Leonard Slatkin To Conduct NY Premiere of Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto with Principal Flute Robert Langevin

Leonard Slatkin will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct the New York Premiere of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto, with Principal Flute Robert Langevin as soloist; Copland's El Salón México; Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit (orchestrated by Marius Constant), marking the Philharmonic's first time performing the complete work; and Ravel's Boléro, Thursday, October 30, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, October 31 at 7:30 p.m. (performed without intermission); and Saturday, November 1 at 8:00 p.m.

Leonard Slatkin has championed Christopher Rouse's works since the 1980s, when Mr. Slatkin led the St. Louis Symphony in the World Premieres of Mr. Rouse's Phantasmata and The Infernal Machine, commissioned by the orchestra. At the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Slatkin conducted Christopher Rouse's The Infernal Machine, the Philharmonic's first time performing a work by Mr. Rouse (June 1984 and May 1999); the World Premiere of his Pulitzer Prize- winning Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, a Philharmonic commission, with Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi as soloist (December 1992); the World Premiere of Seeing, for Piano and Orchestra, a Philharmonic commission, with Emanuel Ax (May 1999); and Ogoun Badagris (May 2000). Mr. Slatkin is currently surveying Ravel's works as music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon.

Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto "began as an homage to the musical traditions of my ancestral home and connects back to my own roots in the British Isles." While he was composing the work, he learned of the tragic murder of two-year-old James Bulger by ten-year-old boys in England in 1993. Mr. Rouse writes: "The central movement of this work is an elegy dedicated to James Bulger's memory, a small token of remembrance for a life senselessly and cruelly snuffed out." Alan Gilbert conducted a recording of the concerto with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and flutist Sharon Bezaly in 2009.

Robert Langevin, Principal Flute since 2000, made his Philharmonic solo debut at the end of his first season with the Orchestra, when he performed the North American Premiere of Siegfried Matthus's Concerto for Flute and Harp, with Principal Harp Nancy Allen, conducted by then Music Director Kurt Masur in May 2001. Mr. Langevin has premiered numerous works, including the Canadian Premiere of Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître as a member of Musica Camerata Montreal and l'Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec. In June 2012 he performed MIDI flute for Pierre Boulez's ... explosante-fixe ... on CONTACT!, the Philharmonic's new-music series.

Christopher Rouse began his tenure as Composer-in-Residence in 2012, and his term has been extended for a third season, through 2014-15. This season, the Philharmonic also performs the World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commission of his Thunderstuck, led by Alan Gilbert October 9-11 and 14, 2014, and Iscariot, led by David Zinman February 5-7, 2015. By the conclusion of his tenure he will have written three new pieces commissioned by the Philharmonic, worked with Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra in performances of ten of his works, and served as an advisor for 12 programs of CONTACT!, the new-music series.

Related Events

? Pre-Concert Insights
Composer Daniel Felsenfeld will introduce the program. Admission/Tickets to Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups. These events take place one hour before performances, and are held in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org/preconcert or (212) 875-5656.

? National and International Radio Broadcast
The program will be broadcast the week of November 23, 2014,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m., and will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org.

The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Brothers Fund, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic's corporate partner, MetLife Foundation.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information, which is subject to change.

Artists
Music Director Alan Gilbert began his New York Philharmonic tenure in September 2009, the first native New Yorker in the post. He and the Philharmonic have introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence, and the Artist-in-Association; CONTACT!, the new-music series; and the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, an exploration of today's music by a wide range of contemporary and modern composers inaugurated in spring 2014. As New York magazine wrote, "The Philharmonic and its music director Alan Gilbert have turned themselves into a force of permanent revolution."

In the 2014-15 season Alan Gilbert conducts the U.S. Premiere of Unsuk Chin's Clarinet Concerto, a Philharmonic co-commission, alongside Mahler's First Symphony; La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema; Verdi's Requiem; a staging of Honegger's Joan of Arc at the Stake, featuring Oscar winner Marion Cotillard; World Premieres; a CONTACT! program; and Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. He concludes The Nielsen Project - the multi-year initiative to perform and record the Danish composer's symphonies and concertos, the first release of which was named by The New York Times as among the Best Classical Music Recordings of 2012 - and presides over the EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour. His Philharmonic- tenure highlights include acclaimed productions of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd starring Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson, and Philharmonic 360 at Park Avenue Armory; World Premieres by Magnus Lindberg, John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse, and others; Bach's B-minor Mass and Ives's Fourth Symphony; the score from 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside the film; Mahler's Second Symphony, Resurrection, on the tenth anniversary of 9/11; and eight international tours.

Conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra, Alan Gilbert regularly conducts leading orchestras around the world. His 2014-15 appearances include the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams's Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award. Renée Fleming's recent Decca recording Poèmes, on which he conducted, received a 2013 Grammy Award. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, where he holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies. In May 2010 Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and in December 2011, Columbia University's Ditson Conductor's Award for his "exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music." In 2014 he was elected to The American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Robert Langevin joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Flute, The Lila Acheson Wallace Chair, at the start of the 2000-01 season. He made his solo debut with the Orchestra in May 2001 in the North American Premiere of Siegfried Matthus's Concerto for Flute and Harp with Philharmonic Principal Harp Nancy Allen, conducted by then Music Director Kurt Masur. His October 2012 solo performance of Nielsen's Flute Concerto, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, was recorded for inclusion in The Nielsen Project, the Orchestra's multi-season traversal of all of the Danish composer's symphonies and concertos, to be released by Dacapo Records. He performed Pierre Boulez's ... explosante-fixe ... on CONTACT!, the Philharmonic's new-music series, in June 2012. Mr. Langevin previously held the Jackman Pfouts Principal Flute Chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was an adjunct professor at Duquesne University. He served as associate principal of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for 13 years, playing on more than 30 recordings. As a member of Musica Camerata Montreal and l'Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, he premiered many works, including the Canadian Premiere of Pierre Boulez's Le Marteau sans maître. Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Robert Langevin began flute studies at age 12 and joined the local orchestra three years later. While studying with Jean-Paul Major at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, he started working in recording studios, where he accompanied a variety of artists of different styles. He won the prestigious Prix d'Europe, a national competition open to all instruments with a first prize of a two-year scholarship to study in Europe, and second prize at the Budapest International Competition in 1980. He is currently on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the Orford International Summer Festival.

Repertoire
Aaron Copland first visited Mexico in 1932, and he immediately began composing the work that would become El Salón México. Named for a steamy nightclub called El Salón México, the piece incorporates popular Mexican songs, which the composer twisted and varied for his own purposes. Rhythmic, accessible, and vivid, the work was immediately successful and earned Copland wide acclaim. El Salón México was given its World Premiere on August 27, 1937, by the Orquesta Sinfonica de México, conducted by Copland's friend Carlos Chávez. The New York Philharmonic first performed it in August of 1943 at a Sunday Summer Broadcast conducted by Fritz Reiner; its most recent performance was led by Bramwell Tovey in December 2006.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) composed Gaspard de la nuit as a suite of three pieces for solo piano in 1908. The work is based on poems by Aloysius Bertrand, and its title "Gaspard" refers to the Persian "guardian of treasures" and, in this case, also alludes to someone or something mysterious and dark. The three poems of Gaspard de la nuit are indeed sinister: "Ondine" is the tale of a seductive water fairy; "Le Gibet" is set in a desert in which one witnesses the corpse of a hanged man against the setting sun; and "Scarbo" follows the actions of a mischievous goblin. Ravel wrote: "Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems. My ambition is to say with notes what a poet expresses with words." The technically challenging work was premiered by Ricardo Viñes in Paris in January 1909; the version to be performed by the Philharmonic was orchestrated by Marius Constant in 1988. This is the Orchestra's first performance of the complete work; it previously performed an arrangement of the movement "Ondine" in August 1959, conducted by Seymour Lipkin in Moscow at Tchaikovsky Conservatory Hall.

The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse completed his Flute Concerto in August 1993 as a joint commission from Richard and Jody Nordlof (for flutist Carol Wincenc) and Borders Inc. (for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra). Inspired by the composer's ancestry, the five-movement work is partly evocative of folk music of the British Isles, especially Ireland, and is reminiscent of the Celtic songs and dances of the region.

Tickets

Tickets for these performances start at $33. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $20. Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $16 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]

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