27 Season 2017-2018 Thursday, March 8, at 7:30 Friday, March 9, at 2:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday, March 10, at 8:00 Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Janine Jansen Violin van der Aa Violin Concerto I. [no tempo indicated] II. [no tempo indicated] III. [no tempo indicated] United States premiere Intermission Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 I. Largo—Allegro moderato II. Allegro molto III. Adagio IV. Allegro vivace This program runs approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes. The March 9 concert is sponsored by Sarah Miller Coulson. The March 10 concert is sponsored by Carole Haas Gravagno in memory of Emilio Gravagno. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM, and are repeated on Monday evenings at 7 PM on WRTI HD 2. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 28 29 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra Philadelphia is home and impact through Research. is one of the preeminent the Orchestra continues The Orchestra’s award- orchestras in the world, to discover new and winning Collaborative renowned for its distinctive inventive ways to nurture Learning programs engage sound, desired for its its relationship with its over 50,000 students, keen ability to capture the loyal patrons at its home families, and community hearts and imaginations of in the Kimmel Center, members through programs audiences, and admired for and also with those who such as PlayINs, side-by- a legacy of imagination and enjoy the Orchestra’s area sides, PopUP concerts, innovation on and off the performances at the Mann free Neighborhood concert stage. The Orchestra Center, Penn’s Landing, Concerts, School Concerts, is inspiring the future and and other cultural, civic, and residency work in transforming its rich tradition and learning venues. The Philadelphia and abroad. of achievement, sustaining Orchestra maintains a strong Through concerts, tours, the highest level of artistic commitment to collaborations residencies, presentations, quality, but also challenging— with cultural and community and recordings, The and exceeding—that level, organizations on a regional Philadelphia Orchestra is and national level, all of which by creating powerful musical a global ambassador for create greater access and experiences for audiences at Philadelphia and for the engagement with classical home and around the world. US. Having been the first music as an art form. American orchestra to Music Director Yannick The Philadelphia Orchestra perform in China, in 1973 Nézet-Séguin’s connection serves as a catalyst for at the request of President to the Orchestra’s musicians cultural activity across Nixon, the ensemble today has been praised by Philadelphia’s many boasts a new partnership with both concertgoers and communities, building an Beijing’s National Centre for critics since his inaugural offstage presence as strong the Performing Arts and the season in 2012. Under his as its onstage one. With Shanghai Oriental Art Centre, leadership the Orchestra Nézet-Séguin, a dedicated and in 2017 will be the first- returned to recording, with body of musicians, and one ever Western orchestra to two celebrated CDs on of the nation’s richest arts appear in Mongolia. The the prestigious Deutsche ecosystems, the Orchestra Orchestra annually performs Grammophon label, has launched its HEAR at Carnegie Hall while also continuing its history of initiative, a portfolio of enjoying summer residencies recording success. The integrated initiatives that in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Orchestra also reaches promotes Health, champions Vail, CO. For more information thousands of listeners on the music Education, eliminates on The Philadelphia radio with weekly broadcasts barriers to Accessing the Orchestra, please visit on WRTI-FM and SiriusXM. orchestra, and maximizes www.philorch.org. 4 Music Director Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is now confirmed to lead The Philadelphia Orchestra through the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he becomes the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera beginning with the 2021-22 season, and from 2017-18 is music director designate. Yannick, who holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair, is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra. His intensely 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 him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling talents of his generation. He is in his 10th and final season as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and he has been artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. In summer 2017 he became an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He was also principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014. 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 and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with two CDs on that label. He continues fruitful recording relationships with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique. In Yannick’s inaugural season The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to the radio airwaves, with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM. A native of Montreal, Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at Montreal’s Conservatory of Music and continued his studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini; he also studied choral conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are a appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada; Musical America’s 2016 Artist of the Year; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit philorch.org/conductor. 09.17 Bio.indd 4 8/29/17 1:47 PM 31 Soloist Marco Borggreve / Decca Violinist Janine Jansen works regularly with the world’s most eminent orchestras and conductors. This season she is a Perspectives Artist at Carnegie Hall, performing a variety of concerto and chamber music programs throughout the season. She tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Daniele Gatti, the London Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and Semyon Bychkov, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Paavo Järvi. Other highlights this season include engagements with the Rotterdam Philiharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the Berlin Philharmonic and Mr. Järvi; the Munich Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta; the Staatskapelle Dresden and Antonio Pappano; the Czech Philharmonic with Jakub Hrůša; the Oslo Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony with David Afkham; the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Karina Canellakis; and the Iceland Symphony with Daniel Blendulf. She also travels to the Far East and Australia, performing with the Singapore, Sydney, and New Zealand symphonies. She made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2007. A devoted chamber musician, Ms. Jansen joins cellist Mischa Maisky and pianists Martha Argerich, Itamar Golan, and Lily Maisky for a major European chamber music tour. She records exclusively for Decca Classics, and since recording Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in 2003 has been extremely successful in the digital music charts. Her latest release, conducted by Mr. Pappano, features Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the London Symphony and Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Other highlights of her discography include Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski. Ms. Jansen has won numerous prizes, including four Edison Klassiek awards and four ECHO Klassik awards. In 2003 she founded the hugely successful International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht. After 13 years she stepped down as artistic director in June 2016 and named cellist Harriet Krijgh as her successor. Ms. Jansen plays the 1707 Stradivarius “Rivaz-Baron Gutmann” violin, kindly on loan from Dextra Musica. 32 Framing the Program The contemporary Dutch composer Michel van der Aa Parallel Events credits soloist Janine Jansen as the inspiration for his 1907 Music Violin Concerto, as much for her expressive personality Rachmaninoff Bartók as for her chosen instrument: “If Janine had played the Symphony Violin Concerto flute, I would have written a Flute Concerto.” The three- No. 2 No. 1 movement Violin Concerto was unveiled in Amsterdam Literature in November 2014 and these performances mark its Conrad premiere in America. The Secret Agent Sergei Rachmaninoff’s long and fruitful relationship with Art The Philadelphian Orchestra began in 1909 with his first Chagall tour to America when he conducted his recently finished Peasant Women Second Symphony. In addition to the five works he would History