras. He (more) Mr. Keillor at 70 / Symphonic Sondheim / An Evening with Paulo Szot / 3 conducted The New York Pops on many occasions and enjoyed sharing concerts with the late Skitch Henderson. As a pianist, Mr. Fisher has been soloist for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F with orchestras across the country. Rob Fisher’s performances have been televised on many occasions. He was music director and conductor for “Ira at 100,” a gala concert at Carnegie Hall which was broadcast on PBS’s Great Performances, and he appeared twice on the PBS series In Performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Clintons. In addition, for four seasons Mr. Fisher was music director for Garrison Keillor’s American Radio Company and remains a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion. Symphonic Sondheim, January 29, 2013 Paul Gemignani has been the music director of more than 40 Broadway and West End shows, including Follies, Pacific Overtures, Candide, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, Dreamgirls, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, On the Twentieth Century, Sunday in the Park with George, Jerome Robbins’s Broadway, Crazy for You, Passion, High Society, and Kiss Me, Kate. In 2004 he was the music director for Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, The Frogs, and the Japan National Theatre Company’s production of Pacific Overtures. Mr. Gemignani has made recordings with the American Theatre Orchestra in addition to many cast albums; appeared as guest conductor with numerous orchestras; and is a regular guest conductor at the New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera Company, and the New York City Ballet. His film work has included Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp, Kramer vs. Kramer, Reds, and Eyewitness. Mr. Gemignani received the 2001 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award (1994), and a special Drama Desk Award (1989) for “consistently outstanding musical direction and commitment to the theater.” In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of musical arts from the Manhattan School of Music; in 2006 he received a Prime Time Emmy Award for Best Musical Direction for a Great Performances presentation of South Pacific; and the Drama League of New York honored him for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre in 2008. Mr. Gemignani served as the music director of the New York Philharmonic’s concert performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies in September 1985; in May 2008 he was the conductor and music supervisor of the Orchestra’s semi-staged performances of Camelot; and in March 2010 he conducted the Philharmonic’s production of SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, which aired on PBS and was released on DVD in November 2010. On January 24, 2011, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. An Evening with Paulo Szot, June 4, 2013 Baritone Paulo Szot starred as Emile De Beque in the Broadway revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Center Theater, for which he won the 2008 Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critic’s Circle Awards. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, the son of Polish immigrants, he has appeared with major opera companies throughout the world, including The Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, New (more) Mr. Keillor at 70 / Symphonic Sondheim / An Evening with Paulo Szot / 4 York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, De Vlaamse Opera, and Opéra de Bordeaux. In the 2011–12 season Mr. Szot made his debuts at the Festival de Aix-en-Provence as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and at the San Francisco Opera in Bizet’s Carmen. He returned to The Met for Massenet’s Manon, Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus, and Shostakovich’s The Nose. In 2010 Mr. Szot made his highly acclaimed Met debut in a new production of The Nose, conducted by Valery Gergiev, and his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops Orchestra. That same season, Paulo Szot made his debut at Dallas Opera in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and his Paris Opéra debut as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, returned to The Met as Escamillo in Carmen, and appeared at Carnegie Hall with Deborah Voigt and The Collegiate Chorale. Mr. Szot made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2009 alongside Liza Minnelli in a concert conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. Also in the 2008–09 season, Mr. Szot made his Ravinia Festival debut in concert with Kelli O’Hara and appeared in concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center as part of the American Songbook Series. Paulo Szot made his U.S. opera debut in 2003 as Escamillo in Carmen at the New York City Opera, where he returned in the 2004–05 season as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro.