FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 18, 2012 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ALAN GILBERT TO CONDUCT NEW YORK PREMIERE OF STEVEN STUCKY’S SYMPHONY VIOLINIST GIL SHAHAM TO PERFORM BARBER’S VIOLIN CONCERTO Program To Conclude with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances November 29–December 1 Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, will conduct the New York Philharmonic in the New York Premiere of Symphony, a New York Philharmonic Co- Commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Gil Shaham as soloist; and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances Thursday, November 29, 2012, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 30 at 2:00 p.m.; and Saturday, December 1 at 8:00 p.m. “I’ve always thought of Steven Stucky as a quintessentially American composer,” said Alan Gilbert. “He is not only one of the most important living composers — he has been an important person in the Philharmonic family, and I am honored to introduce Symphony to New York audiences.” Steven Stucky was the host of the New York Philharmonic’s Hear & Now series from 2005 to 2009. The Orchestra performed the World Premiere of Mr. Stucky’s Rhapsodies (a Philharmonic Co-Commission), led by then-Music Director Lorin Maazel at London’s Royal Albert Hall on the 2008 Tour of Europe, and the U.S. Premiere less than a month later in Avery Fisher Hall. Selections from Mr. Stucky’s Spirit Voices were heard on a Philharmonic Young People’s Concert in 2008, and Alan Gilbert conducted Son et Lumière in February 2012. The Pulitzer Prize–winning composer discussed his new work: “For many years I have avoided calling any of my works ‘Symphony’ (after having written four of them as a kid). Now, though, I know it’s time for me to test myself on this most imposing of genres. I will never have a better opportunity than now to take that plunge. My two favorite orchestras, New York and Los Angeles, deserve my very best efforts.” Of the world premiere performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with whom the New York Philharmonic co-commissioned Symphony, the Los Angeles Times wrote: “No note felt wasted. To hear Stucky’s Symphony once was to want to hear it again.” (more) Alan Gilbert / Steven Stucky’s Symphony / Gil Shaham / 2 Gil Shaham’s performance of Barber’s Violin Concerto is part of his ongoing exploration of violin concertos written in the 1930s. He has said of the piece: “I remember Maestro Hugh Wolff said that in the last movement of the Barber Violin Concerto you can hear urban America, skyscrapers being built, car horns and sirens going down Broadway. In the slow movement you can hear the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl farmers. Maybe there is something to looking at the world through violinists’ eyes.” “Gil is an amazing musical personality on the stage,” Alan Gilbert said. “One of his strengths is his ability to really connect with an audience. He’s so personable and so obviously trying to make a connection with the audience, that the music really comes alive with him. There’s a reason why he’s such a beloved artist. Barber’s Violin Concerto is beautiful and effusive, but the last movement is biting, sardonic, rhythmically jagged, and terribly compelling.” Stucky wrote that Symphony “travels through a series of emotional landscapes, depositing us at the end of our journey in a different place from where we set out.” Barber wrote his Violin Concerto in 1939 while vacationing in Switzerland, and he returned to the United States shortly thereafter when the war broke out. Rachmaninoff wrote his Symphonic Dances in 1940 on Long Island soon after leaving his Swiss estate due to the war. Symphony is Stucky’s first work labeled a symphony, while Symphonic Dances was Rachmaninoff’s last symphonic work. “Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances is a piece that I got to know when I was a substitute violinist in The Philadelphia Orchestra — which premiered the piece in 1941 — and I have loved it ever since,” Alan Gilbert said. “It has an incisive, driving, rhythmic quality coupled with the soaring tunes for which Rachmaninoff is so justly known.” Related Events Pre-Concert Talks Arbie Orenstein, author and professor of music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, will introduce the program. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. They take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656. National and International Radio Broadcast The program will be broadcast the week of January 2, 2013** on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ** Check local listings for broadcast and program information. (more) Alan Gilbert / Steven Stucky’s Symphony / Gil Shaham / 3 Artists Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, launching what New York magazine called “a fresh future for the Philharmonic.” The first native New Yorker in the post, he has introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, an annual multi-week festival, and CONTACT!, the new-music series, and he has sought to make the Orchestra a point of civic pride for the city and country. In 2012–13, Alan Gilbert conducts world premieres; presides over a cycle of Brahms’s complete symphonies and concertos; continues The Nielsen Project, the multi-year initiative to perform and record Nielsen’s symphonies and concertos; and leads the EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. The season concludes with June Journey: Gilbert’s Playlist, four programs showcasing themes he has introduced, including the season finale: a theatrical reimagining of Stravinsky ballets with director/designer Doug Fitch and New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Sara Mearns. Last season’s highlights included tours of Europe and California, several world premieres, Mahler symphonies, and Philharmonic 360, the Philharmonic and Park Avenue Armory’s acclaimed spatial-music program featuring Stockhausen’s Gruppen, about which The New York Times said: “Those who think classical music needs some shaking up routinely challenge music directors at major orchestras to think outside the box. That is precisely what Alan Gilbert did.” Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies and holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School. Conductor Laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, he regularly conducts leading orchestras around the world. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. In May 2010 Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and in December 2011, Columbia University’s Ditson Conductor’s Award for his “exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music.” Gil Shaham is sought after as a concerto, recital, and ensemble artist by the world’s leading orchestras, venues, and festivals. In the 2012–13 season he continues his long-term exploration of violin concertos of the 1930s, playing concertos by Barber, Bartók, Berg, Britten, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, and NHK symphony orchestras. He is performing other repertoire with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Seattle symphony orchestras. The season also includes recital tours in the United States, Europe, and Japan that highlight two works recently written for him by William Bolcom and Avner Dorman. Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, including bestsellers that have appeared on record charts in the U.S. and abroad, winning him multiple Grammys, a (more) Alan Gilbert / Steven Stucky’s Symphony / Gil Shaham / 4 Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. His recent recordings are produced on the Canary Classics label, which he founded in 2004; they comprise Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Butterfly Lovers and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A, The Prokofiev Album, The Fauré Album, Mozart in Paris, and works by Haydn and Mendelssohn. The coming season will feature the release of the first of a series of the 1930s concertos, as well as a recording of Hebrew melodies with his sister, pianist Orli Shaham, that will include the new Dorman work. Mr. Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the Avery Fisher Award. He made his New York Philharmonic debut in September 1985 at the age of 14 performing Bizet/Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy at a Young People’s Concert conducted by Zubin Mehta; his most recent appearance with the Orchestra was in March 2012 performing Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre for Solo Violin and String Orchestra, conducted by David Zinman.