Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Succeeds in Rough Times!

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra announces successful conclusion of 2008-2009 Season

Significant progress made in ticket sales, attendance and attracting new audiences

Fred Bronstein, SLSO President and Executive Director, said of the progress made in 2008-09: “The 2008-09 Season represents an important step forward in the SLSO’s audience-building efforts, and is now the springboard toward a bold goal of doubling our audience as identified in our new 10-year strategic vision. This transformation has begun with a diversification of our concert offerings with an eye toward developing new audiences while reconnecting with our core audience. It begins with what you put on the stage, and hence our focus on product, supported by a reinvigoration of our marketing efforts, and continued strengthening of the SLSO brand. It’s a good first step, and now we intend to redouble our efforts to build on this performance next season, and beyond.” In the summer of 2008, the SLSO implemented its Building Our Business initiative, with an emphasis on audience development. A goal of Building Our Business is to make Powell Hall recognized as the place to be for music entertainment throughout the St. Louis region. The SLSO reached significant milestones as the result of these initiatives.

Casual Classics
The launch of the new Casual Classics summer series in 2008, and continuing in 2009, was designed as an accessible “entry point” for new audiences as well as an opportunity to extend the season for current patrons. The results have been impressive, generating 25% of attendees in households new to the SLSO.

SLSO Presents
With such popular offerings as The Lord of the Rings Symphony, Oz with Orchestra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The 5 Browns, The Beach Boys, Gipsy Kings and Simply Sinatra, the SLSO has expanded its audience, bringing a wide range of quality entertainment to Powell Hall. As stated above, more than 20,000 people attended SLSO Presents concerts. Five concerts were sold out or near capacity, and 52% of attendees were new to Powell Hall.

Media
The SLSO’s presence on local radio increases as well. Following a successful live broadcast of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in May 2009, SLSO and KFUO Classic 99 are partnering in a new summer series featuring “light classics” from the SLSO archives. In addition, the SLSO and KFUO will inaugurate weekly live Saturday evening broadcasts of the Wells Fargo Advisors Orchestral Series 2009-10 season, beginning on opening weekend, September 26.

Labor Stability
In June 2009, the SLSO announced a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with its musicians more than one year in advance of the expiration of the current agreement, a significant departure from past negotiations. The agreement moves the orchestra forward in a fiscally responsible and restrained manner and adds a 43rd week to the season, providing opportunities for more performances and thus enhancing audience development efforts. The labor agreement also adds new flexibility in executing local media projects that help build the SLSO brand.

Special Offer from Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Czech maestro Jiri Belohlávek conducts the London Philharmonic in Glyndebourne's first ever production of Dvorák's Rusalka this summer. Partly inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's poignant fable The Little Mermaid, Dvorák's operatic masterpiece tells of a water nymph who longs to become human in order to win the love of a handsome prince, only to find herself betrayed by him and condemned to an eternal existence.

Glyndebourne is delighted to offer LPO e-bulletin subscribers a special ticket and dining package to see Rusalka. For £100 per person you can enjoy best available seats plus a delicious two-course interval supper and a complimentary glass of house red or white wine at one of Leith's restaurants at Glyndebourne. The Rusalka dining package is available for performances on 15 and 22 July, subject to availability.

To book, please call the Glyndebourne Box Office on 01273 813813 and quote 'LPO Rusalka Offer' when requested.

Standard ticket prices up to £175.00 for performance only; standard dinner prices start at £39.95 per person.

Metropolitan Opera Guild Announces Four Exciting Events for 2009-10 Season

As part of its annual schedule of programs, this season the Metropolitan Opera Guild will present four special, star-studded public events that both celebrate the art form and provide substantial financial support for the organization’s groundbreaking opera education programs.

On Tuesday, September 15, the Guild presents “Met Legends – James Levine” at Alice Tully Hall. The Maestro of the Met will be on stage with the Guild’s Paul Gruber, to watch rare video clips and discuss his life and incomparable career. Exclusive materials will be shown as part of a video biography of the Maestro, including rare footage of the young James Levine with his family. Also on hand will be an impressive group of artists who have played important roles in his musical life, including Judith Blegen, Raymond Gniewek, Lynn Harrell, Marilyn Horne, Cornell MacNeil, Karita Mattila, James Morris, Itzhak Perlman, Roberta Peters, Renata Scotto, Dawn Upshaw, and Dolora Zajick. Previous “Met Legend” events have included unforgettable evenings with Marilyn Horne and Teresa Stratas.

The fifth annual Opera News Awards will take place on Thursday, November 19, and will be held for the first time at Gotham Hall (1356 Broadway, at 36th Street ). Previous Opera News Award-winners Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson return for the third consecutive season to co-host the 2009 Awards, which are given at a black-tie gala dinner attended by the leading figures of opera and a host of other special guests and celebrities. This year’s five winners will be announced in early August. Last year’s honorees were sopranos Natalie Dessay and Renée Fleming, mezzo Marilyn Horne, baritone Sherrill Milnes, and composer John Adams.

On Wednesday, February 3, 2010, the Guild presents the debut of a new tribute series, with “The Met Mastersingers: Renée Fleming.” The superstar soprano will discuss her extraordinary career, and join the audience in viewing exclusive video clips at New York ’s historic Town Hall.

Finally, on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, the 75th Annual Guild Luncheon will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. This year’s honoree is the beloved American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who will be giving her farewell recital at Carnegie Hall in the same week. The previous luncheon’s honoree was legendary tenor Plácido Domingo.

Proceeds from these, and other, public events go to funding the Guild’s extensive educational programs.

Founded in 1935 with the goal of broadening the base of support for the Metropolitan Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Guild is an educational and outreach organization dedicated to building appreciation of the operatic art form. Through a rich offering of programs and events, the Guild supports opera today and develops audiences for tomorrow.

Kirill Gerstein - New Artist to Watch!

Since winning First Prize at the 2001 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition and receiving the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2002, Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein has been travelling to the major international music centers with a suitcase full of concertos and rave reviews for his blazing technique and probing interpretations.

Last month Gerstein made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut with conductor Hans Graf in Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2. Then he was off to Germany to play Liszt's first concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the Royal Philharmonic and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, followed by a pair of chamber music concerts in Vienna and Salzburg. Earlier this month, Gerstein performed Ravel's Concerto in G major with Pinchas Zukerman and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and he gave a BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert at London's Wigmore Hall with cellist Stephen Isserlis. He ends the month in Tel Aviv playing Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

"Kirill Gerstein may not be a household name (although he has now played with many of the world's leading orchestras) but on the evidence of this demanding recital he certainly deserves to be. He is the antithesis of the young klaviertiger and - although prodigiously technically endowed - is a player of patrician finesse and the most fastidious intelligence." - Douglas Cooksey - regarding the Russian pianist's March recital at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The Dallas Opera to Launch Inaugural Season in New Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House October 23 with New Production of Verdi’s Otello

The Dallas Opera, one of the nation’s premier opera companies, is preparing to open its 53rd season on October 23 with a new production of Verdi’s Otello, in the company’s brand-new home, the 2,200-seat Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House designed by Foster + Partners under Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster. “We wanted to open our season in the new house with something big and grand that would show off the Winspear Opera House’s capabilities,” explains Dallas Opera artistic director, Jonathan Pell. “A Verdi opera was the obvious choice, and during our initial conversations with the late Bill Winspear, for whom the opera house is named, we learned that Otello was his favorite opera. As the final schedule for the end of the opera house’s construction and its subsequent opening was set, the date October 23 was chosen for the opening night of the opera. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this date would have been Mr. Winspear’s 75th birthday, so the choice of his favorite opera for that date has extra significance for us.”

