New York Philharmonic Returns to Bravo! Vail Featuring Laura Osnes and More

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 16th annual summer residency there, performing six orchestral concerts July 20-27, 2018. Bramwell Tovey will conduct two programs celebrating Leonard Bernstein, former Philharmonic Music Director, on the centennial of his birth: Bernstein on Broadway (July 20), and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms in addition to works by Copland and Gershwin, with Mr. Tovey leading from the piano (July 21). David Robertson will also conduct two programs: one featuring works for keyboard and organ (July 22), and the other a French-themed program featuring Concertmaster Frank Huang as soloist (July 25). Joshua Weilerstein, former Philharmonic Assistant Conductor, will lead a program featuring cellist Alisa Weilerstein, his sister, as soloist (July 26). The final program will feature works by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov (July 27). The New York Philharmonic String Quartet will perform in the festival's Chamber Music Series (July 24). The other soloists include pianists George Li and Louis Lortie and Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle. The New York Philharmonic has performed at Bravo! Vail each summer since 2003.

Friday, July 20: Bramwell Tovey will return for his 15th summer with the Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail to conduct the residency's opening program, Bernstein on Broadway. The program celebrates Bernstein's musical theater contributions with songs from On the Town, Wonderful Town, West Side Story, and Candide, all of which were nominated for or won Tony Awards, performed by Laura Osnes and other vocalists to be announced at a later date.

Saturday, July 21: Bramwell Tovey will lead Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue from the piano, and conduct Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and selections from Copland's Old American Songs with the Colorado Symphony Chorus, directed by Duain Wolfe. Bernstein championed Rhapsody in Blue, leading the Philharmonic in the work from the piano 37 times; Gershwin performed his work with the Orchestra eight times. Bernstein led the Philharmonic in the World Premiere of his Chichester Psalms in July 1965.

Sunday, July 22: David Robertson will conduct Copland's An Outdoor Overture, Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 with George Li in his Philharmonic debut, and Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, Organ, featuring Philharmonic organist Kent Tritle. The Philharmonic gave the U.S. Premieres of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in January 1846, led by Philharmonic founder Ureli Corelli Hill, and Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony in February 1887, led by Walter Damrosch.

Tuesday, July 24: the New York Philharmonic String Quartet performs Haydn's String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2; Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 9; and Borodin's String Quartet No. 2.

Wednesday, July 25: David Robertson's second program will feature Lalo's Symphonie espagnole with Concertmaster Frank Huang as soloist, Debussy's La Mer, Ravel's Boléro, and Berlioz's Le Corsaire Overture. The Philharmonic gave the U.S. Premiere of Ravel's Boléro in November 1929, led by Arturo Toscanini.

Thursday, July 26: Joshua Weilerstein, former Philharmonic Assistant Conductor, will lead a program that includes Elgar's Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein, his sister, as soloist. The rest of the program will be announced at a later date.

Friday, July 27: the final program of the residency will feature Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, with Louis Lortie as soloist; Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade; and Ravel's orchestration of Debussy's Sarabande et Danse. The conductor will be announced at a later date.

Bravo! Vail was founded by John Giovando and violinist Ida Kavafian in 1987. Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott became artistic director in 2011, and Jennifer Teisinger assumed the role of executive director in January 2016. New York Philharmonic concerts will be performed in the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater and will start at 6:00 p.m. The chamber music concert featuring the New York Philharmonic String Quartet will be held at the Donovan Pavilion and will also start at 6:00 p.m.

