Young People's Concerts Conclude With INSPIRATIONS AND TRIBUTES: THE RIDDLE OF SHOSTAKOVICH

The 95th season of the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts (YPCs) will conclude on Saturday, May 19, 2018, at 2:00 p.m. with "The Riddle of Shostakovich," the fourth program in this season's series, Inspirations and Tributes - each concert exploring how composers influence and pay tribute to each other. Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen will lead the program, featuring selections from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist Justin Jay Hines (Philharmonic debut) will host the event, written and directed by Kevin Del Aguila.

Attendees are invited to arrive early to take part in YPC Overtures, at which children meet Philharmonic musicians and try out orchestral instruments on the Grand Promenade and upper tiers of David Geffen Hall, starting at 12:45 p.m. Pre-concert activities include live performances by ensembles of Philharmonic musicians of works by Very Young Composers inspired by the YPC's thematic content.

Artists
Joshua Gersen, New York Philharmonic Assistant Conductor since September 2015, made his acclaimed Philharmonic subscription debut on hours' notice in February 2017. Mr. Gersen has been music director of the New York Youth Symphony for the past five years, and he was previously the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony, where he served as the assistant conductor to the symphony's artistic director, Michael Tilson Thomas, leading the orchestra in various subscription, education, and family concerts including the orchestra's PULSE concert series. He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in the fall of 2013 and has been invited back to conduct a variety of concerts, including a performance in the new SoundBox Theater and filling in for Michael Tilson Thomas on part of a subscription series. The winner of the Aspen Music Festival's 2011 Aspen Conducting Prize and the 2010 Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize, Mr. Gersen served as the festival's assistant conductor for the 2012 summer season under Robert Spano. He was principal conductor of the Ojai Music Festival in 2013, and has conducted the National, Toronto, New Jersey, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Alabama symphony orchestras and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He was also a recipient of a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award in 2015 and 2016. Mr. Gersen is also an avid composer; his String Quartet No. 1 and Fantasy for Chamber Orchestra have been premiered in New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. He has had works performed by the New Mexico Symphony, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra. His work as a composer has inspired an interest in conducting contemporary music, and he has led several World Premieres by young composers with New York Youth Symphony's First Music Program and the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program. He has also collaborated with prominent composers including John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Steven Mackey, Mason Bates, and Michael Gandolfi. Joshua Gersen made his conducting debut at age 11 with the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra and his professional conducting debut five years later when he led the Greater Bridgeport Symphony in a performance of his own composition, A Symphonic Movement. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with Michael Gandolfi. Since becoming an Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, he has led the Orchestra in 25 Young People's Concerts and Young People's Concerts for Schools. He most recently led the Orchestra in a subscription program featuring works by Barber, Bernstein, and Copland in February 2018.

Percussionist, composer, and educator Justin Jay Hines has performed with the New York Philharmonic, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, Alarm Will Sound, and Chamber Music Society of Detroit. He served as principal percussion of The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. Since 1997 he has served as a New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist in classrooms, concerts, workshops, and residencies across New York City and in educational programs in Japan. As a Broadway musician, he has played on many Tony Award-winning shows, including In the Heights, Pippin, Caroline or Change, and Tarzan. As an educator, he has collaborated with the St. Louis Symphony, New World Symphony, 92nd Street Y, Lincoln Center Education, Carnegie Hall, Caramoor Center for the Arts, and The Juilliard School. His classical compositions have been featured most prominently by his group Classical Jam at venues throughout the U.S. and Asia. Currently Mr. Hines is a composition mentor for the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program, and is on the teaching faculty of New York University. This performance marks his New York Philharmonic debut.

Kevin Del Aguila is a two-time Emmy Award-winning writer of the PBS show Peg + Cat, a recipient of the Heideman Award for his play The Greekest of Tragedies (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and a book-writer of the comedy Altar Boyz (New York Outer Critics Circle Award; Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations), which made history as one of the longest-running off-Broadway musicals of all time. Other works include his middle-aged superhero musical The Astonishing Return of the Protagonists! (2013 National Alliance for Music Theatre Festival), as well as his stage adaptations of the DreamWorks film Madagascar (Radio City Music Hall; national and international tour) and the popular book series Diary of a Wimpy Kid(Children's Theatre Company, Minneapolis). He performed the roles of Smee in Broadway's Peter and the Starcatcher and a singing troll in the Disney blockbuster Frozen. Kevin Del Aguila was also the scriptwriter and director for the January 2017 Young People's Concert, The Ages of Music: "Romantic."

Individual tickets for the Young People's Concerts are $15 to $42. All tickets include admission to YPC Overtures. Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the David Geffen Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. (Ticket prices subject to change.)

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