The Dallas Opera moves into the new Winspear Opera House after many decades in residence at the Music Hall at Fair Park. “The first thing our patrons will notice is the incredible intimacy of the Winspear Opera House compared to the enormity of the Music Hall,” explains Mr. Pell. “The back wall of the new opera house is where the front of the balcony starts in the Music Hall! The other big change for Dallas audiences will be our ability to have multiple productions in repertoire at the same time. Now, opera lovers can travel to Dallas and experience more than one opera in the course of a weekend.”

The house’s inaugural opera performance of Otello, with Dallas Opera Chorus alumn tenor Clifton Forbis in the title role, is being presented in a new Dallas Opera production by Tim Albery, with set and costume designs by Anthony Baker, both making their company debuts. The Dallas Opera’s music director, Graeme Jenkins, conducts. “Having Clifton Forbis sing the title role in Otello has a special significance for us,” remarked Jonathan Pell. “He sang in the Dallas Opera Chorus for two years and made his first solo appearance in an opera in Dallas as a messenger in a production of Aida. He has, of course, gone on to sing in the major opera houses of the world. He has sung the title role in Otello at La Scala and has become known as well for Wagner’s mammoth role of Tristan, which he recently sang opposite Deborah Voigt at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The connection of his having started his career here seemed poetic, and we loved the symmetry of his coming back to open our new opera house.”

The Dallas Opera has a rich tradition of giving American audiences a first glimpse of some of the world’s most gifted singers. Since the company’s inaugural concert, given by legendary soprano Maria Callas, many international stars have made their U.S. debuts at The Dallas Opera, including Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Joan Sutherland, and Jon Vickers, as well as designer/director Franco Zeffirelli. Following in this tradition, the German soprano Annette Dasch will make her American debut as Desdemona in Dallas before traveling to New York for her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro.

Venezuelan-American Pianist Gabriela Montero’s Summer Season Takes Her Around Globe

Includes Debuts at San Francisco Symphony, Ravinia Festival, and Salzburg Festival

The year 2009 has been a stellar and historic one for Gabriela Montero. It started on January 20 in Washington D.C. , when she performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and clarinetist Anthony McGill to a worldwide audience at President Obama’s inauguration. The excitement continues this summer as Montero makes debut performances at several of the world’s most prestigious festivals and orchestras, with performances in North America, South America, and Europe . Known for her ability to dazzle audiences in both traditional concert repertoire and with her trademark improvisations, Montero is sure to impress in a plethora of varied programs.

On Thursday, July 2, Montero makes her debut with the San Francisco Symphony. She will be the featured soloist in George Gershwin’s beloved Rhapsody in Blue under the baton of James Gaffigan, in a concert of music by American composers. True to her adventurous spirit, Montero will follow the Gershwin with an improvisation. For a theme on which to base it, she will turn to the audience for suggestions. Whatever they come up with, the results will be something not often experienced at Davies Symphony Hall!

Later in the month, Montero will travel back home to Venezuela , where she will join her fellow countryman and classical music superstar Gustavo Dudamel and the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar. The concert will take place on July 17 at the Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas.

In August, Montero makes debuts at two major summer music festivals. On August 15, she will appear at Austria ’s world-renowned Salzburg Festival. For this performance, she will be joined by her frequent collaborator, French cellist Gautier Capuçon, in a concert featuring music by Prokofiev, Schnittke, and Rachmaninov. Recently, the two teamed up on the EMI Classics recording Rhapsody, performing cello sonatas by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. The San Francisco Chronicle gave the album its top rating, noting:

“For once, here’s a CD with cover art emphasizing the hot looks of the performers that actually has some bearing on the music. French cellist Gautier Capuçon and Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero have put their heads and hands together for a positively steamy romp through two great Russian cello sonatas, and the results are remarkable.”

A few days later, Montero travels back to the United States for her Ravinia Festival debut in Highland Park, IL on August 19. In this concert she is sure to surprise and delight the festival audience by playing traditional repertoire in the first half and then devoting the rest of the evening to her inimitable improvisation.

