Alan Gilbert News

The sixth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, continues Monday, February 9, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. at SubCulture.

The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Lisa Batiashvili will continue her tenure with performances of Barber's Violin Concerto, and The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in- Residence Christopher Rouse's tenure concludes with performances of Iscariot, the final work by Mr. Rouse to performed during his three-year tenure. David Zinman will conduct the program, which also includes Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Thursday, February 5, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 6 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 7 at 8:00 p.m.

The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program: the Mass in C minor, Great, and Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Emanuel Ax as soloist. The Mass features soprano Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

Oscar S. Schafer was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Philharmonic- Symphony Society of New York, Inc., today at a meeting of the organization's Board of Directors. He will hold the title of Chairman Designate until he assumes the Chairmanship in early 2015 as part of a transition, succeeding Gary W. Parr, who has held the post since September 2009. As Chairman, Mr. Schafer - who has been a member of the Philharmonic's Board of Directors since 2007 - will serve as the Society's chief volunteer officer. Mr. Parr will continue to serve as a member of the Philharmonic's Board.

Soprano Angela Meade is a 2008 George London Award winner who is the youngest singer ever to grace the cover of the annual "Diva" issue of Opera News (November 2014). Baritone Nicholas Pallesen is a 2013 George London Award winner making his New York recital debut. Joined by pianists Danielle Orlando and Craig Rutenberg, they will perform a duo recital on Sunday, January 11, 2015, at 4:30 PM at The Morgan Library & Museum, presented by the George London Foundation for Singers. Both singers were featured in The Audition, the documentary about the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

JCC Manhattan presents PREformances with Allison Charney on Monday, December 15th at 7:30pm.

Ten young instrumentalists from the Music Academy of the West are about to inaugurate the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program January 3-13, 2015, when they travel to New York City to train and play alongside New York Philharmonic musicians. All ten instrumentalists are from the prestigious Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, selected by audition to be the inaugural Zarin Mehta Fellows. At a time when there is more competition than ever to succeed in the music profession, these Fellows will be immersed in all aspects of an orchestral player's life, from audition to performance, learning invaluable career skills.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Verdi's Requiem, featuring soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, tenor Brandon Jovanovich (debut), bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

The University Musical Society of the University of Michigan and the New York Philharmonic have announced an ambitious five-year residency partnership, beginning with concerts and activities in October 2015. The partnership is the centerpiece of a larger program bringing three different orchestras to Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium each season. Each residency will include multi-performance residencies, master classes and workshops for University of Michigan students, and activities for the regional community.

The Music Academy of the West will receive a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund an innovative four-year partnership with the celebrated New York Philharmonic. The grant, the fifth the Music Academy has received from the NEA in as many years, re-affirms the institution's stature as a premier classical music training facility, according to Academy President Scott Reed.

The New York Philharmonic will present Dohnanyi / Dvorak: A Philharmonic Festival, today, December 4-13, 2014, featuring two all-Dvorak programs conducted by Christoph von Dohnanyi, acclaimed for his interpretations of the Czech composer.

The University Musical Society of the University of Michigan and the New York Philharmonic have announced an ambitious five-year residency partnership, beginning with concerts and activities in October 2015. The partnership is the centerpiece of a larger program bringing three different orchestras to Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium each season. Each residency will include multi-performance residencies, master classes and workshops for University of Michigan students, and activities for the regional community.

This week, Mr. van Zweden will lead the Orchestra in Korngold's Violin Concerto, with Hilary Hahn as soloist; Beethoven's Symphony No. 7; and J. Wagenaar's Cyrano de Bergerac Overture, marking the Philharmonic's first time performing the work, tonight, November 26, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 28 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 29 at 8:00 p.m.

Live From Lincoln Center-now in its 40th anniversary season-continues an annual tradition with the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Celebration, ringing in 2015 with an all-Gershwin program as jazz greatDianne Reeves, Broadway leading man Norm Lewis, and conductor Bramwell Tovey join the New York Philharmonic. The broadcast, coming from the Philharmonic's New Year's Eve concert at Avery Fisher Hall, will include Gershwin's Cuban Overture, his own suite of music from Porgy and Bess, and selections from the Gershwin songbook, such as 'Strike Up the Band.' This special Live From Lincoln Center 40th anniversary season broadcast of 'New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: Gershwin Celebration' will air as part of PBS's New Year's Eve line-up on Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. (*check local listings), with special guest host Willie Geist of TODAY on NBC and Morning Joe on MSNBC.

The New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert will conclude The Nielsen Project - the Philharmonic's acclaimed multi-season survey of the six symphonies and three concertos by Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) - with Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto, featuring newly appointed Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill in his Philharmonic debut.

'Annual performances of Handel's Messiah have been a New York tradition from the time New York culture began to assert itself,' says Oratorio Society of New York Music Director Kent Tritle. English choral societies, inspired by grand performances of Messiah at Westminster Abbey at the turn of the 19th century, would perform the work periodically, but the Oratorio Society of New York made it an annual tradition in New York City - in 1874, the year after the Society was founded.

Jaap van Zweden - music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic as well as former concertmaster of Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - will return to the New York Philharmonic for the first time since his debut in April 2012 to conduct two weeks of concerts. In the first program, Mr. van Zweden will conduct Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for Violin and Viola, featuring Acting Concertmaster Sheryl Staples and Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, tonight, November 20, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 21 at 2:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 22 at 8:00 p.m.

PBS will host two days of press conferences featuring Damian Lewis, who plays Henry VIII in MASTERPIECE's "Wolf Hall," starring Tony-Award winner Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell

Juanjo Mena will make his New York Philharmonic debut conducting an all-Russian program featuring Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnole; Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, with pianist Daniil Trifonov as soloist; and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, Pathe?tique, Tuesday, December 30, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 2, 2015, at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, January 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, January 6 at 7:30 p.m.

In a milestone philanthropic agreement that will help ensure the future of one of the world's iconic performing arts spaces, the children of the late Avery Fisher - Nancy Fisher, Charles Avery Fisher and Barbara Fisher Snow - today joined with the leadership of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to announce that they have entered into an agreement to enable the renaming of Avery Fisher Hall.