Alan Gilbert News

Decca Gold is proud to announce the digital release of Sing Happy, the live performance of the New York Philharmonic's 2018 Spring Gala starring Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, and conducted by Andy Einhorn. Recorded live on May 1 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the recording represents McDonald's first collaboration with Decca Gold - as well as her first solo recording with full orchestra.

Pianist Makoto Ozone, hailed internationally for both his jazz and classical performances, takes the stage at Japan Society on Thursday, June 7 (7:30 pm). It will be his first NYC solo concert in more than 30 years, following a 1985 recital at Town Hall. Ozone will offer an upbeat, freewheeling program of selections from his wide-ranging repertoire, spanning Gershwin and Bernstein, Piazzolla and Ravel.

On Sunday, May 27, 2018 at 4:00pm, the pioneering International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) presents a program of works by composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir highlighting her unorthodox use of the piano. ICE pianist Cory Smythe, a champion and commissioner of Anna's solo music, is in the center of National Sawdust's stage, circled by the audience, with the audience encircled by ICE musicians, immersed in the music. Conductor Steven Schick, a longtime ICE collaborator, leads the ensemble. This performance is part of ICE's year long participation as a National Sawdust 2017-18 Artists-in-Residence. This project is supported by Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology program.

Decca Gold is proud to announce the forthcoming release of Sing Happy, the live performance of the New York Philharmonic's 2018 Spring Gala starring Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald. Recorded live on May 1 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, the recording represents McDonald's first collaboration with Decca Gold - as well as her first solo recording with full orchestra.

Concertmaster Frank Huang will lead the New York Philharmonic from his chair as Concertmaster in a program spotlighting the Orchestra's string section. The concerts will feature Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3, with Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples as soloist; Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik; and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, and take place on Thursday, May 31, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, June 1 at 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m.; Tuesday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m.; and Wednesday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Conductor Jordan Randall Smith has recently been appointed to two new posts in the Baltimore area. Beginning April 2, Smith leads the choir, children's choir, and orchestra at Hunt's Church in Towson and will co-direct the church's new digital media department. In his blog, Jordan wrote, 'I am delighted to join the the staff of this special group of people as we look ahead to a range of new initiatives to expand our musical footprint and community impact.'

Writer Alex Borinsky reunites with the creative team behind Clubbed Thumb's Of Government - director Jeremy Bloom and composer Joe White - for this new piece by their inventive company Rady&Bloom. An arts collective gathers to celebrate their director's birthday; fueled by Moscow Mules, the partygoers sprawl across the apartment, decompressing from their ongoing rehearsal process. They speculate about the end of the world.

PREFORMANCES WITH ALLISON CHARNEY brings its inaugural season at Merkin Concert Hall, Kaufman Music Center to a close with a concert befitting a sonnet on William Shakespeare's Birthday,  Monday April 23rd at 1PM.

Semyon Bychkov will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct two weeks of programs, including the 50th anniversary of a Philharmonic commission, artist debuts, and symphonic cornerstones. In the first week, Mr. Bychkov will conduct Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Bertrand Chamayou in his Philharmonic debut; Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5; and Brahms's Tragic Overture, Thursday, May 17, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 18 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. 

Manfred Honeck will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Sibelius's Violin Concerto, with Nikolaj Znaider as soloist; Mr. Honeck's own arrangement of Dvorák's Rusalka Fantasy, orchestrated by Tomáš Ille; and selections from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 4 at 11:00 a.m.; Saturday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. The following week, Nikolaj Znaider will make his New York Philharmonic conducting debut leading Elgar's Cello Concerto, with Jian Wang in his subscription debut, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams, Thursday, May 10, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 11 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 p.m.

The GRAMMY Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus presents Silent Voices: If You Listen, the second installment of its multimedia, multi-composer, and multi-year Silent Voices series of concert works with spoken word, conceived, produced and performed by Brooklyn Youth Chorus (April 27-28, at National Sawdust). Silent Voices: If You Listen builds on the success of Silent Voices' 2017 premiere at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House. Here, eight composers, all women, collaborate with the choristers in amplifying the voices of the marginalized and confronting the challenges of division and categorization, racism, sexism, social and economic disparity, immigration, our environment, and threats to our understanding of truth. Commissioned composers for Silent Voices: If You Listen include Julia Adolphe, Olga Bell, Anna Clyne, Paola Prestini, Toshi Reagon, Shelley Washington, Bora Yoon, and Pulitzer winner Du Yun; the concert will also feature a work with guest artist Shaina Taub. Unifying this work is the distinctively versatile and beautiful sound of the rigorously-trained singers - a chorus of culturally and socioeconomically diverse New York City young people, ages 12-18 - joined by International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). These are young voices set on resisting the socio-politically retrograde elements of the present in a move towards a more inclusive and compassionate vision of the future.

