PHILHARMONIC 360 Streamed Live on Medici.TV, Beg. Tonight, 7/6

The Webcast will showcase the event's 360-degree experience, allowing viewers to see the Philharmonic from different perspectives and unique angles. With multiple stages and performance areas, movement, lighting, and costumes - directed and designed by Michael Counts, and with choreography by Ken Roht, lighting design by Kyle Chepulis and Brian Aldous, and costume design by Kaye Voyce - the Philharmonic 360 concerts will make use of the large scale and flexibility of the Armory's 55,000-square-foot space to create a dynamic and fluid performance space, fundamentally altering the relationship of audience to performer and sound. As designed by Fisher Dachs Associates, several seating sections will be arranged throughout the Armory's Drill Hall, on risers and balconies, and in a large central area with floor seating that allows for an immersive relationship between soloists, orchestra, and audience.

The concert features works that will be staged to make use of the space in unique ways, including Pierre Boulez's Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna, the Finale of Act I from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, and Ives's The Unanswered Question.

The centerpiece of the concert will be Stockhausen's Gruppen, a work composed between 1955 and 1957 that requires three orchestras and three conductors. Gruppen offers an unusual sonic landscape through groups (or "Gruppen") of sounds, noises, dynamics, and tempos that exist and move independently through space, yet come together in a massive and colorful tour de force. Sharing the conducting duties with Alan Gilbert will be Magnus Lindberg, the Philharmonic's Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in- Residence, and composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher, in his Philharmonic conducting debut.

Performing in Don Giovanni will be bass-baritone Ryan McKinny (as Don Giovanni), bass-baritone Keith Miller (Leporello), soprano Julianna di Giacomo (Donna Anna), tenor Russell Thomas (Don Ottavio), soprano Keri Alkema (Donna Elvira), mezzo- soprano Sasha Cooke (Zerlina), baritone Kelly Markgraf (Masetto), and dancer Brian T. Scott (Waiter), all in their New York Philharmonic debuts, as well as the Oratorio Society of New York and Manhattan School of Music Chamber Choir, Kent Tritle, director.

The Armory collaboration continues the Philharmonic's now three-year tradition of mounting major theatrical events - beginning with Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre in 2010 and continuing with Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen in 2011 - which has become a hallmark of Alan Gilbert's tenure. Correspondingly, since its inception in 2007, the Armory has presented several seminal works that, due to their size and technical requirements, could not have been produced elsewhere in the city. These include Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten; the U.S. premiere of Heiner Goebbel's Stifters Dinge; and the New York (and indoor) premiere of John Luther Adams's Inuksuit, which featured dozens of percussionists arranged in concentric circles, spreading out, appearing and disappearing throughout the performance, and using the Armory's grand space to envelop the audience in the experience.

About the New York Philharmonic

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world; on May 5, 2010, it performed its 15,000th concert - a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world. The Orchestra has always played a leading role in American musical life, championing the music of its time, and is renowned around the globe, having appeared in 431 cities in 63 countries - including its October 2009 debut in Vietnam and its February 2008 historic visit to Pyongyang, DPRK, earning the 2008 Common Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy. The Philharmonic's concerts are broadcast on the weekly syndicated radio program, The New York Philharmonic This Week, and streamed on the Orchestra's Website, nyphil.org, and have been telecast annually on Live From Lincoln Center on U.S. public television since the series' premiere in 1976. The Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings since 1917, with more than 500 currently available. The first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live, the Philharmonic, in 2009–10, released the first-ever classical iTunes Pass. The self- produced recordings have continued through last season, with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2011–12 Season. The Orchestra has built on the long-running Young People's Concerts to develop a wide range of education programs, including the School Partnership Program, enriching music education in New York City, and Learning Overtures, fostering international exchange. Alan Gilbert became Music Director, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, in September 2009, succeeding Lorin Maazel in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical giants that goes back to Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini. Credit Suisse is the New York Philharmonic's exclusive Global Sponsor.

About Park Avenue Armory

Part palace, part industrial shed, Park Avenue Armory fills a critical void in the cultural ecology of New York by enabling artists to create, and audiences to experience, unconventional work that could not otherwise be mounted in traditional performance halls and museums. With its soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall - reminiscent of 19th-century European train stations - and array of exuberant period rooms, the Armory invites artists to draw upon its grand scale and distinctive character to both inspire and inform their work. The Armory is currently undergoing a $200-million revitalization of its historic building, named among the "100 Most Endangered Historic Sites in the World" by the World Monuments Fund in 2000. The renovation and restoration, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, will stabilize and preserve the building and create new resources and spaces for exhibitions, installations, and performances, as well as Artist-in-Residence studios, rehearsal rooms, and back-of-house amenities - offering dynamic environments for artists and audiences alike.

Since its first production in September 2007 - AaRon Young's Greeting Card, a 9,216- square-foot "action" painting created by the burned-out tire marks of ten choreographed motorcycles - the Armory has organized a series of immersive performances, installations, and works of art that have drawn critical and popular attention. 2011 marked the Armory's first full season of artistic programming, which culminated with site-specific performances by STREB and Shen Wei Dance Arts, and the final performances of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The Armory's 2012 season has included their second Tune-In Music Festival, honoring Philip Glass on his 75th birthday; Tom Sachs's SPACE PROGRAM: MARS; and Philharmonic 360 featuring Gruppen, a rare performance of Stockhausen's sonic masterpiece performed by the New York Philharmonic. Upcoming performances and exhibitions include Trisha Brown's Astral Converted; Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's The Murder of Crows; a site- specific installation by Ann Hamilton; and Under Construction, a new series of intimate evenings in the Armory's period rooms with artists presenting works in progress. 

Photo credit: Chirs Lee