Castleton Fetival Announces Two Recitals with Principal Players of the New York Philharmonic

Recitals by Principal Flute Robert Langevin, Principal Horn Phil Myers and Principal Oboe Liang Wang added to the inaugural Castleton Festival schedule of four Britten chamber opera and two orchestral concerts

Festival Opens Friday July 3 with founder Lorin Maazel conducting a new production of The Turn of the Screw

Two recitals featuring principal players of the New York Philharmonic have been added to the schedule of the first Castleton Festival which is being held in Rappahannock County , VA July 3-19.

On Thursday, July 9 Principal Horn Phil Myers will be joined by Principal Oboe Liang Wang and Virginia Perry Lamb (piano) for a program featuring works by Telemann, Schuller, Piantoni, Britten, Piazzolla, Ravel and Reinecke. On Wednesday, July 15 Principal Flute Robert Langevin and pianist Nicholas Ong will perform a program of sonatas by Gaubert, Lowell Liebermann and Fauré. (Full program details below.)

Unlike other Castleton Festival events that are being held on founder Lorin Maazel’s 550-acre Castleton Farms property in Rappahannock County , VA , the recitals will be presented at The Theatre at Washington at 291 Gay Street , Washington , VA. (approx 7 miles from Castleton Farms.) Tickets to all Castleton Festival events are available from castletonfestival.org or by phone 540-937-4969 or toll-free 866-974-0767.

The Castleton Festival is an extension of the Castleton Residency program established by The Châteauville Foundation founded in 1997 by Maestro Maazel and his wife Dietlinde Turban-Maazel to train and mentor young musicians. Over 120 professional and student artists are currently in residence at Castleton Farms preparing for 13 performances of four Britten chamber operas and two orchestral concerts.

New York Philharmonic concertmaster, Glenn Dicterow, will perform as soloist at the Castleton Festival Orchestra concert on Saturday, July 11 performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto. All of the New York Philharmonic musicians are serving as mentors and teachers to the young musicians who are currently in residence at Castleton Farms.

In addition to the orchestra players, internationally renowned soprano Nancy Gustafson and Marlena Malas who holds faculty positions at the Juilliard School , the Curtis Institute of Music and the Manhattan School of music and chairs the vocal program at the Chautauqua Institution are providing coaching and master classes to the 50 young singers participating in the program.

The Castleton Festival is the only American festival devoted to chamber opera. The four Britten operas to be performed include the premiere of a new production of The Turn of the Screw (July 3, 4, 5) as well as productions of The Beggar’s Opera (July 5, 12, 16, 18), The Rape of Lucretia (July 10, 11, 12) and Albert Herring (July 17, 18, 19) developed during past Castleton Residencies. All productions are directed by William Kerley and the orchestras comprised of musicians from the Royal College of Music in London and the Qatar Philarmonic Orchestra. The first performance of each opera, and the performance on Saturday, July 4, will be conducted by Maestro Maazel. Other performances will be conducted by three Castleton Fellows selected by Maestro Maazel, Timothy Myers (US), Jordi Bernàcer ( Spain ) and Andreas Weiser ( Germany ), who will also take part in conducting master classes.

Two symphonic concerts will be presented by the Castleton Festival Orchestra on Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 19.

The Castleton Festival will also see the first annual series of master classes for 10 young conductors taught by Maestro Maazel and the Castleton Fellows. Two of these conducting classes will be open to the public on Wednesday, July 8 and Thursday, July 16 providing the first ever opportunity for people to observe Maestro Maazel teach. Rolex is the founding partner of the master classes.

Boston Symphony Orchestra Musicians begin First-Ever Relay run from Boston to Tanglewood - June 29

150-Mile Relay Run Across the State Begins at 2pm on June 29 at Main Entrance to Symphony Hall in Boston

On June 29, at 2 p.m., at the entrance to Symphony Hall at 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, BSO bassist Todd Seeber, along with 20 other musicians and staff members, as well as a life trustee, will begin a relay run, introduced by a brass fanfare and starter pistol, to the main gate of Tanglewood, to mark the opening of the 2009 season. The run will continue over 33 legs, each between 3.5 and 7 miles, and will arrive at the Tanglewood Main Gate at approximately 1:15 p.m. on June 30, in anticipation of the first BSO rehearsal at Tanglewood on July 1 and the opening night program on July 3, featuring an all-Tchaikovsky program led by BSO Music Director James Levine. Tanglewood is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra located in Lenox, MA.

A group of 26 runners—fourteen Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops musicians, several of their family members, six staff members, and a life trustee—will run the 150 miles cross state relay. Each leg will be run by one to four participants. The average run pace will be 6 miles an hour or 10-minute miles. BSO bassist Todd Seeber and BSO violinist James Cooke, both longtime runners, conceived of the Run to Tanglewood. In addition to Seeber and Cooke, BSO musicians participating in the run include principal violist Steven Ansell, associate principal violist Cathy Basrak, violist Rachel Fagerberg (along with her two children), oboist John Ferrillo, bassist Benjamin Levy, cellist Alex LeCarme, horn player Jonathan Menkis, bassoonist Richard Ranti (with his wife and two children), and principal horn James Sommerville.

The Lenox community will be invited to Tanglewood to cheer the runners on the final leg of the run from the Tanglewood Main Gate to the Tappan House on the Tanglewood grounds. For further information about the run or to sponsor a runner, visit tanglewood.org/relay.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Performs Music by John Williams

July 25th program at Oregon Ridge features scores from Star Wars, Harry Potter and more

Baltimore, Md. (June 25, 2009)— The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will end its 2009 summer season at Oregon Ridge Park in Cockeysville, Md. on Saturday, July 25 at 8:00 p.m. with music from Academy Award-winning composer John Williams. Guest conductor Steven Reineke will lead the BSO in a celebration of the great contemporary film composer featuring themes from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws and more.

John Williams’ widely successful career spans six decades. He has been the recipient of five Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and numerous Grammy Awards. Williams is most known for his film scores, in which he uses a leitmotif style to give characters individual theme songs. The two-note theme that indicates the shark in Jaws, for example, is almost universal in signifying danger. By composing the music for numerous blockbusters such as Superman, The Patriot and Harry Potter, Williams created some of the twentieth century’s most recognizable symphonic music.

The concert will open with the National Anthem, performed by 15-year-old twins, Lauren and Lindsay Satterfield, two of the winners of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2nd Annual “O, Say Can You Sing?” competition. They were among the 50 singers, ages 8-18, who competed for the honor of singing the Star-Spangled Banner with the BSO at the opening of the Oregon Ridge concerts.

For more than 20 years, the BSO at Oregon Ridge has been a Baltimore-area summer tradition, drawing tens of thousands for family fun, music and fireworks in the wooded enclaves of the Cockeysville, Md. park. Concertgoers are invited to bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnic dinners for a full evening of entertainment with the BSO. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m. Patrons are invited to come early and enjoy dinner, drinks and desserts from local vendors. The concert begins at 8:00 p.m. and concludes with a brilliant fireworks display.

Steven Reineke, conductor
Steven Reineke will begin his tenure as music director of The New York Pops in October 2009. He will conduct the orchestra’s annual concert series at Carnegie Hall as well as tours, recordings, and nationwide telecasts, including the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on NBC Television. New York’s only permanent, and professional, symphonic pops orchestra, The New York Pops is the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States.

During the 2009-2010 season, Steven Reineke will also begin his tenure as principal pops conductor of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and embark on his second season as principal cops conductor of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he holds the title of associate conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, where for 13 years he has served as a composer, arranger and conducting protégé of the celebrated pops conductor Erich Kunzel.

Mr. Reineke’s recent guest conducting appearances include the orchestras of Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Edmonton. In 2009, he makes his Boston Pops Orchestra debut. In 2008, Mr. Reineke made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting The New York Pops 25th Birthday Gala.

As the creator of more than 100 orchestral arrangements for the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Mr. Reineke’s work has been performed worldwide, and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings on the Telarc label. Mr. Reineke is also an established symphonic composer. His works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Casey at the Bat are performed frequently, with the most recent performances by the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic in July 2008.

COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION
Summer Nights: The Music of John Williams
Oregon Ridge Park, 13555 Beaver Dam Road, Cockeysville, MD 21030
Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

Steven Reineke, conductor
Lauren and Lindsay Satterfield, vocalists

Oregon Ridge Parking is free and available on-site.

Tickets
* Advance tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for children under 12 at the BSO Ticket Office, 410.783.8000, 877.BSO.1444 or BSOmusic.org.
* If purchased at the gate, tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12.

Donald Runnicles Opens the 2009 Grand Teton Music Festival with Concerts on July 17 & 18

Runnicles Conducts Four Pairs of Concerts Over Four Weeks

Donald Runnicles, who has been Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra since 2006, leads the first of four pairs of concerts he will conduct at Wyoming’s 48th Grand Teton Music Festival on July 17 and 18. The Scottish conductor declares: “The virtuosity and power of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra are as breathtaking as the splendor of the Tetons themselves,” continuing, “The Grand Teton Music Festival deserves to be a compulsory stop on any music lover’s summer itinerary.” Not least because of the region’s stunning beauty, the Festival Orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival attracts musicians from top orchestras in the United States, Canada, and abroad. The San Francisco Festival Chorale joins the orchestra and a quartet of soloists – soprano Twyla Robinson, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, tenor Frank Lopardo, and bass Eric Owens – for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Maestro Runnicles in his first pair of concerts (July 17 & 18). He and the orchestra support pianist Norman Krieger for the great Piano Concerto No. 2 by Johannes Brahms, programmed with John Adams’s delightful Harmonielehre, for the conductor’s second weekend (July 24 & 25). On Wednesday, August 5, in a program to be announced later, Runnicles will be the evening’s pianist, performing with baritone Thomas Hampson and cellist Lynn Harrell. Hampson is the Spotlight Artist for the third weekend (Aug 7 & 8), singing John Adams’s moving Wound-Dresser (to words by Walt Whitman) on a program with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Aaron Jay Kernis’s heavenly Musica Celestis for strings. For the season’s grand finale (Aug 14 & 15), Maestro Runnicles conducts the world premiere of a new work for cello and orchestra by Stephen Paulus, commissioned by the Grand Teton Music Festival, with Lynn Harrell as soloist. The world premiere is preceded by Bedrich Smetana’s beloved musical portrait of his homeland’s river, “The Moldau”, and the final work is Richard Strauss’s dramatic “portrait of an alp”, the Alpine Symphony: a poetic mirroring of the grandeur surrounding the beautiful Grand Teton Music Festival.

About the Grand Teton Music Festival
Jackson Hole, WY, home to the GTMF, is the gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Tickets to all performances are available through the Grand Teton Music Festival Ticket Office by phone at (307) 733-1128 or online at www.gtmf.org, where the complete GTMF schedule is also available. All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges are permitted. All programs, artists, and dates are subject to change.

July 24 & 25 (Friday & Saturday)
8:00pm, Walk Festival Hall: $50, $10 students
Festival Orchestra Concerts: Romance & Harmony
Festival Orchestra / Donald Runnicles, conductor BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Norman Krieger, piano)
ADAMS: Harmonielehre

August 5 (Wednesday)
8:00pm, Walk Festival Hall: $40, $10 students
Spotlight Concert: An Evening with …<br> Donald Runnicles, piano; Thomas Hampson, baritone; Lynn Harrell, cello
Program tba

August 7 & 8 (Friday & Saturday)
8:00pm, Walk Festival Hall: $50, $10 students
Festival Orchestra Concerts: Poetry & Fantasy
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Festival Orchestra / Donald Runnicles, conductor
KERNIS: Musica Celestis for strings
ADAMS / WHITMAN: The Wound-Dresser (Hampson)
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

