Riccardo Muti To Conduct NY Philharmonic With Vadim Repin
By: Gabrielle Sierra Feb. 03, 2010
Riccardo Muti will conduct the New York Philharmonic in two popular works from the 19th century: Beethoven's only Violin Concerto, performed by Vadim Repin, and Franck's Symphony in D minor - the only symphony ever written by the Belgian-born French composer, Wednesday and Thursday, March 10-11, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, March 13, at 8:00 p.m.
Related Events• Composer/conductor Victoria Bond will introduce the program one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656 • New York Philharmonic Podcast
Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week, is the producer of this podcast. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at
nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes. • National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of March 22, 2010,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 295 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by the Emmy Award- winning actor Alec Baldwin, 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 broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.
Riccardo Muti was born in Naples, Italy, where he studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale, graduating with distinction. He was subsequently awarded a diploma in composition and conducting by the Conservatory "Giuseppe Verdi," Milan. He first came to the attention of critics and the public in 1967, when he was unanimously awarded first place in the Guido Cantelli Conductors Competition in Milan. The following year he was appointed principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a position he maintained until 1980. In 1971 he was invited by Herbert von Karajan to conduct at the Salzburg Festival, the first of many occasions that led, in 2001, to a celebration of 30 years of artistic collaboration. During the 1970s Mr. Muti was the London Philharmonia's chief conductor (1972-82), succeeding Otto Klemperer. In 1980 he succeeded Eugene Ormandy as music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he remained until 1992. From 1986 to 2005 he was music director of Milan's Teatro alla Scala, overseeing projects such as the Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy and the Wagner Ring Cycle, in addition to bringing many less-performed and neglected works to light. His long tenure culminated on December 7, 2004, in the re- opening of the restored La Scala, with Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, originally commissioned for La Scala's inaugural opening night performance in 1778.
Ludwig van Beethoven composed only one Violin Concerto, in 1806. Written in a rush, to be performed at a Christmas-time concert, it survived a disastrous premiere in which the soloist, Franz Clement, the principal violinist and conductor at the Theater an der Wien, stopped between movements to perform his own Fantasia with circus-like gimmicks. Beethoven's concerto entered the standard repertoire only after 1844, when it was championed by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim, who performed it with the Philharmonic Society of London conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. The New York Philharmonic's first performance of the concerto, in December 1861, was conducted by Theodore Eisfeld, with Edward Mollenhauer as the soloist. It was played most recently, in September 2007, with Lorin Maazel conducting and Lisa Batiashvili as soloist. César Franck was born in 1822 in Liège (now Belgium), and died in 1890 in Paris, with a preponderance of his major works created near the end of his life, principally in his final decade. His Symphony in D minor - his only work in the symphonic genre - was one of those pieces, and received its first performance in February 1889. Written in the tradition of the 19th-century symphony, the work shows the influences of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, and also of the organ, Franck's principal instrument. The symphony earned only a lukewarm reception at its premiere, but the composer reported that he was pleased: it sounded exactly as he had imagined it. It has gone on to be regarded as one of Franck's greatest achievements, a landmark synthesis of the French and Germanic traditions. It was first performed in March 1911 by the New
York Symphony (which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today's New York Philharmonic), led by Walter Damrosch, and most recently, in July 2006 in Vail, Colorado, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.
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