Alec Baldwin Hosts NY PHILHARMONIC THIS WEEK, Begins 9/26

The New York Philharmonic will launch the eighth season of its concert broadcast series, The New York Philharmonic This Week, beginning the week of September 26, 2011. Alec Baldwin returns for his third season as the host of the two-hour radio program, which is produced by the New York Philharmonic and syndicated both nationally and internationally 52 weeks a year by the WFMT Radio Network.

Pre-season broadcasts will feature A Concert for New York, a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, In Remembrance and Renewal on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. The performance, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, will feature soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, and the New York Choral Artists, led by Joseph Flummerfelt. The performance will be broadcast live on September 10 at 7:30 p.m. on Classical WQXR 105.9 FM.

September and October season highlights include the World Premiere of John Corigliano's song-cycle One Sweet Morning, with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, which was co-commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001; concerts with Frank Peter Zimmermann, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-inResidence, led by Mr. Gilbert; the return of former Philharmonic Music Director Lorin Maazel for two programs featuring Philharmonic musicians as soloists; and two programs  from the Orchestra's recent residency at Colorado's Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

The New York Philharmonic This Week airs locally in the New York metropolitan area on Classical 105.9 FM WQXR, Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. [Check local listings.] Concerts are available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks following the broadcast. The broadcasts are syndicated to more than 300 outlets nationally and 122 outlets internationally by the WFMT Radio Network. Alec Baldwin is the host of the program, New York Philharmonic Audio Producer Mark Travis is the broadcast producer, and Audio Director Lawrence Rock is the engineer and music producer.

The New York Philharmonic's first Live National radio broadcast took place on October 5, 1930, over the CBS radio network. On that Sunday Erich Kleiber was on the podium leading the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Since that historic broadcast, the Philharmonic has enjoyed an almost continuous presence on national radio. Advancing its role as a media pioneer, the Philharmonic, since 2002, has shared its radio broadcast with a worldwide audience through its Website, nyphil.org. In 2004 the New York Philharmonic was the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live.

Following on this innovation, in 2009 the Orchestra announced the first-ever subscription download series: Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season, available exclusively on iTunes, produced and distributed by the New York Philharmonic, and comprising more than 50 works performed during the 2009-10 season. Last season the Orchestra released another iTunes pass: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2010-11 Season. Since 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings, with more than 500 currently available.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos