FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ARTIST AND PROGRAM CHANGE October 25, 2016 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; [email protected] MANFRED HONECK To Replace ZUBIN MEHTA in Concerts November 3–5, 2016 Featuring RAVI SHANKAR’s Rāgā-Mālā Concerto No. 2, for Sitar and Orchestra, with ANOUSHKA SHANKAR in Her Philharmonic Debut Program Change: HAYDN’s Symphony No. 93 SCHUBERT’s Symphony in B minor, Unfinished November 3–5, 2016 Manfred Honeck will replace Zubin Mehta in concerts taking place Thursday, November 3, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 4 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 p.m. featuring Ravi Shankar’s Rāgā-Mālā Concerto No. 2, for Sitar and Orchestra, with soloist Anoushka Shankar, the composer’s daughter, in her Philharmonic debut. Mr. Mehta, the Philharmonic’s former Music Director, regrets deeply having to withdraw due to illness. Haydn’s Symphony No. 93 and Schubert’s Symphony in B minor, Unfinished, will replace Schubert’s Symphony in C major, Great. An Evening Celebrating Zubin Mehta, a fundraiser for the 2016–17 New York Philharmonic Ensembles series scheduled for November 2 at The Morgan Library & Museum has been cancelled. Zubin Mehta: Through the Lens of Steve J. Sherman, an exhibit of photographs taken during Mr. Mehta’s Philharmonic tenure, will be postponed. The Philharmonic commissioned and premiered Shankar’s Rāgā-Mālā Concerto No. 2, for Sitar and Orchestra, in April 1981, with the composer as soloist in his Philharmonic debut and led by then Music Director Zubin Mehta, to whom the work is dedicated. Rāgā-Mālā translates to “Garland of Ragas”; in Indian classical music, a raga is a mode, of which there are more than 300. Zubin Mehta and Ravi Shankar discussed the work in 1981 in Ovation magazine. Mr. Mehta said that although he had not previously believed that Western orchestras could play Indian music, “Ravi worked individually with our solo players in every section, to help him not only to know each musician but the characteristic of his instrument. … I feel at the moment that it will work.” Shankar said: “For many years I have been dreaming of playing with the Maestro from Bombay. … My roots are in India, so this work will naturally be more Indian than Western. There will be elements of harmony and counterpoint, but the harmonic and contrapuntal structure will not be … so dense and heavy as to blur or kill the beauty of the ragas.” (more) Manfred Honeck / Anoushka Shankar / 2 In its review of the 1981 premiere, The New York Times said: “Mr. Shankar’s ability to echo and extend the coloration of the sitar by the orchestra was often ingenious. … Mr. Shankar is one of the great virtuosos. … he has also been driven throughout his life to bridge the gaps he perceives between the classical Indian tradition and the music of the West, and his ‘Raga-Mala’ represents his most ambitious ecumenical attempt so far.” Related Events Philharmonic Free Fridays The New York Philharmonic is offering 100 free tickets to young people ages 13–for the concert Friday, November 4 as part of Philharmonic Free Fridays. Information is available at nyphil.org/freefridays. Philharmonic Free Fridays offers 100 free tickets to 13–26-year-olds to each of the 2016–17 season’s 16 Friday evening subscription concerts. Artists Manfred Honeck, renowned for his distinctive interpretations, has served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2008–09 season. He and the orchestra are consistently recognized for their performances and are celebrated both in Pittsburgh and abroad. To great acclaim, they regularly perform in major music capitals and festivals, among them the BBC Proms, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Grafenegg Festival, Carnegie Hall, and Vienna’s Musikverein. This successful collaboration has also been extensively documented on recordings. The SACDs released by Reference Records — most recently Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathétique — have received numerous rave reviews and two Grammy Award nominations. Born in Austria, Manfred Honeck received his musical training at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Many years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Staatsoper Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp. He began his career as assistant to Claudio Abbado and was subsequently engaged by the Zurich Opera House, which awarded him the prestigious European Conductor’s Award. Following early posts as one of three main conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig and as principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Honeck was appointed music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm. For several years he also served as principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2007 to 2011 he was music