Program Announced for 'Concert to End Polio' With NY Philharmonic and Rotary International

"The Concert to End Polio," presented by Rotary International, with the New York Philharmonic and violinist Itzhak Perlman, will feature Liszt's tone poem, Les Préludes; Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, with Mr. Perlman; Tchaikovsky's Capriccio italien; and the Theme from Schindler's List by John Williams and Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois, both with Mr. Perlman. The benefit concert, to be led by Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Daniel Boico, will take place at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, December 2, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in support of a global effort to eradicate this disabling childhood disease.

Polio eradication resonates strongly with Mr. Perlman, who contracted the disease at age four and overcame serious physical challenges to become one of the world's most celebrated musicians. In this one-night-only performance - his first with the New York Philharmonic in three years - Mr. Perlman will help Rotary in its effort to raise $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & MeLinda Gates Foundation. Net proceeds from the concert will fund critical eradication activities in developing countries where polio still threatens children. Artists Daniel Boico, the newly appointed New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor, will lead all of the Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts in the 2009-10 season. Mr. Boico made his New York Philharmonic debut on January 23, 2009, conducting an Inside the Music program. He has served as music director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Illinois, and the Skokie Concert Choir, as well as conductor of the Elgin Youth Symphony Philharmonia and as an assistant conductor to Cliff Colnot of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He was visiting professor and director of orchestras at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, a cover conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony, and an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he worked closely with and was assistant to music director Daniel Barenboim, principal guest conductor Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, and other visiting artists. Born in Israel and raised in Paris and the United States, Daniel Boico studied with and assisted Russian professor Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. A prize winner at the Prokofiev and Pedrotti conducting competitions, Mr. Boico has led numerous orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic, Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Perm Opera and Ballet, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, La Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico City. In August 2000 he made a world premiere recording of Nino Rota's cello concertos with cellist Dimitry Yablonsky and I Virtuosi Italiani for the Chandos label.

Virtuoso violinist 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. He was granted a Medal of Liberty by President Reagan in 1986, and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton in 2000. In December 2003 he was a Kennedy Center Honoree, and 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.

As soloist, Mr. Perlman continues to visit major centers throughout the world. In September 2009, he will help celebrate the opening of the Barvikha Concert Hall outside of Moscow with a reprise of his acclaimed Klezmer program, In the Fiddler's House, and will also be featured in recital at the Moscow Conservatory. Other highlights of his 2009-10 season include recitals across North and Central America, and appearances with students from the Perlman Music Program. In addition to his many orchestral and recital appearances throughout the world, Mr. Perlman performs as conductor with leading orchestras. This season marks his second as artistic director of the Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra. He was music advisor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2004, and principal guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2005. Itzhak Perlman has received four Emmy Awards and fifteen Grammy Awards. He performed at the 2006 Academy Awards and at The Juilliard School Centennial Gala, broadcast nationally on Live From Lincoln Center. He collaborated with composer John Williams in Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning film, Schindler's List, in which he performed the violin solos.

Mr. Perlman devotes considerable time to education, both in his participation each summer in the Perlman Music Program and his teaching at The Juilliard School, where he holds the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Chair. He was awarded an honorary doctorate and a centennial medal on the occasion of Julliard's 100th commencement ceremony in May 2005. He last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in September 2006, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, led by Lorin Maazel.

Rotary International 

Rotary International, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. Since then, ending polio has been Rotary's top priority, and tremendous progress has been made. The wild poliovirus now remains endemic in only four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Worldwide, the number of polio cases has been slashed by more than 99 percent, preventing five million cases of childhood paralysis and 250,000 deaths. However, the final one percent of cases is the most difficult and expensive to prevent, which is why support for Rotary's End Polio Now campaign is crucial to the initiative's success. Rotary is an international humanitarian service organization made up of more than 33,000 clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas, with a total membership of 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. In addition to fighting polio, Rotary clubs carry out an array of humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange projects and activities that address the underlying causes of conflict, such as poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, and lack of clean water. For more information on the polio eradication effort and how to support it, visit rotary.org/endpolio.

Repertoire
Franz Liszt's symphonic poem Les Préludes was originally composed in 1848 as a piano introduction to the composer's choral work, The Four Elements, and was loosely based on a poem entitled Les Préludes from Nouvelles méditations poétiques, a collection by poet Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869). In the published score, Liszt included a note that begins, "What is life but a series of preludes to that unknown song whose first solemn note is sounded by Death?" The dazzling music, however, takes the listener on a journey that ends in a spirit of affirmation. Liszt led the world premiere of Les Préludes in Weimar in 1854. Five years later, on April 30, 1859, Carl Bergmann conducted the first New York Philharmonic performance of the work. It was most recently performed by the Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in July 2007, led by Bramwell Tovey.

A child prodigy, Max Bruch began his three-movement Violin Concerto No. 1 in 1857, at age 19. In 1866, nearly a decade later, he completed what has become his best-known work, and conducted its world premiere at the Music Institute of Koblenz on the Rhine with violinist Otto von Königslöw. Bruch, however, was not yet satisfied with the G-minor concerto, and sought advice from the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim, revising it extensively before publication in 1868. Carl Bergmann led the New York Philharmonic's first performance of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in February 1872, with Pablo Sarasate as soloist. It was last performed by the Orchestra in March 2009, with Glenn Dicterow as soloist and Lorin Maazel conducting. In the winter of 1880, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky traveled to Rome, where he was inspired to compose a concert piece based on Italian folk music. Tchaikovsky was greatly pleased by the resulting Capriccio italien, and wrote that he thought the work would be effective, "thanks to its delightful tunes, some of which were chosen from collections, and some of which I heard myself on the streets." The opening fanfare was based on the bugle call from a nearby barracks that Tchaikovsky heard nightly through his hotel room window. Brilliantly orchestrated and brimming with charm, the work was an instant success. The New York Symphony (which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today's New York Philharmonic) first performed Capriccio italien in 1886, conducted by Walter Damrosch. It was performed most recently at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in July 2007, conducted by
Bramwell Tovey.

Celebrated film composer John Williams won his fifth Academy Award for his moving score for Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List, which featured violin solos performed by Itzhak Perlman. The score's poignant main theme evokes the sounds of Jewish folk music, providing a soulful musical backdrop for the film's wrenching depiction of the Holocaust. The Philharmonic first performed the Theme from Schindler's List in February 2004, with the composer conducting and Glenn Dicterow as soloist, and most recently in April 2006, with the same artists. The great violinist Fritz Kreisler composed several crowd-pleasing pieces for his instrument that remain in the repertory to this day. The Tambourin Chinois (Chinese Drum) falls within the tradition of lighthearted pseudo-Orientalism that was popular with audiences around the turn of the 20th century. Playful "exotic" sounds surround a central melody full of charm and character, all of it providing the opportunity for virtuoso showmanship. Kreisler himself performed the Tambourin Chinois in 1916 with the New York Symphony (which merged in 1928 with the New York Philharmonic to form today's New York Philharmonic), conducted by Walter Damrosch. The Philharmonic's most recent performance of the work took place in December 1996, with Midori as soloist, led by Zubin Mehta.

Single tickets are $70-$200. A private reception with Mr. Perlman will follow the concert. A premium concert seat and admission to the reception will be offered at a package price of $500. Net ticket sale proceeds will go toward Rotary's End Polio Now campaign. Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875- 5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily. 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 is open from 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m.

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