This season, this orchestra, this music director, this performance, this moment ... don’t blink. 2020–21 SEASON MUSIC DIRECTOR YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN 1 Welcome to Your Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2020-21 Season Our World NOW is both a visit to the music you know and love and a vision of familiar works heard and perceived in new ways. In this chronological listing of concerts, we invite you to Choose Your Own season of music to fit your tastes, your schedule, and your budget. Pick any six (or more) and relax knowing that you have reserved time in your life for enjoyment, escape, and invigoration. Choose a Create-Your-Own 6-concert series for as little as $39 per concert. Create your own season of music at a savings over individual ticket prices when you subscribe today. Schedule Flexibility Always on the go? We offer subscribers many easy options to exchange tickets with no additional fees so you never Subscriber Benefits have to miss a concert. Everyday Savings Subscribing automatically saves you money over general public single ticket prices. Save up to 20% off single ticket prices depending on the concert and section you choose. Plus, add tickets and the savings continue. Payment Plans There are several payment plans to fit any budget, making it easy to subscribe. Order early, take advantage of our payment plans, and still get the best seats. Discounted Parking Why worry about finding a place to park? As a subscriber, you can purchase pre-paid discounted parking for all your concerts in the Avenue of the Arts Garage, located steps away from the Kimmel Center. For a full list of subscriber benefits, please visit philorch.org/subscriberbenefits. 3 WomenNOW Jane in Concert October 13 Hilary Hahn Plays Prokofiev January 7–9 Identity Tchaikovsky Ballet Trilogy November 5–8 South Pacific 2021 April 23–25 Season Highlights The Natural World Songs from the Earth February 26–28 The Rite of Spring March 18–20 The Digital Age Beethoven: Missa solemnis 2.0 October 9–11 Mitsuko Meets Yannick May 6–9 John Williams Lang Lang Gustavo Dudamel Plus Branford Marsalis Anne-Sophie Mutter Chick Corea Act now and subscribe by phone, 215.893.1955. philorch.org/subscribe Yannick Leads Chopin’s Piano Concerto Ravel Favorites No. 2 Thursday, October 1 / 7:30 PM Thursday, October 22 / 7:30 PM Friday, October 2 / 2:00 PM Friday, October 23 / 2:00 PM Saturday, October 3 / 8:00 PM Saturday, October 24 / 8:00 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Christoph Eschenbach Conductor Lisa Batiashvili Violin Seong-Jin Cho Piano Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin Holcomb Paradise (world premiere— Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1 Philadelphia Orchestra commission) Chausson Poème, for violin and orchestra Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2 Ravel Bolero Schumann Symphony No. 2 We open our new season with two of Ravel’s Hear Seong-Jin Cho live when the 25-year-old most revered works: Bolero and Le Tombeau de rising star performs the evocative Romantic Couperin, which will spotlight new Principal repertoire that made him famous. Oboe Philippe Tondre. Premium Beethoven: Branford Marsalis Missa solemnis 2.0 and the Sax Concerto Friday, October 9 / 8:00 PM Thursday, October 29 / 7:30 PM Saturday, October 10 / 8:00 PM Friday, October 30 / 2:00 PM Sunday, October 11 / 2:00 PM Saturday, October 31 / 8:00 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Rafael Payare Conductor Jennifer Rowley Soprano Branford Marsalis Saxophone Karen Cargill Mezzo-soprano Rodrick Dixon Tenor Strauss Don Juan Eric Owens Bass Adams Saxophone Concerto Philadelphia Symphonic Choir Dvořák Symphony No. 7 Joe Miller Director Refik Anadol Visual Design Grammy-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis joins the Orchestra for John Beethoven Missa solemnis Adams’s Saxophone Concerto, inspired by the works of jazz greats Stan Getz and Refik Anadol, one of the world’s leading visual Charlie Parker. artists, brings Beethoven’s Missa solemnis to life as he transforms Verizon Hall into a virtual, multi-denominational cathedral. Beethoven: Missa solemnis 2.0 has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. 5 215.893.1955 | philorch.org/subscribe Tchaikovsky Ballet Trilogy Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 Thursday, November 5 / 7:30 PM Friday, November 6 / 2:00 PM Friday, November 20 / 2:00 PM Saturday, November 7 / 8:00 PM Saturday, November 21 / 8:00 PM Sunday, November 8 / 2:00 PM Sunday, November 22 / 2:00 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Lahav Shani Conductor Brian Sanders’ JUNK Yefim Bronfman Piano Tchaikovsky Selections from The Nutcracker, Prokofiev Lieutenant Kijé and Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 Stravinsky Petrushka Brian Sanders’s provocative dance/physical theater company returns to Verizon Hall for This is a program of pure Russian poetry, a modern mash-up of Tchaikovsky’s three steeped in the sound that made the famous ballets. Philadelphians famous. Joyce, Yannick, and Mahler Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 Thursday, November 12 / 7:30 PM Friday, November 27 / 8:00 PM Friday, November 13 / 2:00 PM Saturday, November 28 / 8:00 PM Saturday, November 14 / 8:00 PM Alan Gilbert Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Juliette Kang Violin Joyce DiDonato Mezzo-soprano Chin Frontispiece for Orchestra Mahler Rückert Lieder Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2 Mahler Symphony No. 4 Brahms Symphony No. 1 The voice of the “out-of-this-world” Joyce First Associate Concertmaster Juliette Kang DiDonato (as Yannick describes her) is made takes center stage for Bartók’s ingenious for Mahler’s ethereal Rückert Lieder, and the Second Violin Concerto, infused with special connection these two stars share on Hungarian folk-dance melodies. stage only enhances the bliss of the music. 215.893.1955 | philorch.org/subscribe Premium Premium Rhapsody in Blue with Gustavo Dudamel Chick Corea Debuts Thursday, December 10 / 7:30 PM Thursday, January 14 / 7:30 PM Friday, December 11 / 2:00 PM Friday, January 15 / 2:00 PM Saturday, December 12 / 8:00 PM Sunday, January 17 / 2:00 PM Sunday, December 13 / 2:00 PM Gustavo Dudamel Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Sergio Tiempo Piano Chick Corea Piano Benzecry (world premiere—Philadelphia Ellington Solitude Orchestra commission) Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue Ginastera Piano Concerto No. 1 Price Symphony No. 1 Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 Jazz legend Chick Corea joins the hottest big Join us for the highly anticipated debut of band on the planet for this classic melting Gustavo Dudamel, who electrifies audiences pot of American musical styles. around the globe with his passionate approach to everything he conducts. Hilary Hahn Plays Prokofiev Return to the Academy Thursday, January 7 / 7:30 PM Thursday, January 21 / 7:30 PM Friday, January 8 / 2:00 PM Friday, January 22 / 2:00 PM Saturday, January 9 / 8:00 PM Academy of Music, Philadelphia Xian Zhang Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Monica Czausz Organ Hai-Ye Ni Cello Hilary Hahn Violin Prokofiev Symphony-Concerto Eötvös When It Hits the Ocean Below (world Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission) Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 The Symphony-Concerto is both cello Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (“Organ”) concerto and full-throated symphony, a sublime match for the Orchestra and Prokofiev’s urgent and rapturous First Violin Principal Cello Hai-Ye Ni. Concerto soars in the captivating hands of Hilary Hahn. RESERVE TIME for Yourself— Choose Any 6 Concerts and Save 7 Pictures from an Exhibition Songs from the Earth Friday, February 5 / 2:00 PM Friday, February 26 / 8:00 PM Saturday, February 6 / 8:00 PM Saturday, February 27 / 8:00 PM Sunday, February 7 / 2:00 PM Sunday, February 28 / 2:00 PM Andrew Davis Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor David Kim Violin Ekaterina Gubanova Mezzo-soprano Piotr Beczała Tenor Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol Massenet “Meditation,” from Thaïs, for Debussy La Mer violin and orchestra Mahler Das Lied von der Erde Sarasate Carmen Fantasy, for violin and orchestra In this program, we celebrate the beauty Musorgsky Pictures from an Exhibition of nature, and how it connects us to our world and to our souls. Concertmaster David Kim offers the wonderfully delicate “Meditation” from Massenet’s opera Thaïs and Sarasate’s fiery Carmen Fantasy. Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé Emanuel Ax Plays Mozart Friday, February 12 / 8:00 PM Thursday, March 4 / 7:30 PM Satuday, February 13 / 8:00 PM Friday, March 5 / 2:00 PM Sunday, February 14 / 2:00 PM Saturday, March 6 / 8:00 PM Stéphane Denève Conductor Louis Langrée Conductor Gautier Capuçon Cello Emanuel Ax Piano Westminster Symphonic Choir Joe Miller Director Mozart Overture to La clemenza di Tito Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271 Purrington Words for Departure Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 (world premiere—Philadelphia Orchestra commission) Emanuel Ax is the ideal interpreter for Connesson Cello Concerto Mozart’s joyful Ninth Piano Concerto, Ravel Daphnis and Chloé (complete ballet) which will prepare you for music on a large scale in the form of Tchaikovsky’s Stéphane Denève returns to lead the great Romantic Fifth Symphony. complete version of Ravel’s love story ballet. 215.893.1955 | philorch.org/subscribe Love and Tragedy The Rite of Spring Thursday, March 11 / 7:30 PM Thursday, March 18 / 7:30 PM Friday, March 12 / 2:00 PM Friday, March 19 / 2:00 PM Saturday, March 13 / 8:00 PM Saturday, March 20 / 8:00 PM Nathalie Stutzmann Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Daniel Lozakovich Violin Frank Picaflor (world premiere—Philadelphia Brahms Tragic Overture Orchestra commission) Wagner Prelude and “Liebestod,” from Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Tristan and Isolde Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky’s vision of pagan Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet rituals, still astounds a century after its riotous Paris premiere.