Matthew VanBesien News

Matthew VanBesien, President of the NY Philharmonic, has announced that he will step down this spring. Its music director, Alan Gilbert, is also stepping down at the end of this season. Dutch maestro Jaap van Zweden, will become the new music director next season, replacing Gilbert.

Matthew VanBesien, president of the New York Philharmonic, will become president of the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan in July 2017.

Entering its eighth season in 2016-17, CONTACT!, the Philharmonic's new-music series, will return to National Sawdust in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for two chamber programs featuring New York-area composers. This season of CONTACT!complements the Philharmonic's 175th anniversary season celebrations, which highlight the Orchestra's rich history of commissioning and premiering important works and salute its hometown of New York City. Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is in the second year of his three-year tenure as the Philharmonic's Marie-Josee Kravis Composer-in-Residence, continues his advisory role on CONTACT!.

The Marie-Josee Kravis Prize for New Music at the New York Philharmonic, which recognizes a composer for extraordinary artistic endeavor in the field of new music, has been awarded to Dutch composer Louis Andriessen.

The New York Philharmonic will present its first-ever live concert broadcast on Facebook with the 2016-17 season Opening Gala Concert, Today, September 21, 2016, launching its 175th anniversary season and The New World Initiative, a season-long, citywide project revolving around Dvo?ak's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, and its theme of "home." Throughout the 2016-17 season, The New World Initiative will explore the New World Symphony through performances, community outreach, and education projects on the occasion of the Philharmonic's 175th anniversary season, honoring the Orchestra's hometown and its role as an adopted home for many.

The New York Philharmonic will present its first-ever live concert broadcast on Facebook with the 2016-17 season Opening Gala Concert, Wednesday, September 21, 2016, launching its 175th anniversary season and The New World Initiative, a season-long, citywide project revolving around Dvo?ak's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, and its theme of "home." Throughout the 2016-17 season, The New World Initiative will explore the New World Symphony through performances, community outreach, and education projects on the occasion of the Philharmonic's 175th anniversary season, honoring the Orchestra's hometown and its role as an adopted home for many.

The New York Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden, who becomes Music Director in 2018, will open the Mahler Festival in Amsterdam in May 2020, presented by The Royal Concertgebouw. The New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden will perform Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in the opening concert of the festival in the Concertgebouw. The appearance will be part of the Orchestra's first European tour with Mr. van Zweden in spring 2020, the first in the Netherlands under the new Music Director, and the first performance at the Concertgebouw's Mahler Festival.

The New York Philharmonic has announced the 2016-17 season's Insights at the Atrium series, free events exploring themes of the Philharmonic's concert season through multimedia lectures, conversations, and panel discussions. Expanding to eight events this season, Insights at the Atrium has gained in popularity since its inception in 2011, helping thousands of audience members delve more deeply into the music, musicians, and ideas featured in the Philharmonic's season through a dynamic and accessible forum. All events are held at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and begin at 7:30 p.m.

Ten outstanding Music Academy of the West musicians have been selected to travel to New York as Zarin Mehta Fellows in January 2017 to participate in the third year of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program, which offers opportunities to train and play with Philharmonic musicians, representing an innovative approach to training the next generation of world-class musicians for successful careers.

The 2016 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, return for the 51st season with five free outdoor concerts, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, on the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan, beginning today, June 15 and continuing tomorrow, June 16; Prospect Park, Brooklyn (June 17); Cunningham Park, Queens (June 20); and Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 21).

Michigan's Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra - the only high school orchestra invited to participate in the NY PHIL BIENNIAL - makes its debut at the immersive new-music festival on June 5, with a program titled 'Young Americans.' This unique performance features music by composers only a generation older than the gifted young orchestral musicians themselves, with a program consisting entirely of world and New York premieres. The orchestra will be led by a perfect exemplar of the genre-defying trend in today's music: Los Angeles-based conductor Christopher Rountree, the founder, conductor and creative director of the path-breaking Los Angeles chamber orchestra 'wild Up,' which mixes elements of traditional classical music with new music, performance art, and pop.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic on the CALIFORNIA 2016 tour, this week, May 3-7, 2016. The tour will feature four orchestral concerts with appearances in Costa Mesa, San Diego, and San Francisco.

The Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership continues this summer when students from the Shanghai Orchestra Academy travel to New York City to participate in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program as the first international Zarin Mehta Fellows, June 11-17, 2016, and the New York Philharmonic travels to Shanghai for its second annual performance residency, July 2-8, 2016.

The world premiere of the orchestral version of Raphael Mostel's THE TRAVELS OF BABAR: RETURN TO THE LAND OF ELEPHANTS will be presented by the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, conducted by Dina Gilbert, on Sunday, May 15 at 1:30pm at Maison symphonique de Montreal, and narrated in French by actors Sophie Cadieux and Pierre Brassard.

The 2016 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, will return for the 51st season with five free outdoor concerts, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, on the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan (June 15 and 16); Prospect Park, Brooklyn (June 17); Cunningham Park, Queens (June 20); and Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx (June 21).

The New York Philharmonic's 2016-17 season celebrates two major milestones: the Orchestra's 175th anniversary and Alan Gilbert's valedictory season as Music Director. The season will honor the Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert's shared hometown of New York City, and celebrate the myriad initiatives Alan Gilbert has introduced throughout his tenure that have become part of the fabric of today's New York Philharmonic. 

New York Philharmonic Chairman Oscar S. Schafer and President Matthew VanBesien today announced that conductor Jaap van Zweden will become the Orchestra's next Music Director, beginning in 2018-19, the Orchestra's 177th season. Mr. van Zweden will serve as Music Director Designate in the 2017-18 season.

In the second year of a four-year partnership between Music Academy of the West and the New York Philharmonic, ten Academy musicians will travel to New York in January 2016 to participate in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program (Jan 2-12), developing their career skills through what President and CEO of the Music Academy of the West Scott Reed called "an extraordinary opportunity to gain valuable experience alongside the musicians of one of the world's greatest orchestras."

In the second year of a four-year partnership between Music Academy of the West and the New York Philharmonic, ten Academy musicians will travel to New York in January 2016 to participate in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program (Jan 2-12), developing their career skills through what President and CEO of the Music Academy of the West Scott Reed called "an extraordinary opportunity to gain valuable experience alongside the musicians of one of the world's greatest orchestras."