Artists
Grammy and Juno award-winning conductor and composer Bramwell Tovey is the new principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, a position he began in January 2018. He was appointed music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) in 2000, and his tenure concludes in the summer of 2018. Under his leadership the VSO has toured to China and South Korea, and across Canada and the United States. His VSO innovations have included the establishment of the VSO School of Music (of which he is artistic advisor), the VSO's annual festival of contemporary music, and the VSO Orchestral Institute at Whistler. In 2018-19, the VSO's centenary season, he assumes the role of music director emeritus. His 2017-18 season guest appearances include the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Sydney, Melbourne, St. Louis, and Toronto symphony orchestras. He will also make debuts with the Houston Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestras. Also a composer, in 2003 Bramwell Tovey won the Juno Award for Best Classical Composition for his choral and brass work Requiem for a Charred Skull; his song cycle Ancestral Voices, written for acclaimed Kwagiulth mezzo-soprano Marion Newman, was premiered in June 2017. His trumpet concerto Songs of the Paradise Saloon was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony for principal trumpet Andrew McCandless, and was performed in 2014 by Alison Balsom and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. A recording of his opera The Inventor, commissioned by Calgary Opera, featuring the original cast members of UBC Opera and the VSO, is scheduled for release. Mr. Tovey was the recipient of the Oskar Morawetz 2015 Prize for Excellence in Music Performance and was previously music director of Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg (OPL). He won the Prix d'or of the Academie Lyrique Française for his recording of Jean Cras's 1922 opera Polyphème with OPL, and toured with the orchestra to China, South Korea, the United States, and throughout Europe. In 2013 he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for services to music. Since 2006 he has been artistic director of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. In 2017 he joined the faculty of Boston University, where he teaches conducting and oversees its extensive orchestra program. Mr. Tovey made his New York Philharmonic debut leading a Young People's Concert in October 2000, and he led his first subscription concert in March 2002, comprising works by Haydn, Stravinsky, Webern, and Mozart. Most recently, in December 2017, he conducted the Orchestra in New Year's Eve: Bernstein on Broadway, broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center.

David Robertson is in his fourth season as chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and his 12th season as music director of the St. Louis Symphony. His past positions have included principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony, music director of the Orchestra National de Lyon and Paris's Ensemble Intercontemporain, and resident conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony. Recent highlights with the St. Louis Symphony include a California tour featuring Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and Messiaen's Des Canyons aux étoiles... with video imagery by photographer Deborah O'Grady, co-commissioned with the Sydney Symphony; the U.S. premiere of Tan Dun's The Wolf; and John Adams's Scheherazade.2 with Leila Josefowicz. Mr. Robertson is a frequent guest of the world's leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Staatskapelle, Israel Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestra of Santa Cecilia, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Upcoming engagements include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre national de France, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the NCPA Orchestra, Beijing. An advocate for living composers, Mr. Robertson has conducted world premieres with Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonica della Scala, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra, among others. With more than 60 operas in his repertoire, he has performed with leading companies in Lyon, Hamburg, Munich, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Barcelona, Bologna, and Cardiff and at Milan's Teatro alla Scala and The Metropolitan Opera, and he has led the resurgence of operas in concert at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Having worked with labels including Sony and Deutsche Grammophon, his Nonesuch recordings with the St. Louis Symphony include John Adams's City Noir (2014 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance) and Doctor Atomic Symphony, named Classical CD of the Decade by The Times of London. Devoted to supporting young musicians, he has worked with students at festivals in Aspen, Tanglewood, and Lucerne, and at the Paris Conservatoire, Juilliard School, Music Academy of the West, and National Orchestra Institute. In 2014 he led the coast-to-coast tour of Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. Musical America's 2000 conductor of the year, David Robertson has received numerous honorary doctorates, was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordres des Arts et Lettres.

Joshua Weilerstein is the artistic director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Noted for his clarity of musical expression, exuberance, and deep, natural musicianship, he has conducted extensively in Europe and North America. He combines enthusiasm for a wide range of repertoire with an ambition to bring new audiences to the concert hall. In the 2017-18 season, Mr. Weilerstein makes debuts with the Bamberg Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and West Australian Symphony Orchestra. This season also features return engagements with the Milwaukee, Vancouver, and Melbourne symphony orchestras; the Oslo, Royal Liverpool, and Netherlands philharmonic orchestras; and Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Joshua Weilerstein's career was launched after he won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen. He then completed a three-year appointment as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Since then, he has steadily gained a national and international profile. Recent guest conducting engagements have included the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, San Diego, Calgary, and Vancouver, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival, among others. In Europe, he has established strong relationships with the BBC and Danish National Symphony Orchestras; the Royal Liverpool, NDR Hannover, Oslo, Royal Stockholm philharmonic orchestras; and Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Elsewhere in Europe, he has conducted Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, SWR Stuttgart, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre national de Lyon, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Weilerstein believes strongly that the best programming combines traditional and contemporary repertoire: whenever possible, he endeavors to include at least one piece by a living composer in each of his programs. Committed to music education both on and off the podium, he was actively involved in Young People's Concerts during his time as Assistant Conductor with the New York Philharmonic and served as concertmaster of Discovery Ensemble, a Boston-based chamber orchestra dedicated to presenting classical music to inner-city schools. He is the creator and host of Sticky Notes, a highly successful podcast aimed at music lovers and casual listeners alike. Joshua Weilerstein made his Philharmonic debut leading an October 2011 Young People's Concert, and his Philharmonic subscription debut leading works by Osvaldo Golijov, Mendelssohn, and Dvo?ák in October 2013; his most recent appearance with the Orchestra was in January 2018, leading a French program spotlighting Ravel with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.

