Live From Lincoln Center Presents New York Philharmonic: Opening Night Gala 9/22

Tune in to PBS on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, at 9:00 p.m.* for Live From Lincoln Center's telecast of the New York Philharmonic's Opening Night Gala, featuring the U.S. premiere of Wynton Marsalis's Symphony No. 3, Swing Symphony. Music Director Alan Gilbert leads the New York Philharmonic, Wynton Marsalis, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in Mr. Marsalis' new work. The program also features Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.

Alan Gilbert is celebrating his second season as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he introduced a number of new initiatives: the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, held by Magnus Lindberg, and Artist-in-Residence, this season to be held by violinist Anne Sophie-Mutter; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. In the 2010-11 season Mr. Gilbert will lead the Orchestra on two tours of European music capitals; two performances at Carnegie Hall, including the venue's 120th Anniversary Concert; and a staged presentation of Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen, among other highlights. Mr. Gilbert is conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Since its inception, it has played a leading role in American musical life, reaching out to audiences with touring that began in 1882; recordings beginning in 1917; and radio broadcasts since 1922, now represented by The New York Philharmonic This Week, syndicated nationally 52 weeks a year.

Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center since the organization's inception in 1987, is the most acclaimed jazz musician and composer of his generation and a distinguished classical performer who has brought jazz back to center stage in American culture. Marsalis is the first jazz composer ever to earn a Pulitzer, a distinction that for five decades had been the exclusive domain of classical composers. Symphony No. 3, Swing Symphony is a Co-Commission by the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Barbican.

The 15-member Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), composed of 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1987. Under the leadership of its music director, Wynton Marsalis, this versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events not only in New York but across the U.S. and around the world, touring more than four months annually. The JLCO appears with symphony orchestras, ballet companies, local students, and guest artists and brings its artistry to a wide variety of settings...from concert halls and jazz clubs to dance venues and parks. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman Lisa Schiff and Executive Director, Adrian Ellis, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce thousands of performance, education and broadcast events for audiences of all ages each season in its home in New York City, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and around the world. For more information, go to jalc.org.

Live From Lincoln Center is in its 35th broadcast season. The series has received 13 Emmy Awards, most recently for the broadcast of New York City Opera's Madama Butterfly. Produced by Lincoln Center's John Goberman, this series has made the world's greatest artists on Lincoln Center's renowned stages accessible to home viewers in virtually every corner of the United States. It is the only series of live performing arts telecasts on American television today.