I am most eager to begin my work with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. For an itinerant conductor such a commitment is ideal ; all the more so with an orchestra of such distinguished history and artistic commitment as the BPO. It is an honor to fol­ low in the footsteps of Lukas Foss and Dennis Russell Davies. I look MYyears with the Brooklyn forward to calling Brooklyn home. Philharmonic have been exciting and fulfilling ones for me, and I approach this season with a cer­ Robert Spano tain sadness knowing that I will miss musicians and staff very much. It is therefore especially gratifying that the orchestra was able to attract a fine , innovative and dedicated conductor like Robert Spano to continue our pro­ gram. The BPO's future is in excellent hands. Dennis Russell Davies Robert C. Rosenberg Chairman of the Board Artistic II the audience of the future The 1994-95 Season When Peter G. Davis, in New York Magazine, The weekend in question, "Paradise Lost," named the "best" and "worst" musical events also included music by Hindemith and of 1995, the Brooklyn Philharmonic was the Mahler- programming variously described in only organization to make both lists. This the press as "peculiar, " "outrageous," "gen­ seemed the ultimate accolade. uinely interesting," and "ingenious. " Beyond a doubt, many at BAM that weekend were As surely as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, exposed to Hindemith and Mahler for the for which it is Orchestra in Residence, BPO first time. Their reactions were vividly shuns business as usual. demonstrative. Swed, in The Wall Street The highlights of the 1994- 95 season Journal, reported seeing a young woman included a weekend with Marianne Faithful! "theatrically gasping for air at intermission" singing Kurt Weill. This was a winning gam­ and "shrieking hysterically to her companion ble based on an artistic hunch. As Mark that the music made her physically sick. " Swed put it in The Wall Street Journal: "Ms. There was also the spectacle of a young man Faithful! is a famed survivor of an era of with shaven head and a motorcycle jacket nihilistic abandon in the rock world of the who saved his loudest bravos and applause sixties that was not so very different from the for Mahler's Fourth . glamorous Weimar decadence of Berlin in Tim Page , surveying the sold-out house, the twenties. " observed: Tim Page wrote in New York Newsday: There is a huge audience of cultivated On paper, the idea of dressing Marianne young Americans in their 30s and 40s Faithful! up in high heels and a slit skirt, who grew up on pop music but fe lt giving her a microphone and a top hat, increasingly dispossessed by the direc­ and having her slink around the stage tion it has taken and (more to the point, declaiming "Surabaya Johnny" and perhaps) by its steadfast refusal to grow "Mack the Knife" sounds like an awful up and speak to their present concerns. marketing stunt cooked up by some What will feed these folks? Old ies? Well , self-consciously hip, overpaid corporate maybe, but oldies get old . New age and chowderhead at a record company. In "lite" classics-those Vivaldi concertos fact, Faithful! was splendid-alternately that drool from the radio- will claim a crooning and croaking, her voice full of share of the market. But the venture­ innocence and experience ... her stage some, I believe , will turn toward jazz manner a mixture of theatrical grandeur and serious, genuinely thoughtful and and refreshing informality. creative classical and contemporary music. Where to begin? A program at the Artistic Collaborations Radio And Recordings "The last years have been a time Brooklyn Academy of Music this Sunday BPO performances are regularly heard on of change and growth for the afternoon summoned what one would Artistic co llaboration is a new concept in the orchestra community. For orchestras like National Public Radio. For Public Radio Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. hope might be representative of the Th is summer offered an opportu­ BPO, whose concerts are more than con­ International (formerly American Public fabled Audience of the Future ...After nity to reflect on the events of ce rts, it makes sense. Collaborative planning Radio) , BPO has created a one-hour program such an afternoon, I suspect some new these yea rs and on the Brooklyn of interdisciplinary orchestra l festivals facili­ exploring the relationship between Emerson, listeners wi ll pack th eir way into the Philharmonic's longstanding tradi­ tates fund-raising by boosting the scope , visi­ Thoreau, and lves. Parts were taped live at classical section at the loca l Tower. tion of outreach and education in BPO's "American Transcendentalists" bility, and geographic reach of planned activ­ the community. At two day-long BPO's oth er subscription concerts for 1994- ities. When touring guest artists or Interplay (November 13, 1994). The pro­ 'retreats' representatives of all 95 li kewise showcased adventure and ensembles are engaged , collaborations cut gram, supported by a grant from the areas of the orchestral commu­ unlikely juxtaposition. "Mirror Images" costs. Collaborations expand the pool of National Endowment for the Humanities, has nity-musicians, staff, board opened the season with three BPO commis­ planning resources . BPO is convinced that been widely distributed , with broadcasts in members, BAM staff-met with sions, including Philip Glass's Symphony this is an id ea whose time has come. New York, Boston , Chicago, and many other outside experts to explore this No. 2. "America n Tran scendenta lists" inter­ cities. commitment. Even Music Director BPO subscription programm ing in 1995-96 polated readi ngs from Em erson and Thoreau Designate Robert Spano joined in BPO selectively records music other orches­ into performances of lves' Concord Sonata will include collaborations with Da Camera of these wide ranging discussions. Houston, Houston Grand Opera, the Chicago tras do not. Its recent recordings include the and Three Places in New England. "Bach to Assisted by a planning grant from Symphony Orchestra, the Pratt Institute, the best-selling Philip Glass Low Symphony, with Bach" surveyed three versions of the D minor the Knight Foundation (the BPO San Antonio Symphony, and the Aspen Dennis Russell Davies conducting. Under Concerto alongside Peter Schickele's excruci­ was one of only eight orchestras in Music Festival. Future collaborations are cur­ Mr. Davies and Michael Barrett, the orches­ atingly hilarious parody, A Bach Portrait. America to receive one), the rently being planned with the Chicago tra has also recently recorded music by John "Th e Ru ssia n Crucible" packed four pre­ retreats were organized to focus Corigliano, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Lou mieres into a three-hour evening climaxed by Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, and th e on Interplays, outreach, educa­ San Antonio Symphony, among other orches­ Harrison, Terry Riley, and Alec Wilder, among Shostakovich's Eighth Symphony. tion, and ties between these activ­ tras. others . Its upcom ing recordings include Duke ities and the orchestra 's emphasis Can genui ne innovation find a genuine audi­ Ellington's jazz opera Queenie Pie, and the on thematic programming. ence? Over the past two seasons, BPO has first CD devoted to the music of Colin The quality of the Brooklyn achieved a 50 per cent increase in sub­ McPhee (a crucial influence on Glass, Steve Dennis Russell Davies Philharmonic's relationship with scribers, and a 75 per cent increase in ticket Reich, and other contempo- "The Magic of Music," a new grant program Antonio Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber its audience-whether in tradi­ revenues. At the same time, impend ing cut­ ~--- rary Americans). established by the John S. and James L. Orchestra). A substantia l portion of the antic­ tional concert settings, or in lec­ backs in govern- Knight Foundation, seeks to foster "transfor­ ipated Knight BPO grant will go towards sup­ tures, or in free concerts for ment support for mational change" in the American orchestra porting and expa nd ing BPO's Sunday after­ schoolchildren, or at perfor­ the arts demand •one of my indelible memor ies was wait­ ing for my costume to arrive the night community in order to faci litate "a greater noon Interplays, which Knight regards as an mances in the high schools partic­ th at the orchestra of the first performance of The Seven sense of excitement in the concert-going ipating in the ISPIP program-has Deadly Sins. I was backstage, the con­ artistic innovation of national significance . In find new sources of cert had already started, and I was experience and a more vital relationship fact, the entire "Magic of Music" program is been evident throughout the year. income. FREAKING . Everyone-the orchestra, the backstage lot-wanted to see "What is she between artists and audiences ." Fifty conceived as a series of eight pilot projects, The retreats explored and cele­ going to wear?• And I had ordered this American orchestras were invited by Knight each of which wil l be closely watched by the brated this relationship, which gorgeous green suit from Anna Sui. provides the foundation for the (After all, The Seven Deadly Sins is to apply for major, multi-year funding. Of the other seven orchestras . about a girl called Anna, isn't it?) I orchestra's efforts in seasons to mean, I couldn't go out dressed in jeans eight chosen, BPO is by far the smallest (the come. " and a. T-shirt, could I? I was actually others are the Boston Symphony, Los I set to borrow a jacket from one of the trumpet players. I'd actually put it on; Angeles Philharmonic, New World it was nice but rather large. Then, five Symphony [Miami , Fl orida].