Alan Gilbert and the the New York Philharmonic have announced the orchestra’s 2016-17 season, which marks his eighth and final season in his tenure as Music Director. During this farewell season, Alan will lead programs that represent the breadth of innovative programming, adventurous productions, and forward-thinking initiatives that have been a hallmark of his tenure, and will be joined by many of his close collaborators.
Alan will conduct world, US, and New York premieres by Lera Auerbach, John Corigliano, HK Gruber, Wynton Marsalis, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. He will lead masterworks that include Mahler’s Symphony No. 4; Brahms’s Symphony No. 3; John Adams’s Harmonielehre, Absolute Jest, and Short Ride in a Fast Machine; Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta; Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre; and Handel’s Messiah. In the spring of 2017, Alan will embark on his fifth and final European tour with the orchestra. To conclude his final subscription season, he will lead the orchestra and guest artists from around the world in performances that highlight important international issues and foster the idea of a global community that shares a common humanity. These concerts include a pairing of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, the New York Premiere of Emerging Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Aeriality, the New York Premiere of Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Wing on Wing, Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos as soloist, and Wagner’s complete Das Rheingold in concert.
Other new programs at the New York Philharmonic will include the New World Initiative, with a focus on the theme of “home” through performances, education projects, and community outreach, as well as the New York Commissions, featuring world premieres by New York-themed works by New York-based composers including Wynton Marsalis, Sean Shepherd, and Julia Wolfe. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos has been named Artist-in-Residence for the 2016–17 season. Esa-Pekka Salonen will begin the second of his three seasons as Composer-in-Residence and Inon Barnatan will begin his third and final season as the New York Philharmonic’s inaugural Artist-in-Association.
``The New York Philharmonic has always been and will always be my musical home,`` Alan says. ``My final season as Music Director — and the Philharmonic's 175th anniversary season — will present music that the orchestra and I love, and will celebrate New York City, our shared hometown. Looking back on my tenure, I am particularly proud that the projects and collaborative approach I introduced in my first season are now woven into the fabric of the Philharmonic. I will always treasure the sense of warmth and family with the musicians of the orchestra: there's nothing better than to share the stage with friends. My final weeks encapsulate some of my musical aspirations, with the final subscription program examining a question I see as crucial to the future: how music can be a positive force in a world faced with crises. It speaks in part to what I hope I have accomplished at this great orchestra — to make music an essential part of this city, our world, and people's lives.``
Read more here about what’s planned for the New York Philharmonic’s 2016-17 season.
Banner Photo: © Chris Lee