Laura Osnes just completed a starring run in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Bandstand (Drama Desk, Drama League nominations), featuring music by Richard Oberacker. Other Broadway credits include Cinderella in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (Drama Desk Award; Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Astaire nominations); Bonnie Parker in Frank Wildhorn's Bonnie and Clyde (Tony Award nomination), after creating the role at Asolo Repertory Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Award); Hope Harcourt in the Tony Award-winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Astaire Award nominations); Nellie Forbush in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific; and Sandy in the most recent revival of Warren Casey's Grease. Other New York / regional credits include the Gershwins' Crazy for You (Manhattan Concert Productions); The Blueprint Specials; Weill's The Threepenny Opera (Drama Desk Award nomination) at the Atlantic Theater Company; City Center's Encores! productions of The Band Wagon, Randy Newman's Faust, and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Pipe Dream; Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in concert at Carnegie Hall; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel opposite Steven Pasquale at Lyric Opera of Chicago; and Broadway: Three Generations at the Kennedy Center. On television, she has been seen on the CBS series Elementary, in the HBO pilot The Miraculous Year, the New York Philharmonic's Sondheim: The Birthday Concert in March 2010, HBO's documentary Six by Sondheim, and the Kennedy Center Honors salutes to Barbara Cook (2011) and Dustin Hoffman (2012). Her many concerts and cabaret appearances include performances with Michael Feinstein, the New York Philharmonic, New York Pops, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Boston Pops, and San Francisco and National Symphony Orchestras, and appearances at venues including Carnegie Hall, Café Carlyle, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Smith Center in Las Vegas, and Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. In addition to being heard on several cast recordings, Laura Osnes has two solo albums, Dream a Little Dream: Live at the Café Carlyle and If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston. Laura Osnes made her New York Philharmonic debut in Sondheim: The Birthday Concert in March 2010; she most recently appeared with the Orchestra in December 2017 for New Year's Eve: Bernstein on Broadway, broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center.

The 2017-18 Colorado Symphony concert season marks the 34th year of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Founded in 1984 by Duain Wolfe at the request of Gaetano Delogu, then music director of the Colorado Symphony, the chorus has grown over the past three decades into a nationally respected ensemble. The chorus of 180 volunteers joins the Colorado Symphony for numerous performances, as well as radio and television broadcasts, to repeated critical acclaim. The chorus has performed at noted music festivals in the Rocky Mountain region, including the Colorado Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, where it has performed with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra. For more than two decades, the chorus has been featured at the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival, performing under the baton of Lawrence Foster, James Levine, Murry Sidlin, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and David Zinman. Among the Colorado Symphony Chorus's recordings are Roy Harris's Symphony No. 4 (on the NAXOS label) and the recent release of the Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Stephen Hough's Missa Mirabilis (Hyperiod). In 2009, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the chorus, Duain Wolfe conducted the chorus on a three-country, two-week concert tour of Europe, presenting the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Vienna, Litomyšl, and Prague; in 2016 the chorus returned to Europe for concerts in Paris, Strasbourg, and Munich. The Colorado Symphony Chorus made its New York Philharmonic debut performing Mozart's Mass in C minor, led by then Music Director Alan Gilbert, during the Philharmonic's July 2012 Bravo! Vail residency; most recently, the chorus performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, led by Alan Gilbert, during the Orchestra's July 2017 residency. Recently awarded two Grammys for Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Recording, Duain Wolfe is the founder and director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and music director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. This year marks Mr. Wolfe's 31st season with the Colorado Symphony Chorus. He received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Denver, the Bonfils Stanton Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Mayor's Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, and the Michael Korn Award for the Development of the Professional Choral Art. He is also founder of the Colorado Children's Chorale, from which he retired in 1999 after 25 years. Duain Wolfe's additional accomplishments include directing and preparing choruses for Chicago's Ravinia Festival and the Grand Teton Music Festival.

Pianist George Li is the recipient of the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Recent and upcoming concerto highlights include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (led by Gustavo Dudamel), San Francisco Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas), Hamburg Philharmonic (Manfred Honeck), London Symphony Orchestra on a tour of Asia (Gianandrea Noseda), St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Yuri Temirkanov), London's Philharmonia Orchestra (Long Yu), Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre national de Lyon, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Mälmo Symphony, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Seattle, Utah, Sydney, and Frankfurt Radio symphony orchestras. He frequently appears with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra, including at the Paris Philharmonie, Luxemburg Philharmonie, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Graffenegg Festival, and throughout Russia. Recital highlights include Carnegie Hall, San Francisco's Davies Hall, St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, Munich's Gasteig, the Louvre, Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo's Asahi Hall and Musashino Hall, NCPA Beijing, and the Ravinia, Lanaudiere, Edinburgh, and Montreux festivals. An active chamber musician, George Li has collaborated with James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Benjamin Beilman, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrandez, and Daniel Lozakovich. Mr. Li gave his first public performance at Boston's Steinert Hall at age ten, and in 2011 he performed for President Obama at The White House in an evening honoring Chancellor Angela Merkel. He is the First Prize winner of the 2010 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a recipient of the 2012 Gilmore Young Artist Award. He is currently in the Harvard University / New England Conservatory joint program, studying with Wha Kyung Byun. An exclusive Warner Classics recording artist, his debut album, recorded live from the Mariinsky Theatre, was released in October 2017. This performance marks his New York Philharmonic debut.

Kent Tritle has been the organist of the New York Philharmonic since 1994 and of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1993. He is also director of cathedral music and organist at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, where he leads the Great Music in a Great Space series; chair of the organ department and director of choral activities at the Manhattan School of Music; and music director of the Oratorio Society of New York and Musica Sacra. Mr. Tritle is featured in the Philharmonic's recordings of Brahms's A German Requiem, Britten's War Requiem, and Henze's Symphony No. 9, all conducted by Kurt Masur, and the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd, conducted by Andrew Litton; the DVDs The Organistasand Creating the Stradivarius of Organs; and the CDs The Romantic Organ and Kent Tritle at St. Ignatius Loyola, among many others. He has appeared as a recitalist at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Zurich's Tonhalle, Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, King's College (Cambridge), Westminster Abbey, and St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. As a choral conductor, Kent Tritle led the Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola in more than 150 concerts presented by the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series from 1989 to 2011. He served as music director of the Emmy-nominated Dessoff Choirs (1996-2004) and host of The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle, a weekly radio program on WQXR (2010-14). In 2013 Mr. Tritle conducted a recording of Juraj Filas's Requiem, Oratio Spei, dedicated to the victims of 9/11, with the Prague Symphony Orchestra; vocal soloists Ana María Martínez, Matthew Plenk, and Filip Bandzak; and the Kühn Choir. He has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, NPR, and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Kent Tritle made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, Organ, in October 2006; he most recently appeared as soloist with the Orchestra in Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, Organ, in February 2018, led by Antonio Pappano.

Frank Huang joined the New York Philharmonic as Concertmaster, The Charles E. Culpeper Chair, in September 2015. The First Prize Winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, he has established a major career as a violin virtuoso. Since performing with the Houston Symphony in a nationally broadcast concert at the age of 11 he has appeared with orchestras throughout the world including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and the Genoa Orchestra. He has also performed on NPR's Performance Today, ABC's Good Morning America, and CNN's American Morning with Paula Zahn. He has performed at Wigmore Hall (in London), Salle Cortot (Paris), Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), and the Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), as well as a second recital in Alice Tully Hall (New York), which featured the World Premiere of Donald Martino's Sonata for Solo Violin. Mr. Huang's first commercial recording - featuring fantasies by Schubert, Ernst, Schoenberg, and Waxman - was released on Naxos in 2003. He has had great success in competitions since the age of 15 and received top prize awards in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition. Other honors include Gold Medal Awards in the Kingsville International Competition, Irving M. Klein International Competition, and D'Angelo International Competition. In addition to his solo career, Mr. Huang is deeply committed to chamber music. He has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia's Steans Institute, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Caramoor. He frequently participates in Musicians from Marlboro's tours, and was selected by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be a member of the prestigious CMS Two program. Before joining the Houston Symphony as concertmaster in 2010, Frank Huang held the position of first violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet and was a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music. He is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West, a partner in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, and serves on the faculties of The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, also a New York Philharmonic Global Academy partner, and the University of Houston. Mr. Huang made his New York Philharmonic solo debut leading and performing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, as well as leading Grieg's The Last Spring in June 2016; most recently, in November 2017, he performed Saint-Saëns's Violin Concerto No. 3, led by Gianandrea Noseda.

