NY Philharmonic Will Return To Bravo! Vail

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 18th annual summer residency there, performing six orchestral concerts July 22-29, 2020. Jaap van Zweden will return to Vail as Philharmonic Music Director, conducting four concerts featuring works by Wagner, Barber, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, and Steve Reich. Bramwell Tovey will return to Vail with the Philharmonic to lead two concerts: an evening of music by Stephen Sondheim and Bernstein, and a program of works by Tchaikovsky and Berlioz. The soloists include violinist Gil Shaham, pianists Beatrice Rana (in her Philharmonic and Bravo! Vail debuts) and Conrad Tao, vocalist Kelli O'Hara, soprano Joélle Harvey, and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. The New York Philharmonic has performed at Bravo! Vail each summer since 2003.

Wednesday, July 22: Jaap van Zweden will conduct the opening concert of the Philharmonic's residency, which will be followed by the Bravo! Vail Gala. The concert will feature Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Broadway selections, with vocalist Kelli O'Hara; Wagner's Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger; and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. Ms. O'Hara will reprise her acclaimed performance of the Barber from the Philharmonic's 2019-20 season Fall Gala, of which The New York Times wrote: "Mr. van Zweden drew warm, wafting sounds from the orchestra and sensitively followed Ms. O'Hara whenever she brought breadth and intensity to crucial phrases. I'm saving a place on my best-of-the-year list for her performance."

Friday, July 24: Jaap van Zweden will conduct the first of two Mahler's New York programs, featuring Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish, with Gil Shaham as soloist. Mahler's New York celebrates composer and former Philharmonic Music Director Gustav Mahler in Vail in July; New York in April; and Europe in May, when the Orchestra opens the third-ever Concertgebouw Mahler Festival - which began 100 years ago - as the first American orchestra in the festival's history. Mahler conducted the New York Philharmonic in the US Premiere of his First Symphony in 1909. It was the first work Jaap van Zweden ever conducted, when another former Philharmonic Music Director, Leonard Bernstein, asked Mr. van Zweden, then concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, to lead part of a rehearsal. Mahler's First Symphony was among the works Maestro van Zweden led in his New York Philharmonic debut in April 2012, which The New York Times called "a dynamic, all-out performance. ... He drew blazing playing from the orchestra." Philharmonic Archivist / Historian Emeritus Barbara Haws will discuss Mahler's living legacy at the New York Philharmonic during two Inside the Music enrichment events, one in conversation with Philharmonic musicians (July 20 and 22).

Saturday, July 25: Jaap van Zweden will conduct the second Mahler's New York concert, featuring Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with soprano Joélle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, and the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Bravo! Vail Festival Chorus directed by Duain Wolfe. Mahler conducted the New York Philharmonic in the US Premiere of his Resurrection Symphony in 1908. The Philharmonic performed Mahler's Resurrection Symphony to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and two days after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, in a televised concert led by Leonard Bernstein.

Sunday, July 26: Jaap van Zweden will conduct Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, with Conrad Tao as soloist; Beethoven's Symphony No. 2; and Steve Reich's Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (in its Vail premiere). Maestro van Zweden and Mr. Tao began collaborating when the pianist was 16 years old, and the conductor has since championed Mr. Tao's compositions, including conducting the acclaimed World Premiere of Conrad Tao's Everything Must Go, commissioned by the Philharmonic, in his first month as Philharmonic Music Director. Mr. Tao made his Philharmonic solo debut in Bravo! Vail in the summer of 2019, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2. The New York Times wrote of the Philharmonic's New York Premiere performance of Steve Reich's Music for Ensemble and Orchestra in December 2019: "The Philharmonic players savored the sounds. Some scintillating passages for trumpets and vibraphones were brimming with a metallic resonance that the orchestra and its music director, Jaap van Zweden, balanced beautifully with the strings and winds. It was a good night for the orchestra." The concert will be followed by Philharmonic musicians performing a concert curated by Philharmonic Vice President, Artistic Planning, Isaac Thompson as part of the Bravo! Vail After Dark series at the Shakedown Bar.

Tuesday, July 28: Bramwell Tovey will return for his 17th summer with the Philharmonic at Bravo! Vail to conduct an evening of music by Stephen Sondheim and former Philharmonic Music Director Leonard Bernstein. The Philharmonic has performed songs and full works by Sondheim extensively, beginning in 1985 and most recently in December 2019 for New Year's Eve: Celebrating Sondheim. Vocalists will be announced.

Wednesday, July 29: Bramwell Tovey will conduct the conclusion of the Philharmonic's residency, featuring Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Beatrice Rana as soloist in her Philharmonic and Bravo! Vail debuts, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. Beatrice Rana will make her Philharmonic subscription debut in the 2020-21 season, reprising Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. On July 30, Bramwell Tovey will perform solo piano works as part of The Linda & Mitch Hart Soirée Series.

The Bravo! Vail Music Festival brings world-renowned musicians to picturesque venues throughout the Vail Valley for nearly seven weeks, drawing music lovers from around the world. The only festival in North America to host four of the world's finest orchestras in a single season, Bravo! Vail celebrates its 33rd season from June 25 through August 6, 2020. The 2020 season features residencies with the debut of The Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the return of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. In addition, internationally acclaimed chamber artists and soloists perform a wide array of unique and carefully curated chamber music programs. Artistic Director Anne-Marie McDermott has led the festival since 2011. For more information about Bravo! Vail, visit bravovail.org or call (970) 827-5700.

Packages for Bravo! Vail go on sale February 25. Individual concert tickets go on sale March 17. Tickets are available from the Bravo! Vail Box Office, on the Bravo! Vail website, bravovail.org, or by calling (877) 812-5700. Box Office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (MDT), Monday through Friday.

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