Dudamel, Muti Lead Off NY Philharmonic's 'THIS WEEK' In 2009

In February 2009, The New York Philharmonic This Week — a two-hour, national, weekly radio program of concerts by the New York Philharmonic — will begin with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Orchestra in Oliver Knussen’s Violin Concerto, featuring Pinchas Zukerman, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

The following week, Riccardo Muti returns to conduct Haydn’s Symphony No. 89; selected arias from Haydn operas Armida and L’anima del filosofo ossia Orfeo ed Euridice, with bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff as soloist; and Brahms’s Serenade No. 1. The third broadcast, led by Kurt Masur, commemorates the bicentenary of Mendelssohn’s birth in an all-Mendelssohn program featuring his Overture to Ruy Blas; Violin Concerto, with guest artist Anne-Sophie Mutter; and Die erste Walpurgisnacht with mezzo-soprano Christine Knorren (in her Philharmonic debut), tenor Jorma Silvasti (in his Philharmonic debut), bass-baritone Albert Dohmen (in his Philharmonic subscription debut), bass Thorsten Grümbel (in his Philharmonic debut), and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.

The final February broadcast will be the 2008–09 New Year’s Eve Gala Concert with Music Director Lorin Maazel leading mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Philharmonic in a program that includes “Deh per questo istante solo” from Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito; Vilja from Lehár’s The Merry Widow; and “L’Amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Habanera) and “Près des ramparts de Séville” (Seguidilla) from Act I of Bizet’s Carmen; the orchestral pieces will include works by Verdi, Rossini, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Offenbach, and Falla.

The New York Philharmonic This Week is syndicated nationally to more than 295 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin is the host; WFMT’s Mark Travis is the broadcast producer; New York Philharmonic Audio Director Lawrence Rock is the engineer and music producer. The concerts are available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks following the broadcast. The program is heard locally in the New York metropolitan area on 96.3 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.

The New York Philharmonic’s first Live National radio broadcast took place on October 5, 1930, over the CBS radio network. On that Sunday, Erich Kleiber was on the podium leading the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Since that historic broadcast, the Philharmonic has enjoyed an almost continuous presence on national radio. Advancing its role as a media pioneer, the Philharmonic, since 2002, has shared its radio broadcasts with a worldwide audience through its Website, nyphil.org.

The New York Philharmonic This Week is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. 

The WFMT Radio Network, the international syndication division of the award-winning Chicago classical music station 98.7 FM WFMT (streaming live at wfmt.com/streaming), produces and distributes these broadcasts nationwide. In addition to the New York Philharmonic broadcasts, WFMT syndicates concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as ongoing series and documentary specials such as Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin and Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. The WFMT Radio Network also offers exclusive programming from Germany’s Deutsche Welle Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and dozens of classical, folk, jazz, news series, and specials to radio outlets around the world.

Host Kerry Frumkin, along with Mark Travis and Lawrence Rock, is responsible for the format of The New York Philharmonic This Week. Previously, he produced the nationally syndicated New York Philharmonic Live! for five years. A Peabody Award-winning producer, he is the afternoon drive-time host of WFMT, Chicago. He hosts and produces the station’s weekly series of live studio performances, Live from WFMT, featuring soloists and ensembles from the Chicago area and across the nation, and is also the host and producer of summer broadcasts from the Ravinia Festival. For several years he hosted Rising Stars at Ravinia, which featured performances by up-and-coming artists. Mr. Frumkin hosted and produced the station’s first live broadcasts from Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival, and is the recipient of the Armstrong, Ohio State, San Francisco State Media, and International Radio Festival awards.

Mark Travis is a producer for 98.7 FM WFMT, Chicago, and the WFMT Radio Network. He produced the inaugural season of the The New York Philharmonic This Week in 2004–05, and during the 2003–04 season was the producer for the monthly New York Philharmonic Live! radio broadcasts, syndicated by the WFMT Radio Network. Since joining WFMT in 1999, he has written and produced specialty programs for local and national broadcast, including the highly successful Berlin Philharmonic broadcasts, and has produced a number of commercial recordings for labels such as RCA/BMG, Naxos, Sony, and Bis. Mr. Travis, an accomplished singer and classical guitarist, has also written and produced a syndicated radio series of broadcasts by L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among numerous other projects. He is also a producer/host of the New York Philharmonic Podcast, which previews upcoming programs through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, Orchestra musicians, and experts.

Lawrence Rock has been Audio Director of the New York Philharmonic since 1997, overseeing all audio activities, including recording, broadcasting, and live sound. He received a 2005 Grammy Award in the category of Best Classical Album as co-producer, with composer John Adams, for Mr. Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, which also won two other Grammy Awards. The work, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers, was recorded live during its World Premiere in September 2002 and released on CD on August 31, 2004, on Nonesuch Records. For the Orchestra’s own recording label, New York Philharmonic Special Editions™, Mr. Rock produced the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic, and the 10-CD set, Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic. He has produced live broadcasts and commercial recordings for some of the most prestigious performance organizations in the United States, and received a Grammy Award in 1997 for his work on a recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

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