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ALAN GILBERT RETURNS TO THE U.S. TO CONDUCT THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE BEING NAMED ITS MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE
CONCERTS ON MARCH 5 – 14 INCLUDE WORLD PREMIERE OF MARC NEIKRUG'S SYMPHONY NO. 2, "QUINTESSENCE", BERIO'S FOLKSONGS WITH DAWN UPSHAW, AND WORKS BY HAYDN, BEETHOVEN AND RICHARD STRAUSS
Following concerts at home and on tour with Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra, where he has been principal guest conductor since 2004, Alan Gilbert returns to the U.S. in March for concerts with the New York Philharmonic, his first since being named Music Director Designate of the orchestra last June.
The first of his two subscription programs features high-spirited symphonies by Haydn (No. 48, "Maria Theresia") and Beethoven (No. 4), coupled with Luciano Berio's extraordinary Folk Songs, which will be sung by soprano Dawn Upshaw (March 5–8). The following week, Gilbert will conduct the world premiere of American composer Marc Neikrug's Symphony No. 2, "Quintessence", and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (March 12–15). The concerts will be supplemented for audiences by an "Inside the Music" discussion between Gilbert and Gerard McBurney for Strauss's Heldenleben (the only work to be performed on March 14), and by two "Hear & Now Premiere Previews" for Neikrug's Quintessence.
Alan Gilbert is especially excited to be leading the Neikrug world premiere and comments:
Gilbert's concerts with the New York Philharmonic this season mark the second year of a three-year arrangement during which he spends multiple weeks with the orchestra. He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in October 2001 as the Diamond American Conductor. He has since appeared numerous times with the orchestra, notably at the acclaimed May 2004 Philharmonic festival – "Charles Ives – An American Original in Context," and most recently in March 2007, when he led works by Bach, Ligeti, and Schumann. Gilbert begins his tenure as the 25th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season.
Alan Gilbert was in New York City and Philadelphia in February conducting music by Nielsen and other composers with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony. Alex Ross commented in the New Yorker:
Additional spring concerts
Before returning to Europe, Gilbert will head to California for a return engagement with the San Francisco Symphony. The program for his four concerts there comprises Steven Stucky's 1998 work Son et lumière, Nielsen's Symphony No. 2, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major, with soloist Richard Goode (March 26–29).
Between Gilbert's last two concert series in Stockholm – the programs of which feature Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony (April 15–17) and Mahler's Symphony No. 9 (June 5 and 7) – he returns to Zurich, Switzerland in May, for two weeks of conducting and a single concert playing chamber music with members of the Tonhalle Orchestra. He conducts Liszt's Faust Symphony, Daniel Börtz's Parados, and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell) in the first week, and a program of Sibelius, Brahms, and Vaughan Williams in the second.
Alan Gilbert: upcoming U.S. and European engagements
Mar 5-8: New York Philharmonic
HAYDN: Symphony No. 48, "Maria Theresia"
BERIO: Folk Songs for mezzo-soprano
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4
Mar 12: New York Philharmonic
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben (Rush Hour concert)
Mar 13, 15: New York Philharmonic
MARC NEIKRUG: Symphony No. 2, "Quintessence"
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben
Mar 14: New York Philharmonic
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben ("Inside the Music" with Gerard McBurney)
Mar 26-29: San Francisco Symphony
STUCKY: Son et lumière
MOZART: Piano Concerto, No. 18 in B-flat major (with Richard Goode)
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 2, "The Four Temperaments"
Apr 10, 12: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
PETTERSSON: Symphony No. 2, "Symphonic Movement"
Apr 15-17 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MESSIAEN: Turangalila Symphony
May 21-23: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell, May 21-22)
BÖRTZ: Parados (May 23)
LISZT: A Faust Symphony
May 25: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich – Chamber Concert (Gilbert on violin)
BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B minor
BRAHMS: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
May 27-29: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
SIBELIUS: En Saga (May 27, 29)
VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS: Tuba Concerto (May 27, 29)
BRAHMS: Serenade No. 1 in D major
Jun 5, 7: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 9
# # #
CONCERTS ON MARCH 5 – 14 INCLUDE WORLD PREMIERE OF MARC NEIKRUG'S SYMPHONY NO. 2, "QUINTESSENCE", BERIO'S FOLKSONGS WITH DAWN UPSHAW, AND WORKS BY HAYDN, BEETHOVEN AND RICHARD STRAUSS
Following concerts at home and on tour with Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra, where he has been principal guest conductor since 2004, Alan Gilbert returns to the U.S. in March for concerts with the New York Philharmonic, his first since being named Music Director Designate of the orchestra last June.
