Annual Report

12 NEWYORKPHILHARMONIC 2013 Annual Report 12 NEWYORKPHILHARMONIC CONTENTS 3 Reflections on the Season, from the Leadership 13 20 Annual Report 4 Our Audiences: Concerts and Attendance 5 New York Philharmonic: The Musicians 6 Partners on the Stage: Conductors, Soloists, and Guest Ensembles 7 Community: New York’s Philharmonic 8 Education: Inspiration and Illumination for All Ages 10 The Digital Philharmonic: Projects Online and Beyond 11 The Archives: In the Hall and Around the World 12 Artistic Collaborations 12 The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Emanuel Ax 13 The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse 14 The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival 15 2012–13 Season: Every Concert Tells a Story 27 Artistic Highlights 27 Composer Tributes 28 CONTACT!, the New-Music Series 29 Gilbert’s Playlist 30 A Dancer’s Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky 31 Season Highlights 31 The Shanghai Collaboration 32 Philharmonic Galas 33 Tour and Travel 34 The Board of Directors 35 The Administration 2012–13 New York Philharmonic Annual Report Edited and Produced by New York Philharmonic Marketing and Communications 36 The Philharmonic Family David Snead, Vice President, Marketing and Communications Monica Parks, Director of Publications Rebecca Winzenried, Program and Publications Editor 36 Credit Suisse, Global Sponsor Deirdre Roddin, Media Relations Associate 37 Some of Our Generous Donors Design: Chemistry 38 Lifetime Gifts All photos by Chris Lee except page 7 (Sandy relief collection by Michael DiVito; Healing Newtown Family Concert by Peggy Stewart; Concerts in the Parks and the Schaefers by Stephanie Berger); 39 Leonard Bernstein Circle pages 8–9 (Michael DiVito); page 10 (Lindberg DVD cover © 2013 Anish Kapoor / Artists Rights Society [ARS], New York / DACS, London); page 11 (courtesy New York Philharmonic Archives); 40 Annual Fund page 22 (by Michael DiVito); page 26 (by Stephanie Berger); page 30 (close-ups of Petrushka and the Ice Maiden courtesy Giants Are Small); page 27 (Brahms and Nielsen courtesy New York Philharmonic 44 Education Donors Archives; Hamlisch by Len Prince); page 32 (photos of Gala Chairmen, Co-Chairmen, and Honorary Chairmen by Julie Skarratt); page 33 (Vail photos by Zach Mahone); page 34 (by permission of those 45 Heritage Society depicted); page 37 (Gilbert & Foster, Mitchell, Baldwins, Rose & Corigliano, Johnsons, Hites, and Saint-Amand & Krimendahl by Julie Skarratt; Ceschina & Takebe, Kurtz, Parr & Flowers, Chavkin & 46 Gifts in Honor and in Memory of Others Chang, Silversteins, Schartzes, Soros, Gruenbergs, and Schaefer & O’Hara by Linsley Lindekens) 46 Endowment Fund New York Philharmonic Avery Fisher Hall 10 Lincoln Center Plaza 47 Volunteer Council New York, NY 10023-6970 48 Independent Auditor’s Report nyphil.org 49 Statements of Financial Position Reflections on the 2012–13 Season Letters from the New York Philharmonic’s Leadership The New York Philharmonic’s 171st season was truly My first complete Philharmonic concert season was rich I am proud of what this Orchestra and I have achieved over worthy of the legacy of this iconic institution. The in artistic and organizational achievements, and writing our first four years together. We have worked diligently — Orchestra is performing magnificently under Alan Gilbert’s this letter offers the opportunity to remember our many and joyfully — to achieve a meeting of minds in our inspirational leadership as our Music Director, as critics accomplishments and to articulate the challenges we approach to performance and interpretation, and it was acclaim the nuance and power of their playing. are facing. Working with everyone in the Philharmonic very gratifying to experience the results in the 2012–13 Alan and the musicians could not do it alone, and I family is a great pleasure and privilege, and hearing from season’s concerts. congratulate Matthew VanBesien on his achievements since our supporters and audience members is invaluable in Was it just over a year ago that we opened the season becoming Executive Director. He and Alan are reinventing approaching our future. with a subscription program that coupled Kurtág with the Philharmonic for a changing cultural landscape while There were passionate performances of repertoire Beethoven and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, followed remaining true to its greatest traditions. We are all engaged spanning Baroque, Classical, and Romantic masterpieces, by the Opening Gala featuring the truly legendary in ambitious projects, such as the Shanghai residency and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel, and the new voices on violinist Itzhak Perlman? So much followed that it seems orchestral academy announced last year. This expansion of our CONTACT! series, plus the groundbreaking A Dancer’s impossible to have fit into one season: Ives’s Fourth