MasterVoices - dedicated to celebrating the power of the human voice through the art of musical storytelling - presents two performances of a new production of Orphic Moments, in conjunction with producers Anthony Roth Costanzo and Cath Brittan. 

Electronic vs. orchestral music? Forget the 'vs.' The Young Musicians Foundation's Debut Chamber Orchestra (DCO), for the final concert of its 2017/18 season, will transcend the boundaries of these sonic landscapes by juxtaposing and combining the music of L.A.-based DJ, electronic musician and film director Flying Lotus alongside the works of Benjamin Britten and Igor Stravinsky.

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) will hold its annual Spring Gala at New York's Metropolitan Club (1 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022) on Thursday evening, April 5, 2018, starting at 6:00 pm. The organization will honor renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe with the NYCHORAL Music Excellence Award for her contributions to the musical profession, as well as Sylvia R. Hoisington who is celebrating her 50th season with the chorus. Produced in partnership with the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the evening's showcase performance will feature soprano Amanda Majeski and tenor Ben Bliss, both of whom will be participating in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Cosi fan tutte from March 15 to April 9, 2018. Members of the NYCHORAL Chamber Ensemble will also perform. The evening will feature a silent auction of unique items and experiences. The program is as follows:

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) will hold its annual Spring Gala at New York's Metropolitan Club (1 E 60th St, New York, NY 10022) on Thursday evening, April 5, 2018, starting at 6:00 pm.

As the celebrations, performances, and successes of The Cleveland Orchestra's Centennial Season continue toward its conclusion this spring, the Orchestra has announced details of its 101st season for 2018-2019. Aspects of the celebratory spirit continues - with a 100th Birthday concert in July for the Cleveland community and Centennial Gala in September. The new season also extends the dedicated week-to-week work, creativity, and artistry required to continue being one of the world's best orchestras year after year.

Christoph Eschenbach will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of works by Austrian composers: Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22, with Austrian pianist Till Fellner as soloist in his Philharmonic debut, and Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 (Ed. Nowak), Thursday, April 19, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m.

The 2018 McCammon Voice Competition judges have chosen the semi-finalists for the eighteenth biennial competition, to be held on March 16, 2018 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The finals will be held March 17, 2018 at Bass Performance Hall. This year's competitors are David Araujo, Amanda Blue, Nicolette Book, Ryan Bradford, Rachael Braustein, Kathleen Buccleugh, Chelsea Coyne, Danielle Davis, Peter Scott Drackley, Helen Huang, Hao Hu, Emily Michiko Jensen, Abigail Kempson, Chonghwa Kim, Abigail Levis, Brandon Morales, Elizabeth Moran, Langelihle Mngxati, Chong Yoon Noh, Brittany Nickell, Yulan Piao, Anthony Reed, Michael St. Peter and Andrew Wannigman.

The ninth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, concludes with a co-presentation by the Philharmonic and National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, featuring Musicians from the New York Philharmonic performing works by emerging Russian composers: Dmitri Kourliandski's Voice-off, with vocalist Ethan Hayden in his Philharmonic debut, and the U.S. Premieres of Denis Khorov's Barcarolle, Marina Khorkova's VORderGRENZE, Alexander Khubeev's Ghost of Dystopia, conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, and Nikolay Popov's Nibiru 20/13. Hosted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the concert will take place on Monday, April 2, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at National Sawdust.

American baritone Nathan Gunn and pianist Julie Gunn, partners in life and often on stage, will make their debut at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in an evening of cabaret by iconic composers ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Cole Porter to Billy Joel and Tom Waits.  The evening concert from an eclectic American Songbook joins Bernstein at 100, the worldwide celebration of the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history. An Evening with Nathan and Julie Gunn takes place Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 7:30pm in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis.