Carnegie Hall to Open 2013-14 Season with The Philadelphia Orchestra, 10/2

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin launch Carnegie Hall's 2013-2014 season onWednesday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. with a Gala Opening Night concert in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Violinist Joshua Bell is featured soloist in Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28, and Ravel'sTzigane; vocalist and double bassistEsperanza Spalding joins the orchestra for three works from her acclaimed album Chamber Music Society in new arrangements by Gil Goldstein commissioned by Carnegie Hall. The orchestra also performs Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March, Op. 31, Saint-Saëns's Bacchanale fromSamson et Dalila, and Ravel's Boléro.

Carnegie Hall's black-tie Opening Night Gala event on October 2 is chaired by Annette and Oscar de la Renta and co-chaired by Mercedes T. Bass, Diane Von Furstenberg and Barry Diller, Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis, and Beatrice Santo Domingo. For the tenth consecutive season, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is the Opening Night Gala lead sponsor. The gala concert benefits Carnegie Hall's artistic and education programs and includes a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria's Grand Ballroom following the concert. Gala benefit tickets-priced at $5000, $2500, and $1500-include premier concert seating and the post-concert dinner at The Waldorf Astoria. Benefit tickets, priced at $1000, include the concert and a pre-concert cocktail reception, which begins at 5:30 p.m. in Carnegie Hall's Rohatyn Room. All gala benefit tickets are available by calling 212-903-9679 or online at carnegiehall.org/specialevents. A limited number of concert-only tickets, priced $49-$154, are currently available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at carnegiehall.org.

The concert will be aired on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and on stations nationwide to kick off the third annual Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall in collaboration with American Public Media and hosted by WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon and American Public Media's Fred Child. Concerts in the series are available for live streaming on wqxr.org andcarnegiehall.org/wqxr. During every live broadcast, WQXR, Carnegie Hall, and digital partner NPR Music will host 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.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Maestro Nézet-Séguin return for three additional performances at Carnegie Hall this season, with repertoire to include Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Hélène Grimaud and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique (December 6); Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 with Truls Mørk, R. Strauss's Metamorphosen: A Study for 23 Strings, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, "Eroica" (February 21); and Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Lisa Batiashvili, Barber's Adagio for Strings, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 (May 2).