Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Returning to Carnegie Hall, 2/26-28

The legendary Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall this February for three consecutive concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage conducted by Valery Gergiev. During each of the three concerts, the orchestra highlights the music of Richard Wagner, beginning with the Overture to Der fliegende Holländer on the first program on Friday, February 26 at 8:00 p.m., which is heard alongside Debussy's La mer and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel).

The February 26 performance airs as part of the fifth annual Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series with a live radio broadcast on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall and hosted by WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon, select Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts feature live web chats, including Twitter commentary by the broadcast team, from backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.

Celebrated soprano Heidi Melton joins the orchestra and Mr. Gergiev on Saturday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m. for her Carnegie Hall debut, singing selections from Wagner's Götterdämmerung. This program also includes Mussorgsky's Prelude to Khovanshchina, and the New York premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Masaot / Clocks Without Hands, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall as part of the 125 Commissions Project. A pre-concert talk with Ms. Neuwirth will be held in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at 7:00 p.m. An intensely personal work, Masaot / Clocks Without Hands derives inspiration from the composer's meeting with her late grandfather in a dream. Reflecting her grandfather's upbringing in Vienna on the banks of the Danube, the work comments on memory, the passage of time, homeland, and the search for identity.

The Vienna Philharmonic's third concert on Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m. concludes the orchestra's residency with Mr. Gergiev conducting Wagner's Prelude and Good Friday Music from Parsifal and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony.

About the Artists
In the 2015-2016 season, dramatic soprano Heidi Melton makes her Vienna Philharmonic debut singing Brünnhilde's "Immolation Scene" from Götterdämmerung under the baton of Valery Gergiev, both in Vienna at the Musikverein and in New York at Carnegie Hall. She also made her New York Philharmonic debut with Alan Gilbert in Strauss Lieder and Act 3 of Die Walküre as Brünnhilde. With the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, she will perform Sieglinde in complete concert performances of Die Walküre, which will be recorded by Naxos. Ms. Melton returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Venus/Elisabeth in Tannhäuser with Donald Runnicles, as well as to Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe for her first performances as Isolde in a new Christopher Alden production of Tristan und Isolde conducted by Justin Brown. She also debuts at the English National Opera in a new production of Tristan und Isolde conducted by Edward Gardner.

Notable symphonic engagements include her Italian debut under Kirill Petrenko with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Torino as Gutrune/Third Norn in a concert performance of Götterdämmerung; the BBC Proms as Elisabeth in a concert performance of Tannhäuser with Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Jaap van Zweden, BBC Scottish Symphony under Donald Runnicles, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano in Act 1 of Die Walküre; the Baltimore Symphony in Act 1 of Die Walküre and Isolde's "Liebestod" under Marin Alsop and Four Last Songs with Markus Stenz; the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Eine Lebensmesse; at the Festival de Lanaudière singing Elsa in Lohengrin under Yannick Nézet-Séguin with his Orchestre Métropolitain; at the Aspen Music Festival under Robert Spano in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand"); Real Filharmonía de Galicia in Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder under Paul Daniel; and in Verdi's Messa da Requiem for Donald Runnicles' farewell concert as Music Director of San Francisco Opera.

Valery Gergiev has been Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra since 2007 with performances at the Barbican, BBC Proms, and Edinburgh International Festival, as well as leading the LSO on extensive tours of Europe, North America, and Asia. As Artistic and General Director of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre since 1988, he has taken the Mariinsky ballet, opera, and orchestra ensembles to more than 45 countries. He is Principal Conductor of the World Orchestra for Peace and assumed the role of Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 2015. His other roles include Founder and Artistic Director of the "Stars of the White Nights," "New Horizons" and "Mariinsky Piano" festivals in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, Rotterdam Philharmonic's Gergiev Festival, and the Mikkeli Music Festival.

Maestro Gergiev has led numerous composer-centered concert cycles in New York, London, and other international cities, featuring works by Berlioz, Brahms, Dutilleux, Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner, as well as introducing audiences around the world to several rarely performed Russian operas. He also serves as Chair of the Organizational Committee of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival, and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the St. Petersburg State University. Valery Gergiev's many awards include the People's Artist of Russia, the Dmitri Shostakovich Award, the Polar Music Prize, the Netherlands' Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, and the French Order of the Legion of Honour.

There is perhaps no other musical ensemble more consistently and closely associated with the history and tradition of European classical music than the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Since its inception by Otto Nicolai in 1842, the fascination that the orchestra has held for prominent composers and conductors, as well as for audiences all over the world, is based not only on a homogenous musical style carefully bequeathed from one generation to the next, but also on its unique history and structure. The foremost ruling body of the organization is the orchestra itself. In accordance with Philharmonic statutes, only a member of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra can become a member of the Vienna Philharmonic. Before joining the Philharmonic, one must first audition for a position with the State Opera Orchestra and then successfully complete a three year period before becoming eligible to submit an application for membership in the association of the Vienna Philharmonic.

The Vienna Philharmonic performs approximately 110 concerts every season at home, presents Vienna Philharmonic Weeks in New York and Japan, and has participated in the Salzburg Festival since 1922. The orchestra makes yearly guest appearances in leading concert halls and festivals around the world, presents the New Year's Concert, which is broadcast internationally in over 90 countries, and presents the free Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn, which is attended annually by up to 100,000 people.

In 2014, the VPO received the coveted Birgit Nilsson Prize for outstanding achievements and major contributions to the field of opera / concert, and the Herbert von Karajan Music Prize 2014. Since 2008, Rolex is the Exclusive Sponsor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The Vienna Philharmonic's mission is to communicate the humanitarian message of music to its listeners. For over a decade, the VPO has given benefit concerts in support of humanitarian causes around the world, and since 2012, has been Goodwill Ambassador for IIASA, an international scientific institute based in Austria that conducts research into humanity's most pressing problems. The musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic endeavor to implement the motto with which Ludwig van Beethoven prefaced his Missa solemnis: "From the heart, to the heart."

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