"A young cellist whose emotionally resonant performances of both traditional and contemporary music have earned her international recognition ... Weilerstein is a consummate performer, combining technical precision with impassioned musicianship," stated the MacArthur Foundation when awarding American cellist Alisa Weilerstein a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship. Ms. Weilerstein's 2017-18 season includes performances of Schumann's Cello Concerto with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Christoph Eschenbach; Barber's Cello Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Neeme Järvi and The Cleveland Orchestra under Alan Gilbert; and Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme with the New York Philharmonic led by Jeffrey Kahane. She also plays a series of duo recitals on tour with her regular recital partner, Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan, beginning at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall. Other concerto appearances include Shostakovich with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin led by James Conlon; Prokofiev with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden; Shostakovich and Dvo?ák on a U.K. tour with the Czech Philharmonic led by Ji?í B?lohlávek; and Lutos?awski's Cello Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra led by Krzysztof Urban?ski. Alisa Weilerstein's career milestones include an emotionally tumultuous account of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic led by Daniel Barenboim in Oxford, England, and a performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama. An ardent champion of new music, she has worked on multiple projects with Osvaldo Golijov and Matthias Pintscher and premiered works by Pascal Dusapin, Lera Auerbach, and Joseph Hallman. Ms. Weilerstein's honors include Lincoln Center's 2008 Martin E. Segal prize and the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award. She is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Columbia University. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, she is a celebrity advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Alisa Weilerstein made her New York Philharmonic debut in July 2002 performing Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto No. 1, conducted by Asher Fish, during the Concerts in the Parks. She most recently appeared with the Orchestra in January 2018 performing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, led by Jeffrey Kahane.

French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range of repertoire. He is artist-in-residence of the Shanghai Symphony for the 2017-18 season, which involves four different performances / residences, and, last year, was named the master-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Brussels. Mr. Lortie has recently performed with the Chicago, Sydney, Boston, Dallas, Montreal, Detroit, Toronto, Adelaide, and West Australian symphony orchestras, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Warsaw Philharmonic. He has toured with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, La Scala Orchestra, and Beethoven Orchester Bonn. He has given recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, in Aldeburgh, Liszt Festival Raiding, and São Paulo (complete Liszt Années de Pelerinage), as well as Chopin recitals in Toronto, Ottawa, Atlanta, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, La Jolla Berlin, Bonn, Rheingau, and Florence. He has made more than 45 recordings for Chandos, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky and Lutos?awski, including a set of the complete Beethoven sonatas and complete Liszt Années de Pelerinage, named one of 2012's ten best recordings by The New Yorker. He is also recording all of Chopin's solo piano music for the label. Recent releases include the complete Chopin Waltzes; Saint-Saëns's Africa, Wedding Cake, and Carnival of the Animals with Neemi Järvi and the Bergen Philharmonic; the Vaughan-Williams Concerto for Two Pianos with Helene Mercier, Andrew Davis, and BBC Symphony Orchestra; and Rachmaninoff's complete works for two pianos, also with Ms. Mercier. Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. In 1984 he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was also a prizewinner in the Leeds Competition. He has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has homes in Canada and Italy.

The New York Philharmonic String Quartet comprises four Principal musicians from the Orchestra: Concertmaster Frank Huang (The Charles E. Culpeper Chair); Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples (The Elizabeth G. Beinecke Chair); Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps (The Mr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Rose Chair); and Principal Cello Carter Brey (The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Chair). The group was formed in January 2017, during the Philharmonic's 175th anniversary season, and made its debut as the solo ensemble in John Adams's Absolute Jest in New York in March 2017, reprising the work on the Orchestra's EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour. All four members are multiple prize winners, have appeared as concerto soloists with the Philharmonic and orchestras around the world, and have appeared frequently in the Philharmonic's chamber music series at David Geffen Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. Frank Huang has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia's Steans Institute, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Caramoor. He frequently participates in Musicians from Marlboro's tours, and was selected by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be a member of the prestigious CMS Two program. Before joining the Houston Symphony as concertmaster in 2010, Frank Huang held the position of first violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet. Sheryl Staples has performed chamber music for U.S. Ambassadors in London, Paris, Berlin, Beijing, and Hong Kong. She toured Mexico, Brazil, and Chile in 2013, and she has appeared at summer festivals including La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, Boston Chamber Music Society, Salt Bay Chamberfest, and the chamber music festivals of Santa Fe, Mainly Mozart, Seattle, Aspen, Sarasota, Martha's Vineyard, Strings Music Festival, and Brightstar. She appears on three Stereophile CDs with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Cynthia Phelps performs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Jupiter Chamber Players, and the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Seattle, Chamber Music Northwest, and Bridgehampton festivals. She has appeared with the Guarneri, Tokyo, Orion, American, Brentano, and Prague Quartets, and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. She is also a founding member of the chamber group Les Amies, a flute-harp-viola group with Philharmonic Principal Harp Nancy Allen and flutist Carol Wincenc. Carter Brey has made regular appearances with the Tokyo and Emerson string quartets, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at festivals such as Spoleto (both in the United States and Italy) and the Santa Fe and La Jolla Chamber Music festivals. He and pianist Christopher O'Riley recorded Le Grand Tango: Music of Latin America, a disc of compositions from South America and Mexico released on Helicon Records.