August 14 & 15 (Friday & Saturday)
8:00pm, Walk Festival Hall: $50, $10 students
Closing Orchestra Concerts: A Premiere Ending
Lynn Harrell, cello
Festival Orchestra / Donald Runnicles, conductor
SMETANA: “The Moldau” from Má Vlast
PAULUS: Work for cello and orchestra (world premiere)
Commissioned by the Grand Teton Music Festival
STRAUSS: Eine Alpensinfonie

Thomas Hampson’s 2009 “Song of America ” Project Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of the First American Song

Hampson Gives Twelve “Song of America ” Recitals between July 2009 and February 2010 and Sings Orchestral Concerts with American Songs at Summer Festivals and with the New York Philharmonic

On July 9, 2009 Thomas Hampson resumes the enthusiastically acclaimed “Song of America” project he developed with the Library of Congress and introduced in the 2005-06 season. This season’s national celebration additionally commemorates the 250th anniversary of what is recognized to be the first song written by an “American” (“My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free”, composed in 1759 by Philadelphian Francis Hopkinson). Drawing on the unparalleled collection of American songs housed at the Library of Congress, Hampson will present a unique series of recitals, educational activities, exhibitions, recordings, cybercasts and interactive online resources. Some recital venues will have lobby exhibitions of facsimiles from music archives of the Library, and joint efforts with local academic and cultural partners are planned to give a wide range of listeners access to America 's history as told through its rich array of song. A dedicated web site that will develop into a large-scale database of American composers, poets/writers, their songs, texts, and links to deeper resources will be launched in conjunction with the tour dates.

Hampson’s first two “Song of America” recitals this summer are in the heartland of Minnesota and Wisconsin ( Winona , MN on July 9 and Williams Bay, WI on July 12), and then he continues to two festivals: Ravinia (July 16) and Tanglewood (July 22). Other stops on his recital itinerary are San Francisco , Los Angeles , Portland , Santa Barbara , Boulder , Princeton and Atlanta . In separate stand-alone concerts at Tanglewood and the Grand Teton Music Festival, Hampson will perform orchestral songs by Virgil Thomson, Samuel Barber and John Adams that augment the “Song of America” tour without being directly linked to it.

"The ‘Song of America’ project has become a thrilling dream come true for me: criss-crossing our country singing the songs born of our life experiences as Americans in the language of our hearts and minds. These songs - our songs - say everything about the culture we call American. And when we sing our own songs, when we see through the eyes of our poets and hear with the ears of our composers the diary of our land, those who hear us will experience the best of what freedom of thought and purpose can achieve in the creation of great art. We need these songs in our cultural landscape." - Thomas Hampson

Critical and public reaction to Hampson’s first “Song of America” tour in 2005-06 was extremely enthusiastic and included an appearance on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America. The New York Times wrote about his performance at Carnegie Hall:

“Mr. Hampson conveys the idea of an oral tradition that it is his mission to pass on, with the closed-eyed intensity of a blind poet when he is singing, and the zeal of an evangelist when he is addressing the audience about its cultural heritage.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer called Hampson’s concert at the Kimmel Center “a thoroughly exceptional recital,” noting, “No recitalist is more charming. Hampson singing in his native language almost guarantees an extra zing. … The concert was a rare chance to hear his keen intelligence articulated at close range.”

Last year Hampson was appointed special advisor to the Library of Congress for his work in American song. He is especially interested in promulgating the ways American song continues to communicate the story of the country – its history and its spiritual inner life – through texts wedded to music.

It is significant that Hampson’s “Song of America” project also acknowledges the 250th anniversary of the first song composed in America , by Francis Hopkinson, one of the first American composers. He wrote "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free" in 1759; it was published in 1788 in a collection of songs dedicated to George Washington, a friend of the patriot author. Hopkinson, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a lawyer, poet, inventor, painter, and judge, was not a dilettante, but rather a highly educated and cultivated man typical of the 18th century’s Age of Enlightenment.

