23 Season 2013-2014 Thursday, January 30, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, January 31, at 2:00 Saturday, February 1, at 8:00 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Radu Lupu Piano Smetana “The Moldau,” from Má vlast Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3 I. Allegretto II. Adagio religioso—Poco più mosso—Tempo I— III. Allegro vivace—Presto—Tempo I Intermission Dvorˇák Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60 I. Allegro non tanto II. Adagio III. Scherzo (Furiant: Presto)—Trio (Poco meno mosso)—Tempo I (Presto) IV. Finale: Allegro con spirito This program runs approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes. The January 30 concert is sponsored by Medcomp. 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. 3 Story Title 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President orchestras in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s Cello and Violin Play-Ins, and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the shine a spotlight on the creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned Orchestra’s musicians, as experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with they spread out from the home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon stage into the community. Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. The Orchestra’s commitment Nézet-Séguin triumphantly to its education and Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural community partnership the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic initiatives manifests itself important relationship not leader of the Orchestra in numerous other ways, only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly including concerts for families the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- and students, and eZseatU, Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, a program that allows full- who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, time college students to other area performances paired with a fresh approach attend an unlimited number at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, of Orchestra concerts for Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by a $25 annual membership The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. fee. For more information on ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced The Philadelphia Orchestra, and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the please visit www.philorch.org. the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 8 Music Director Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra 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 Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary opera Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and 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 Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic 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, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 26 Soloist Mary Roberts Pianist Radu Lupu is widely acknowledged as a leading interpreter of the works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Schubert. Since winning the prestigious Van Cliburn (1966) and Leeds (1969) piano competitions, he has regularly performed as soloist and recitalist in the musical capitals and major festivals of Europe and the United States. He has appeared many times with the Berlin Philharmonic since debuting with that ensemble at the 1978 Salzburg Festival under Herbert von Karajan, and with the Vienna Philharmonic, including the opening concert of the 1986 Salzburg Festival under Riccardo Muti. He is also a frequent visitor to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and all the major London orchestras. Mr. Lupu’s first major American appearances were in 1972 with the Cleveland Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim and with the Chicago Symphony and Carlo Maria Giulini. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1973. In the 2013-14 season Mr. Lupu is artist in residence at the Dresden Staatskapelle. Concerto appearances include performances with the Bournemouth, Montreal, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati symphonies; the Berlin, Stockholm, Monte Carlo, and Flanders philharmonics; and the Tonhalle, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Cleveland orchestras. Other season highlights include his 11th tour of Japan, and the conclusion of his cycle of the Beethoven piano concertos at the new concert hall in Helsinki with the Finnish Chamber Orchestra and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Mr. Lupu has made more than 20 recordings for London/Decca, including the complete Beethoven concertos with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta; the complete Mozart violin and piano sonatas with Szymon Goldberg; Grieg and Schumann concertos; Debussy and Franck violin and piano sonatas with Kyung Wha Chung; and numerous solo recordings of works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert. He also has two recordings with pianist Murray Perahia (Sony Classical); two albums of Schubert lieder with soprano Barbara Hendricks (EMI); and a disc of Schubert works for piano, four hands, with Mr. Barenboim (Teldec). Born in Romania in 1945, Mr. Lupu began studying the piano at age six. He made his public debut with a complete program of his own music at age 12 and won a scholarship to the Moscow State Conservatory. 27 Framing the Program The concert today visits Central Europe, featuring three Parallel Events illustrious Czech and Hungarian composers. 1874 Music Bedrˇich Smetana’s “The Moldau” is the second and Smetana Grieg “The Moldau” Peer Gynt most famous movement of a six-part set of orchestral Literature tone poems entitled Má vlast (My Homeland). The piece Hardy marvelously evokes a trip along the mighty Vltava River Far from the (Moldau in German), beginning with two intermingling Madding Crowd streams (delightfully rendered by flutes and clarinets) Art that join to flow by peasants dancing, hunters hunting, Renoir and through an atmospheric nocturnal landscape. The La Loge river eventually reaches the imposing Vyšehrad cliffs and History passes through the center of Prague. First American zoo founded in Béla Bartók fled his native Hungary during the Second Philadelphia World War and settled in America, where he died of leukemia in 1945. He had nearly completed his 1880 Music Third Piano Concerto, written as a birthday gift for his Dvorˇák Tchaikovsky pianist wife. His student, Philadelphia Orchestra violist Symphony Capriccio italien Tibor Serly, orchestrated the final 17 measures of the No. 6 Literature Concerto and the Orchestra gave its world premiere in Dostoyevsky 1946, with Eugene Ormandy conducting and György The Brothers Sándor as soloist. Karamazov Art Although Antonín Dvorˇák wrote nine symphonies, the Cézanne first one was lost soon after its composition (and only Château de discovered long after the composer’s death), and the Medan others were published out of order.