About the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic plays a leading cultural role in New York City, the United States, and the world. Each season the Philharmonic connects with up to 50 million music lovers through live concerts in New York City and on its worldwide tours and residencies; digital recording series; international broadcasts; education programs; and the New York Philharmonic Leon Levy Digital Archives. In the 2017-18 season, during which Jaap van Zweden serves as Music Director Designate, the Philharmonic celebrates its greatest strengths and essential commitments while looking to the future as an innovative, global ensemble, spotlighting its musicians and partners, dedication to new music, wide-ranging repertoire, education programs, and accessibility. The Philharmonic has commissioned and / or premiered works by leading composers from every era since its founding in 1842 - including Dvo?ák's New World Symphony, John Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls, dedicated to the victims of 9/11, Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto, and Wynton Marsalis's The Jungle (Symphony No. 4). A resource for its community and the world, the Philharmonic complements its annual free citywide Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, with Philharmonic Free Fridays and its famed Young People's Concerts. Committed to developing tomorrow's leading orchestral musicians, the Philharmonic established the New York Philharmonic Global Academy; current Global Academy projects and partners include the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership and Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West. Renowned around the globe, the Orchestra has appeared in 432 cities in 63 countries. The oldest American symphony orchestra and one of the oldest in the world, the New York Philharmonic has made more than 2,000 recordings since 1917 and produced its first-ever Facebook Live concert broadcast in 2016. Jaap van Zweden will become Music Director in 2018-19, succeeding musical leaders including Alan Gilbert, Maazel, Masur, Zubin Mehta, Boulez, Bernstein, Toscanini, and Mahler.

About Bravo! Vail Music Festival
The Bravo! Vail Music Festival brings world-renowned musicians to picturesque venues throughout the Vail Valley for nearly seven weeks, drawing music lovers from around the world. The only festival in North America to host four of the world's finest orchestras in a single season, Bravo! Vail celebrates its 31st season from June 21 through August 2, 2018, under the direction of artistic director Anne-Marie McDermott and executive director Jennifer Teisinger. The 2018 season features residencies with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic - plus the return of London's Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In addition, internationally acclaimed chamber artists and soloists perform a wide array of unique and carefully curated chamber music programs.

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Official lodging for the New York Philharmonic while at Bravo! Vail is provided by Antlers at Vail, Manor Vail Lodge, and the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort and Spa.

Tickets
Packages for Bravo! Vail go on sale Wednesday, February 7 and start at $111 for Pavilion seating and $69 for lawn seating. There are seven orchestra packages in total, each comprising a carefully curated selection of three or four orchestral concerts. Concertgoers can also purchase Full Amphitheater Packages, which start at $764 for Pavilion seating. Each Full Amphitheater Package includes all 20 orchestral concerts.

Green Passes, offering lawn access to all 20 orchestral concerts, will also be on sale beginning February 7. Early Bird rates for Green Passes are valid through June 5. Early Bird pricing: $180 for adults, $85 for students.

All single tickets for Bravo! Vail will be on sale to the general public starting March 20. Lawn tickets start at $28 for adults and $5 for children twelve and under. Tickets in the Saver, Reserved, Premium, and Premium Aisle seating zones under the pavilion start at $44, $69, $89, and $109, respectively.

Tickets are available from the Bravo! Vail Box Office on the Bravo! Vail website, bravovail.org, or (877) 812-5700. Box Office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (MDT), Monday through Friday.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy