Alan Gilbert News

The Las Vegas Philharmonic presents its final concert of the 2016 – 2017 concert season, Cabrera Conducts Bruckner on Saturday, May 27th at 7:30 p.m. in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center.  Music Director Donato Cabrera will host a pre-concert conversation at 6:30 p.m. for patrons to learn more about the history and meaning behind the music in the evening's program. 

In the third of Alan Gilbert's final four subscription weeks as New York Philharmonic Music Director, he will lead an enhanced concert production of Wagner's Das Rheingold. Soloists include bass-baritone Eric Owens as Wotan, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Fricka (in her New York Philharmonic debut), baritone Christopher Purves as Alberich (debut), tenor Russell Thomas as Loge, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor as Erda, bass Morris Robinson as Fasolt (debut), bass Stephen Milling as Fafner (debut), soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Freia (debut), tenor Brian Jagde as Froh (debut), bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Donner (debut), tenor Peter Bronder as Mime (debut), soprano Jennifer Zetlan as Woglinde, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano as Wellgunde, and mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford as Flosshilde. The enhanced concert production will be directed by Louisa Muller with costume design - featuring character-based treatment of modern concert attire - by David C. Woolard. The performances will take place Thursday, June 1, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Czech conductor Jakub Hr?ša will make his New York Philharmonic debut leading an all-Czech program featuring Dvo?ák's Violin Concerto, with Augustin Hadelich as soloist; three of Dvo?ák's Slavonic Dances (Op. 46, No. 1; Op. 72, No. 2; and Op. 72, No. 7); and Janá?ek's Taras Bulba, Rhapsody for Orchestra, Thursday, May 25, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 26 at 2:00 p.m.; and Saturday, May 27 at 8:00 p.m.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), closes its 75th anniversary season with Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland on April 27, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019). The production will be conducted and directed by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature Kelli O'Hara (Contrary Mary), Bill Irwin (Master Toymaker), Christopher Fitzgerald (Alan), Lauren Worsham (Jane), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Tom Tom), Jonathan Freeman (Uncle Barnaby), Chris Sullivan (Gonzorgo), Jeffrey Schecter (Roderigo), Michael Kostroff (Chief Inspector Marmaduke), and Blair Brown (The Narrator), with the 130 singers of MasterVoices and Orchestra of St. Luke's. Musical Staging by Andrew Palermo, Costume Consulting by Tracy Christensen, and Concert Adaptation by Joe Keenan and Ted Sperling.

Celebrating the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus' 25th anniversary, Silent Voices is a fully-staged multimedia, multi-composer work conceived, commissioned, produced, and performed by the chorus.

On May 12 & 13, the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus will premiere their new work Silent Voices at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. Silent Voices is a fully-staged multimedia, multi-composer work conceived, commissioned, produced, and performed by the chorus, and comes at the culmination of their year-long 25th anniversary season.

The eighth season of CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, will conclude with two World Premieres of New York Philharmonic Commissions, Sam Pluta's binary/momentary ii: flow state/joy state and David Fulmer's Sky's Acetylene; the program also includes Eric Wubbels's katachi (2011) — featuring conductor Jeffrey Milarsky, Sam Pluta on live electronics, and a vocalist to be announced — and Jacob Druckman's Come Round (1992). The concert, performed by Musicians from the New York Philharmonic, takes place Monday, May 22, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. at National Sawdust.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Mahler's Symphony No. 4, with soprano Ying Fang as soloist, at the Annual Free Memorial Day Concert, Monday, May 29, 2017, at 8:00 p.m. at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. This will be the 26th Annual Free Memorial Day Concert offered by the New York Philharmonic, a tradition begun in 1992 as a gift to the people of New York City.

In the second of Alan Gilbert's final four subscription weeks as New York Philharmonic Music Director, he will lead the Orchestra in a program that highlights important artistic relationships he has cultivated during his tenure.

The New York Philharmonic returned to London, its every-other-year home and the seventh stop on the EUROPE / SPRING 2017 tour. There, the Orchestra performed adventurous concerts as part of its third residency at the Barbican Centre under the auspices of its International Associates initiative. Highlights included Yo-Yo Ma in Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen's new Cello Concerto, John Adams with the New York Philharmonic String Quartet, and the first-ever Very Young People's Concert abroad. 

The 2017 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, will return for the 52nd season with four free outdoor concerts, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, at Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 13); the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan (June 14); Cunningham Park, Queens (June 15); and Prospect Park, Brooklyn (June 16). In addition, New York Philharmonic musicians will perform at the Free Indoor Concert at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden on June 18, 2017. Major corporate support for the 2017 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks and the Free Indoor Concert has been provided by MetLife Foundation, Citi, and Emirates Airline.

The ARK Trio returns to the classical concert series "PREformances with Allison Charney" on Monday April 3rd where they first "preformed" in anticipation of their NYC inaugural concert "Love Resounding" earlier this year. The ARK Trio's commitment to contemporary classical works evidenced by their presentation of six world premieres, was praised by Broadway World who noted "In a city where even the most revered classical music institutions offer new works in relatively small doses, this intrepid program, 'Love Resounding' was noteworthy entirely because it presented a complete program of new classical works."

Guest conductor Christian Reif will lead Berkeley Symphony in Shostakovich's evening-long, epic Symphony No. 13, “Babi Yar,” on Thursday, May 4 at 8 pm at Zellerbach Hall. The Orchestra is joined for the Berkeley Symphony's season finale performance by bass Denis Sedov and a men's chorus comprised of alumni of the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, the Pacific Boychoir Academy, and members of the St. John of San Francisco Russian Orthodox Chorale, led by chorusmaster Marika Kuzma. Reif is stepping in for Berkeley Symphony Music Director Joana Carneiro, who recently gave birth to triplets.

Music Director Alan Gilbert begins his final weeks by leading the New York Philharmonic in Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. The program juxtaposes the tragedy and optimism of human experience through Schoenberg's depiction of the horror of the Holocaust and the message of hope, brotherhood, and joy in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw will feature Gabriel Ebert as narrator (in his Philharmonic debut) and the men of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will feature soprano Camilla Tilling, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack (debut), tenor Joseph Kaiser (debut), bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir, directed by Joe Miller. The performances will take place Wednesday, May 3, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, May 6 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. The program will be presented without intermission.

On Monday April 3rd, at 12:30 PM, the New York classical music series "PREformances with Allison Charney" will present Metropolitan Opera stars' tenor Todd Wilander and countertenor Jeffrey Mandelbaum in a scintillating concert of arias and duets from masterworks by Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.  The program will also feature contemporary classical compositions for voice, cello and piano by Michael Ching and Moshe Knoll, performed by musicians of the ARK Trio, soprano Allison Charney, cellist Kajsa William-Olsson and pianist Reiko Uchida. Also featured will be PREformances collaborative pianist Craig Ketter. The concert takes place at the JCC Manhattan, home to the intimate 150 seat Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Auditorium and the Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas.

The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct the New York Philharmonic in the U.S. Premiere of Tansy Davies's Forest, the New York Premiere of Stravinsky's recently rediscovered Funeral Song; and Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra. 

The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Most have announced details of the Orchestra's 2017-18 calendar.  The season will be the ensemble's 100th year of concerts and marks the launch of its Second Century.  2017-18 is also the 16th year of the Orchestra's acclaimed partnership with Franz Welser-Most. 

Yo-Yo Ma joined forces with Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic for the New York Premiere of a Cello Concerto by Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen, whose music has been described as “exquisite” and “thrilling” by The New York Times. Berlioz's passion-inspired blockbuster Symphonie fantastique dazzles with a palette of amazing orchestral colors and effects.

The production will be conducted by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature previously announced stars Kelli O'Hara, Bill Irwin, Lauren Worsham, Christopher Fitzgerald - with Jonathan Freeman, Chris Sullivan, and Jeffrey Schecter just joining the lineup - alongside 130 singers of MasterVoices, with Orchestra of St. Luke's.

New York Philharmonic Board Chairman Oscar S. Schafer, on behalf of the Board of Directors and Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden, today announced that Deborah Borda has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Philharmonic, to begin on September 15, 2017. Bill Thomas, who currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the New York Philharmonic, will become Executive Director, effective May 1, 2017. Ms. Borda succeeds Matthew VanBesien, who has held the Orchestra's chief administrative post since 2012. She has served as president and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2000, having previously served in the same capacity at the New York Philharmonic during the 1990s.