NY Philharmonic Ends Season with AL LARGO and MISSA SOLEMNIS, 6/23-26

Alan Gilbert will conclude his first season as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic conducting two works: AL LARGO, a World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commission by Magnus Lindberg, The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in- Residence, and Beethoven's MISSA SOLEMNIS, Wednesday, June 23, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, June 26, at 8:00 p.m. Mr. Gilbert will also conduct the Philharmonic in the Beethoven MISSA SOLEMNIS at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday, June 25, 2010, at 8:00 p.m.

Joining the Orchestra for the Beethoven mass will be soprano Christine Brewer; mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel; tenor Anthony Dean Griffey; and bass-baritone Eric Owens; with the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director.

AL LARGO, which will open the program at Avery Fisher Hall, is the second work commissioned by the Philharmonic this season from Magnus Lindberg; his EXPO received its world premiere on the Orchestra's Opening Night concert in September 2009 and was reprised in subscription concerts and on the EUROPE / WINTER 2010 TOUR. Mr. Lindberg, who has noted that Beethoven's MISSA SOLEMNIS is a "very inspiring model," specifically composed AL LARGO for a Beethoven-sized orchestra.

Single tickets for these performances are $31 to $112. There will be a pre-concert talk with composer Victoria Bond one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $16. All tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or the Alice Tully Hall Box Office at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street. 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 $12 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.

Tickets for the performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on June 25, 2010, are $29 to $118. Tickets may be purchased online at njpac.org or call the box office at (888) 466-5722.

Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has 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 by Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. This season he led the Orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi; took the musicians on a European tour in January-February 2010; and conducted world, U.S., and New York premieres. Also in the 2009-10 season, Mr. Gilbert became the first
person to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting, and hosting performance master classes.

Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School. From 1995 to 1997 he was the assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams's Doctor Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award, and his recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. On May 15, 2010, The Curtis Institute of Music awarded Mr. Gilbert an Honorary Doctor of Music degree.

Magnus Lindberg's 25-minute AL LARGO is written "for a classical orchestra in the Beethovenian manner," says the composer. The title, Mr. Lindberg explains, "comes from the Italian expression Al largo, which is actually being ‘offshore' - offshore being a metaphor for a wider and broader expression of the music, with a bubbling surface but a much slower and wider pace." Mr. Lindberg, the Philharmonic's Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, was born in Helsinki, Finland. He is noted for his richly intricate works for orchestra, and has been in the forefront of orchestral composition over the past decade. His ARENA (1995) will be performed by the Philharmonic June 10-12 and 15, 2010. He is also a pianist and percussionist.

"From the heart, may it go to the heart!" wrote Ludwig van Beethoven on the manuscript score of his MISSA SOLEMNIS, composed from 1819 to 1823 and first performed in 1824. Beethoven began with the familiar liturgical form and content of the traditional mass but, true to his iconoclastic character, broke down standard formal boundaries to create a work that embodied his own personal quest for religious understanding. Vast in scope, monumental in ambition, and highly demanding of its numerous performers, the work stands as one of Beethoven's greatest achievements. The New York Philharmonic first performed the MISSA SOELMNIS in March 1934 under Arturo Toscanini, and most recently, in May 1999, led by Kurt Masur.

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