Lincoln Center’s WHITE LIGHT FESTIVAL Begins Tonight, 10/18

Lincoln Center’s third White Light Festival, which focuses on "music’s unmatched capacity to illuminate the many dimensions of our interior lives," will take place from tonight, October 18 to November 18, 2012.

This international multi-disciplinary festival features musical artists spanning musical genres and traditions, from ghazal and Punjabi folk songs performed by Kiran Ahluwalia to Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, as interpreted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Two outstanding choral ensembles will participate: the acclaimed Latvian Radio Choir from Riga making its U.S. debut and Ensemble Basiani demonstrating its mastery of the world’s oldest polyphonic music. The Festival will also feature works by Heiner Goebbels and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the latter performed by Analog Arts (percussionist Stuart Gerber and sound projectionist Joe Drew).

William Christie and Les Arts Florissants return to Alice Tully Hall with a performance of three of Charpentier’s richly-textured sacred motets. Pianist Emanuel Ax joins conductor Matthias Pintscher and musicians of the New York Philharmonic, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford and tenor Russell Thomas for a performance of the chamber version of Mahler’s wrenching Das Lied von der Erde. Very special instrumental soloists will make their White Light debuts: pianist Paul Lewis performing Schubert’s last three sonatas; superstar of the organ, Cameron Carpenter, offering his unique interpretation of selected works by Bach; and Wang Li, a master of the jaw harp and calabash flute.

Also appearing is five-time Grammy Award winner Mary Chapin Carpenter, singing her own compositions from her newest recording, Ashes and Roses. Mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink joins pianist Anthony Spiri for a program of songs by Schumann, Dvo?ák, and Mahler, selected expressly for the Festival. Late-Night Elegies, the popular hour-long performances at 10:30 PM in the Kaplan Penthouse, return with Liam Ó Maonlaí, a founding member of the Irish rock group Hothouse Flowers, and pianist Alexei Lubimov.
The White Light Festival is sponsored by Time Warner Inc.

TICKETS: for White Light Festival are available online at WhiteLightFestival.org, by calling CenterCharge, 212-721-6500, or at the Avery Fisher or Alice Tully Hall box offices, Broadway and 65th Street. Note: Programs, artists, schedules and ticket prices are subject to change.