FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2017 Click here to view in German New York Philharmonic contact: Click here to view in Hungarian Katherine E. Johnson / (212) 875-5700 [email protected] PS music contact: Peggy Schmidt & Simone Dollmann / +49 30 30875970 [email protected], [email protected] EUROPE / SPRING 2017 TOUR ALAN GILBERT AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC MARCH 23–APRIL 7, 2017 ALAN GILBERT’S NINTH AND FINAL INTERNATIONAL TOUR AS MUSIC DIRECTOR TOUR TO INCLUDE CONCERTS IN COPENHAGEN, LUXEMBOURG, DÜSSELDORF, ESSEN, BUDAPEST, VIENNA, LONDON The Philharmonic’s FIRST RETURN to ANTWERP Since 1920 Performances at the New ELBPHILHARMONIE in HAMBURG Third International Associate Residency at London’s BARBICAN CENTRE To Feature the European Premiere of Esa-Pekka SALONEN’s New Cello Concerto with YO-YO MA John ADAMS 70th Birthday Celebration Works by BARTÓK, BERLIOZ, and MAHLER Education Activities Including a VERY YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT Former Artist-in-Residence FRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN To Perform PROKOFIEV’s Violin Concerto No. 1 CHRISTINA LANDSHAMER To Perform MAHLER’s Symphony No. 4 The EUROPE / SPRING 2017 Tour Is Sponsored by J.C. Flowers & Co. Generous Support Is Provided by Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis NEW YORK — Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic on the EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour, March 23–April 7, 2017. The two-week tour — Alan Gilbert’s ninth and final international tour as Music Director, the seventh with him to Europe — will feature fourteen concerts in seven countries. The Orchestra will perform in Antwerp, Belgium; Luxembourg; Düsseldorf, Essen, and Hamburg, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; London, England; and Copenhagen, Denmark. The soloists on the tour are violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, a former Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York (more) EUROPE / SPRING 2017 Tour / 2 Philharmonic; soprano Christina Landshamer; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Concertmaster Frank Huang; Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples; Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps; and Principal Cello Carter Brey. The EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour is sponsored by J.C. Flowers & Co.Tour highlights include the European Premiere of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen’s new Cello Concerto, a New York Philharmonic co-commission with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Barbican Centre, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist; John Adams’s The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra) and Harmonielehre, as well as Absolute Jest featuring Mr. Huang, Ms. Staples, Ms. Phelps, and Mr. Brey, in celebration of John Adams’s 70th birthday year; Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Mr. Zimmermann; Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Ms. Landshamer; and performances in the new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, which is opening in January 2017. The Philharmonic will return to Antwerp for the first time since 1920, and will return to Copenhagen for the first time since 1968, when Leonard Bernstein led the Orchestra in a program that included Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique — which Alan Gilbert will also conduct in Copenhagen. The concert in Antwerp will be radio broadcast live on Klara. The concerts in Budapest and Copenhagen will be recorded for radio broadcast at later dates on MR3 Bartók Rádió and DR P2, respectively. The tour marks the Philharmonic’s third residency at the Barbican Centre under the auspices of its International Associates initiative. In addition to three concerts, the residency will also feature some of the Philharmonic’s signature educational projects, including a Very Young People’s Concert (VYPC) featuring a chamber ensemble performance of selections from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, marking the first time a VYPC has been taken on an international tour, and a Very Young Composers Workshop. The Philharmonic will also support the Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning team’s new Young Songwriters Collective for 14–18-year-olds, which was created, in part, on the Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers model, and involves training teaching artists and working directly with young composers. Since Alan Gilbert became Music Director he has led the Philharmonic on eight international tours, two domestic tours, and eleven residencies, with appearances in 49 cities in 24 countries. These tours have featured many of the initiatives introduced during his time as Music Director, including theatrical performances; CONTACT!, the new-music series; as well as commissions, innovative programming, and artistic collaborations. Highlights have included the Orchestra’s debuts in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2009); a performance of Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft at Volkswagen’s Die Gläserne Manufaktur, or Transparent Factory, in Dresden, which was webcast live (2013); a performance in the inaugural season of the Philharmonie de Paris (2015); the World Premiere–Philharmonic Co-Commission of Peter Eötvös’s Senza sangue at Cologne’s Philharmonie (2015); performances of Giants Are Small’s theatrical reimagining of Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka at the Barbican Centre (2015); and a concert for families in Tokyo in which the Music Director narrated Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra in Japanese (2014). (more) EUROPE / SPRING 2017 Tour / 3 “Thinking about my final New York Philharmonic tour brings back powerful memories of our travels together over these eight years,” said Music Director Alan Gilbert. “I recall with pride my first tour, which included historic cultural immersions in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi, as well as memorable concerts in the cultural capitals of Europe. I have always been gratified by the response we receive around the world when we perform music we love, reflected in our upcoming tour through repertoire ranging from recent works by Composer-in-Residence Esa- Pekka Salonen and John Adams to canonic masterpieces, including Mahler in Vienna. I look forward to once again experiencing the Orchestra’s commitment and artistry in the heightened atmosphere of performing on tour.” “The EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour demonstrates many of the ways that the Philharmonic is a resource, not only at home but around the world,” said President Matthew VanBesien. “This tour highlights Alan Gilbert’s signature programmatic combinations and artistic collaborations, and the London residency in particular reflects our belief in a deeper immersion on our travels, including through our education projects. This tour returns us to cultural capitals like Vienna as well as to Antwerp and Copenhagen, where the Orchestra hasn’t performed for decades, and again celebrates the opening of a new performance venue with the appearance in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. The energy and excitement of the Alan Gilbert–New York Philharmonic collaboration will be all the greater on this, his valedictory Philharmonic tour.” “I salute Alan Gilbert as he embarks on the final tour of his remarkable tenure. It is always inspiring to hear the New York Philharmonic in some of the great concert halls of Europe, and to see how audiences all over the world respond to this brilliant Orchestra when we go on tour,” said Chairman Oscar S. Schafer. “We are extremely grateful for the support of Board Member J. Christopher Flowers and his wife, Anne, in making this tour possible.” “It is an honor for J.C. Flowers & Co. to support the EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour,” said J. Christopher Flowers, the firm’s founder and CEO, as well as a member of the New York Philharmonic’s Board of Directors since 2001. “The international focus of our activities perfectly aligns with the New York Philharmonic’s role as a cultural ambassador on its travels. We are extremely gratified to help bring this dynamic Orchestra to so many European cultural capitals.” Artists As Music Director of the New York Philharmonic since 2009, Alan Gilbert has introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, and Artist-in-Association; CONTACT!, the new-music series; the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, an exploration of today’s music; and the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, partnerships with cultural institutions to offer training of pre-professional musicians, often alongside performance residencies. The Financial Times called him “the imaginative maestro- impresario in residence.” (more) EUROPE / SPRING 2017 Tour / 4 Alan Gilbert concludes his final season as Music Director with four programs that reflect themes, works, and musicians that hold particular meaning for him, including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony alongside Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, Wagner’s complete Das Rheingold in concert, and an exploration of how music can effect positive change in the world. Other highlights include three World Premieres, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, and Manhattan, performed live to film. He also leads the Orchestra on the EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour and in performance residencies in Shanghai and Santa Barbara. Past highlights include acclaimed stagings of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd starring Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson (2015 Emmy nomination), and Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake starring Marion Cotillard; 28 World Premieres; a tribute to Boulez and Stucky during the 2016 NY PHIL BIENNIAL; The Nielsen Project; the Verdi Requiem and Bach’s B-minor Mass; the score from 2001: A Space Odyssey, performed live to film; Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on the tenth