our historic role as cultural ambassadors will benefit Shanghai Dream. Our education projects — both onstage, like our Symphony and Steven Stucky’s first; Bach’s B-minor Mass as well as the Orchestra itself, as we make new friends who Young People’s Concerts, and in classrooms, such as the and Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero; Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft will want to support the Philharmonic. School Partnership Program — flourished. Alan Gilbert and at the Volkswagen Transparent Factory in Dresden during The Board of Directors also expanded in 2012–13, with the Philharmonic took Europe by storm. At season’s end, the EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour; A Dancer’s Dream, the addition of six visionary business and philanthropic leading publications echoed our audiences’ enthusiasm, with the magical production of Stravinsky ballets blending leaders. At the forefront of the generous donors acting The New York Times hailing us for “helping to change the symphony orchestra with ballet, puppetry, and circus and on their belief in the Philharmonic were Credit Suisse, template for what an American orchestra can be.” video arts starring Sara Mearns, principal dancer of our our Global Sponsor, which bolsters us both at home and We announced a collaboration with the Shanghai neighbor, New York City Ballet. Exploring all this and abroad; the Ford Foundation, which joined Didi and Oscar Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Conservatory of more with the astounding Philharmonic musicians is a Schafer in supporting our Concerts in the Parks; Alec Music establishing an orchestral academy and multiyear pleasure I cannot describe. Baldwin, who contributed to our efforts toward orchestral Philharmonic residency in that dazzling and rapidly evolving I was also pleased by the rewards of cultivating close development across the world; the Mellon Foundation, city. Fundamental to our future was extending Alan Gilbert’s associations with today’s most interesting and gifted Gary W. Parr which underwrote some of the season’s more ambitious Matthew VanBesien Music Directorship through 2016–17; he and I share the Alan Gilbert musicians. The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist- Chairman performances; and Eugene Grant, who extended a Executive Director conviction that this truly magnificent Orchestra is also an Music Director in-Residence Emanuel Ax shared his enthusiasm and challenge grant toward education programs that inspired incredible resource, one we will continue to develop. In expertise in piano works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, and gifts from 700 other households. addition to the more than half a million people who heard Schoenberg, while Christopher Rouse, The Marie-Josée These are still difficult financial times for cultural the Orchestra perform live, millions more experienced the Kravis Composer-in-Residence, created the evocative institutions, and we closed the season with a deficit. While Philharmonic through our education and radio programs Prospero’s Rooms for performances in New York and across this is reason for concern, our management team’s long- and through our growing presence on social media. Europe. I also applaud the conductors who visited our term financial planning, adopted by our Board, should However, there are financial challenges. Last season podium, among them the three who joined me to share ensure improved future fiscal health while we pursue our ended with a $6 million operating deficit on an overall our complementary perspectives on the cornerstone artistic and educational imperatives. We will continue to budget of $71 million so, although more than half of this of our musical tradition through The Bach Variations: A thrive because of those who act on their convictions, as deficit is caused by the underfunding of our pension plans, Philharmonic Festival, and I salute the composers featured well as the excellence of this Orchestra. we are determined to operate even more efficiently to buoy on CONTACT!, our new-music series. The New York Philharmonic plays a unique role in artistic triumphs with greater financial success. Positive It was humbling to feel the warmth among the listeners concert houses, our community, and around the world, signs include last year’s surge in ticket sales, with 10,000 in Avery Fisher Hall, in New York City’s parks, and on our thanks to the remarkable artistry of the Orchestra’s more seats purchased than in the previous season, and European tour. I thank our audiences; Matthew VanBesien, musicians; its strong, forward-looking leadership; and the record-breaking fund-raising, exceeding $31 million. We’ve who has become a vital partner; Gary Parr and the Board dedicated supporters who understand the vital importance also been working to grow audiences though

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