Nationally-Televised New Year’s Eve Concert and First European Tour with New York Philharmonic Are Highlights for Alan Gilbert in Winter 2010

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Alan Gilbert returns to New York City in late December and January for several weeks of concerts with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, with such leading soloists as the celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (Dec 29, 30, & Jan 2); baritone Thomas Hampson, who is the Orchestra’s first Artist-in-Residence (Dec 31 & Jan 14-16); and powerhouse pianist Yefim “Fima” Bronfman (Jan 7-9 & 12). The concert with Hampson on New Year’s Eve will be broadcast on public television’s Live From Lincoln Center series, which will air in New York on WNET/Channel Thirteen beginning at 8pm (check local listings). From January 21 through February 4, Hampson and Bronfman will join Gilbert for his first European tour with the Orchestra. “Europe / Winter 2010” comprises 13 performances in nine European cities: Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Madrid, all in Spain; Zurich, Switzerland; Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund (the Orchestra’s debut there) in Germany; Paris, France; and London, England. At New York’s Carnegie Hall on February 13, Gilbert will also lead the Philharmonic in a single concert featuring the U.S. premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto; Lindberg is the Philharmonic’s Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence.

In his next few programs with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, Alan Gilbert will explore a wide range of repertoire, including some previews of the works to be toured in Europe. Two great Romantic symphonies anchor programs featuring two superb pianists: Schumann’s deeply expressive Second Symphony, along with two works by Webern, is on the program with Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, while Prokofiev’s formidable Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Yefim Bronfman forms the first half of an all-Russian program that concludes with Rachmaninoff’s sweeping Symphony No. 2. Another highlight will be Thomas Hampson singing John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser, a powerful setting of Walt Whitman texts; the work appears on a dark-hued program with Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 (“La passione”), Schubert’s Symphony in B minor (“Unfinished”), and Berg’s Three Orchestral Pieces.

Soon after their tour of Europe, Gilbert and the Philharmonic return to New York where they will perform the world premiere of Christopher Rouse’s Odna Zhizn, a New York Philharmonic commission, on a program at Avery Fisher Hall featuring two works by Mozart: his Sinfonia Concertante for Winds (with four soloists from the Orchestra: Liang Wang, Principal Oboe; Mark Nuccio, Acting Principal Clarinet; Judith LeClair, Principal Bassoon; and Philip Myers, Principal Horn) and “Jupiter” Symphony (Feb 10-12 & 16). On Saturday, February 13, Gilbert and the orchestra return to New York’s Carnegie Hall for a single concert showcasing the U.S. premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s landmark Clarinet Concerto with soloist Kari Kriikku, for whom the work was written, alongside Wagner’s Rienzi Overture and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2. Last season, Gilbert and the orchestra gave an all-Bernstein concert at Carnegie to honor the legendary composer/conductor’s 50th anniversary as Music Director of the Philharmonic, his 90th birthday year, and the 65th anniversary of his famous last-minute Philharmonic debut.

Alan Gilbert’s first tour of Europe with the New York Philharmonic, which takes place halfway through his inaugural season as Music Director, is his second tour with the Orchestra, following “Asian Horizons” in October 2009. The repertoire for “Europe / Winter 2010” will include the European premiere of EXPO, the first New York Philharmonic commission from Magnus Lindberg, which had its world premiere in September 2009 and which the Orchestra performed in Asia. The New York Philharmonic will also perform John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser, with Thomas Hampson as soloist; Berg’s Three Orchestral Pieces; Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 (“La passione”); Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Yefim Bronfman as soloist; Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2; Schubert’s Symphony in B minor (“Unfinished”); and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2.

This tour marks the Philharmonic’s first return to Spain since 2001. The Orchestra last performed in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1985, in Cologne in 2007, and in Frankfurt, Paris, and London in 2008. This will be the Philharmonic’s debut in Dortmund. A complete list of cities and detailed programs for “Europe / Winter 2010” follows below, along with Alan Gilbert’s other winter 2010 engagements.

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