director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart. His operatic guest appearances have included Dresden Semperoper, Royal Opera of Copenhagen, and the Salzburg Festival. Mr. Honeck has worked as a guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, and the Vienna Philharmonic. In the United States he has conducted the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Moreover, he has been artistic director of the International Concerts Wolfegg in Germany for more than 20 years. Manfred Honeck has received honorary doctorates from several North American universities. Most recently, he was awarded the title of honorary professor by the Austrian Federal President. He made his New York Philharmonic debut (more) Manfred Honeck / Anoushka Shankar / 3 conducting works by Braunfels and Beethoven as well as Grieg’s Piano Concerto, with Jean- Yves Thibaudet as soloist, in January 2013; his most recent appearances with the Orchestra were in April 2016, leading music by Suppé and Beethoven, as well as Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto with Principal Oboe Liang Wang as soloist. Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar is a singular figure in the Indian classical and progressive world music scenes. Her dynamic and spiritual musicality has garnered several accolades, including five Grammy Award nominations, recognition as the youngest — and first female — recipient of a British House of Commons Shield, credit as an Asian Hero by TIME magazine, and a Songlines Best Artist Award. Deeply rooted in the Indian classical music tradition, Ms. Shankar studied exclusively from the age of nine under her father and guru, the late Ravi Shankar, and made her professional debut as a classical sitarist at 13. By age 20 she had made three classical recordings and received her first Grammy nomination, becoming the first Indian female and youngest-ever nominee in the World Music category. In 2005 she released her self-produced breakthrough album, Rise, which earned her a second Grammy nomination, and she became the first Indian artist to perform at the Grammy Awards. In 2011 Ms. Shankar signed with Deutsche Grammophon and received three further consecutive Grammy nominations for Traveller, Traces of You, and Home. As a composer, Ms. Shankar has encouraged cross-cultural dialogue while demonstrating the versatility of the sitar across musical genres. She has created a body of work with artists including Sting, M.I.A, Herbie Hancock, Pepe Habichuela, Karsh Kale, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Joshua Bell. Her new album, Land of Gold, is her response to the humanitarian trauma of displaced people fleeing conflict and poverty; it was released on Deutsche Grammophon in March 2016, followed by tours of North America (April 2016), Europe (summer and fall 2016), and India (winter 2016). Her 2016–17 season includes tours performing music from Land of Gold in India, Europe, and Dubai, as well as appearances in North America with her classical ensemble in support of Home. Forthcoming concerto performances include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and Orchestra Philharmonie Luxembourg. These performances mark Anoushka Shankar’s New York Philharmonic debut. Repertoire The New York Philharmonic commissioned Ravi Shankar’s (1920–2012) Rāgā-Mālā Concerto No. 2, for Sitar and Orchestra, and premiered the work in April 1981, during Zubin Mehta’s tenure as Music Director, with Shankar as soloist; the concerto is dedicated to Zubin Mehta. Shankar began the work in the summer of 1979 and completed it in the summer of 1980. In Indian classical music, a raga is a mode (of which there are more than 300), often associated with a time of day or year; Rāgā-Mālā translates to “Garland of Ragas.” The work fuses Indian classical forms with Western classical traditions to create a musical bridge between two very different cultures. The composer said of the work: “As the title Rāgā-Mālā suggests, I have used many different ragas in this four-movement composition — thirty, in fact. The first movement is completely devoted to the early morning raga Lalit, with a traditional, classical approach that closely retains the spirit of the raga. The second movement consists of five ragas, mostly morning ones. The third movement has three evening ragas, Yaman Kalyan, Marwa, and Desh, which are treated in detail and with rhythmic complexity. The fourth movement has the most (more) Manfred Honeck / Anoushka Shankar / 4 ragas — twenty-one. Some come in flashes as short as eight bars, while others are longer. … Trumpet, clarinet, flute, and violin solos are some of the highlights, along with the improvised sitar solos.” Franz Schubert’s (1797–1828) Symphony in B minor, Unfinished, has been subject to much conjecture. Schubert began the work in 1822, finishing the first two movements and sketches for the third. Then he stopped.