Thomas Hampson was raised in Washington state. One of the most celebrated singers on the stage today, he has recorded dozens of America’s songs, presented a PBS special, and given master classes on American song (as he will on the coming tour) – all the while maintaining his position as a preeminent singer of opera and art songs in many languages, and as an expert on and editor of Gustav Mahler’s songs in particular. He was educated in the U.S. before moving to Europe to broaden his singing career, and has recently taken up residence in his home country once again. In the 2009-10 season, Hampson will be the New York Philharmonic’s first Artist in Residence. During the season, Alan Gilbert’s first as Music Director, Hampson will be guest soloist in three programs, tour with the orchestra to six European cities, and give a recital in Alice Tully Hall. He will also give master classes at the Juilliard School, and deliver three lectures entitled “Listening to Thought” in the orchestra’s Insight series.

Violinist/Conductor Nikolaj Znaider’s Summer Is Whirlwind of Festival Dates

Beethoven in Cleveland (July 18), Brahms in Vail with New York Philharmonic (July 24), and Tchaikovsky in Salzburg With Vienna Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel (Aug 27 & 29)

In Dresden, Znaider Will Play and Record Elgar’s Violin Concerto – Now in its Centennial Season – Before Taking it on Tour

Nikolaj Znaider – recently selected as the “Top Choice” in the July issue of Classic FM magazine’s “Top Ten Violinists” feature – starts his summer in Dresden playing Sir Edward Elgar’s magnificent violin concerto in both concerts and recording sessions with the Dresden Staatskapelle under Sir Colin Davis. Znaider is devoting a lot of time next season to honoring the centennial of the Elgar work, which was composed for and dedicated to the great Fritz Kreisler. Amazingly, Znaider will perform the concerto on the same instrument Kreisler played for the world premiere – a 1734 Guarneri “del Gesù” on loan from the VELUX Foundations and the Knud Hojgaard Foundation, and one of several instruments Kreisler owned a century ago. Rounding out the CD will be a recording of Elgar’s Violin Sonata with Palestinian pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar joining Znaider. The recording will mark the fourth concerto disc in the violinist’s growing discography on Sony Masterworks, for which he records exclusively.

Znaider returns to the U.S. in mid-July for a series of summer festival performances. His first stop is on July 18 with the Cleveland Orchestra at their summer home, the Blossom Music Festival. Already a popular visitor in Cleveland – when he performed there this past season, the Plain Dealer raved about his “commanding, Apollonian technique” – Znaider will join the orchestra for a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto under music director, Franz Welser-Möst. Next Znaider travels to the beautiful Napa Valley and the Festival del Sole for a performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto on July 22. Two days later, on July 24, he will wrap his U.S. tour at the Bravo!-Vail Valley Music Festival, repeating the Brahms with the resident New York Philharmonic under its next music director, Alan Gilbert.

Znaider returns to Europe in late August for an exciting set of concerts at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of the incoming Los Angeles Philharmonic music director, Gustavo Dudamel. Pairing it with Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps, Znaider takes on the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto for an evening concert on August 27 and a matinee on August 29. These will be his first performances with the orchestra since releasing his recording of the Brahms and Korngold concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev, a disc that earned this rave from Gramophone in the July 2009 issue:

“Znaider is, for me, one of the greatest artists of his generation, and his consummate musicianship and glorious depth and range of tone are everywhere apparent, to particular effect in the Adagio of the Brahms..., where Znaider’s discreet portamenti make the most of the floating lines. ... The Korngold...should have seemed a mere bonbon after the Brahms, but such is the commitment from Znaider, Gergiev, and the orchestra that it’s a wonder from start to finish.” [Harriet Smith]

Nikolaj Znaider rounds out his summer season with appearances at the Jerusalem Intern ational Chamber Music Festival on September 1 and 2 and Northeast Germany’s region-wide Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where he will play the Brahms concerto with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields . Finally, Znaider will end the summer in the Swiss Alps at the Ascona Festival, conducting the Lugano Orchestra in a concert featuring Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2, which he will lead from the violin.