Gilbert To Conduct First Subscription Concerts of the 169th Season

Following the Opening Night Gala concert on September 22, Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in the first subscription concerts of the 2010-11 season, Thursday, September 23, 2010, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, September 24, at 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, September 25, at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, September 28, at 7:30 p.m. On the program will be R. Strauss's tone poem Don Juan; Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with Itzhak Perlman as soloist; Henri Dutilleux's Métaboles; and Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.

In speaking about the program, Alan Gilbert noted that, "Don Juan is one of my favorite Straus pieces, and is one of the most difficult virtuoso works for the orchestra." Following the Strauss and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto is what Mr. Gilbert calls "the newer side" of the program: "Henri Dutilleux," he notes, "is one of the most important composers working today. Métaboles is entirely a product of the French tradition: you can hear the direct connections to Debussy and Ravel, but also the spikier, rhythmic side of Stravinsky. This visceral, dramatic, rhythmic impetus combined with a kind of perfumed French sensibility is very exciting." In discussing the closing work on the program, Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, Mr. Gilbert says: "It's a transformation of 19th-century music, a piece that exploits the orchestra and one that uses the brilliance of the New York Philharmonic to great effect."

Related Events

• New York Philharmonic Podcast
Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week-per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week, is the producer of this podcast. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.

• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of October 4, 2010* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 300 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by the Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic's corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

Alan Gilbert became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, the first native New Yorker to hold the post, ushering in what New York Magazine called "a moment of metamorphosis and continuity." In 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 The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, held in 2010-11 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 he 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. Highlights of Mr. Gilbert's inaugural season included major tours of Asia and Europe and an acclaimed staged presentation of Ligeti's opera, Le Grand Macabre.

Itzhak Perlman took part in the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece written for the occasion by John Williams and performing with clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Gabriela Montero, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. President Reagan granted him a "Medal of Liberty" in 1986, and President Clinton awarded him the "National Medal of Arts" in December 2000. In December 2003 he was a Kennedy Center Honoree. In May 2007 he performed at the State Dinner for Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, hosted by President George W. Bush and Mrs. Bush at the White House.