The first of his two subscription programs features high-spirited symphonies by Haydn (No. 48, "Maria Theresia") and Beethoven (No. 4), coupled with Luciano Berio's extraordinary Folk Songs, which will be sung by soprano Dawn Upshaw (March 5–8). The following week, Gilbert will conduct the world premiere of American composer Marc Neikrug's Symphony No. 2, "Quintessence", and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben (March 12–15). The concerts will be supplemented for audiences by an "Inside the Music" discussion between Gilbert and Gerard McBurney for Strauss's Heldenleben (the only work to be performed on March 14), and by two "Hear & Now Premiere Previews" for Neikrug's Quintessence.
Alan Gilbert is especially excited to be leading the Neikrug world premiere and comments:
"I met Marc Neikrug when we were both working in Santa Fe and I've known him for many years. Most people know him as Pinchas Zukerman's accompanist, but he deserves to be known as a wonderful, deep and important composer. If I had to pick a single word I'd say his music is human – emotional and natural with a 'speaking' quality. This particular piece has a very probing, melancholy caste, but it speaks to what all people feel."Alan Gilbert discusses the works featured on his upcoming programs in videos that can be viewed at the orchestra's web site: http://nyphil.org/
Gilbert's concerts with the New York Philharmonic this season mark the second year of a three-year arrangement during which he spends multiple weeks with the orchestra. He made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in October 2001 as the Diamond American Conductor. He has since appeared numerous times with the orchestra, notably at the acclaimed May 2004 Philharmonic festival – "Charles Ives – An American Original in Context," and most recently in March 2007, when he led works by Bach, Ligeti, and Schumann. Gilbert begins his tenure as the 25th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season.
Alan Gilbert was in New York City and Philadelphia in February conducting music by Nielsen and other composers with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony. Alex Ross commented in the New Yorker:
"Alan Gilbert demonstrates that it's possible to obtain arrestingly idiomatic performances after a few days of rehearsal. The first qualification that this conductor brings to bear is the flexible precision of his beat; he indicates tempi with uncommon clarity, yet is hardly metronomic in his approach. His rhythmic mastery was apparent as he led the Philadelphia Orchestra through the first movement of [Nielsen's] Second Symphony ... Gilbert handled the tricky syncopated shifts so that they came across not as awkward transitions but as intensifications, fresh bolts of energy. ...At the same time, Gilbert produced a performance rich in emotion ... The melancholy [third] movement opens with a forty-seven-bar melodic paragraph that should unfold as a single legato phrase. Gilbert displayed another aspect of his exceptional baton technique: he swept his arms in wide, flowing, yet rhythmically incisive motions, drawing out intense lyricism while keeping the ensemble impeccably unified. ...Gilbert practiced the same art on the students of the Curtis Symphony ... In the slow movement of the Third Symphony, the strings spoke in strikingly unanimous, heartfelt phrases."Justin Davidson has profiled Alan Gilbert in the March 3 edition of New York magazine, which can be accessed on line at this link: http://nymag.com/news/features/44459/
Additional spring concerts
Before returning to Europe, Gilbert will head to California for a return engagement with the San Francisco Symphony. The program for his four concerts there comprises Steven Stucky's 1998 work Son et lumière, Nielsen's Symphony No. 2, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major, with soloist Richard Goode (March 26–29).
Between Gilbert's last two concert series in Stockholm – the programs of which feature Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony (April 15–17) and Mahler's Symphony No. 9 (June 5 and 7) – he returns to Zurich, Switzerland in May, for two weeks of conducting and a single concert playing chamber music with members of the Tonhalle Orchestra. He conducts Liszt's Faust Symphony, Daniel Börtz's Parados, and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell) in the first week, and a program of Sibelius, Brahms, and Vaughan Williams in the second.
Alan Gilbert: upcoming U.S. and European engagements
Mar 5-8: New York Philharmonic
HAYDN: Symphony No. 48, "Maria Theresia"
BERIO: Folk Songs for mezzo-soprano
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4
Mar 12: New York Philharmonic
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben (Rush Hour concert)
Mar 13, 15: New York Philharmonic
MARC NEIKRUG: Symphony No. 2, "Quintessence"
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben
Mar 14: New York Philharmonic
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben ("Inside the Music" with Gerard McBurney)
Mar 26-29: San Francisco Symphony
STUCKY: Son et lumière
MOZART: Piano Concerto, No. 18 in B-flat major (with Richard Goode)
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 2, "The Four Temperaments"
Apr 10, 12: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
PETTERSSON: Symphony No. 2, "Symphonic Movement"
Apr 15-17 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MESSIAEN: Turangalila Symphony
May 21-23: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto (with Joshua Bell, May 21-22)
BÖRTZ: Parados (May 23)
LISZT: A Faust Symphony
May 25: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich – Chamber Concert (Gilbert on violin)
BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B minor
BRAHMS: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
May 27-29: Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
SIBELIUS: En Saga (May 27, 29)
VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS: Tuba Concerto (May 27, 29)
BRAHMS: Serenade No. 1 in D major
Jun 5, 7: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 9