Interchanging Idioms

New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert begins the month of April guest conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a program covering Berg’s Seven Early Songs with mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major (K. 482) with pianist Emanuel Ax, and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet (April 1-3). Gilbert returns to his home city to give the New York Philharmonic’s annual Erich Leinsdorf Lecture (April 4), which will be webcast live from the Walter Reade Theater on the orchestra’s web site (www.nyphil.org/leinsdorf). The subject of the lecture, entitled “Performance and Interpretation,” will be whether there is such a thing as a perfect interpretation. Next up is a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 with the Juilliard Orchestra (April 15). Gilbert closes out the month back on the podium with the New York Philharmonic, leading the orchestra in a program that presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité céleste with ...

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s Debut With The Berliner Philharmoniker And Daniel Barenboim Tuesday, April 27 Webcast Live Through The Digital Concert Hall Cellist Alisa Weilerstein’s debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor Daniel Barenboim on Tuesday, April 27 will be webcast live through the Orchestra’s Digital Concert Hall enabling audiences worldwide to watch her debut performance. Ms. Weilerstein will perform Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor at the Berlin Philharmonie. The sold-out concert will also include the Prelude to Act 3 of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor. Tickets to watch the concert live online cost 9.90 EUR (approximately $14) and are available from www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/dch . The concert begins at 8 p.m. in Berlin , which will be 2 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. CDT/11 a.m PDT. A few days after the concert, it will also become available in the video archive of the Digital Concert Hall. On Saturday, May 1s...

Live webcast of the Dec. 20 concert through the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus with ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles and Director of Chorus Norman Mackenzie will perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the third time in six years in December at the Berlin Philharmonie. They will travel to Berlin for three performances of Brahms’s A German Requiem on Friday, December 18, Saturday, December 19 and Sunday, December 20, 2009. Soprano Genia Kühmeier and bass-baritone Gerald Finley will be the soloists. The concert on Sunday, December 20 will be webcast live through the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall 2PM EST / 11AM PST. Tickets for the live webcast cost 9.90 euros, approx US$15. Tickets and more information about the Digital Concert Hall are available at www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/dch . Mr. Runnicles and the ASO Chorus made their debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2003 per...

LONDON, NOVEMBER 16 — Sir Simon Rattle has signed a new contract with EMI Classics, extending their exclusive and productive relationship well into a fourth decade. Over the next four years, Sir Simon Rattle will make twelve CDs with EMI Classics; the agreement ensures that he, the label and the Berliner Philharmoniker will continue to build on their previous notable successes, which have included three Grammy Awards in the US, three Classical Brit and three Gramophone Awards in the UK, and two Echo Klassik Awards in Germany. Project highlights in the next year include Tchaikovsky’s complete Nutcracker ballet; a program of American music, headlined with a new commission by Wynton Marsalis; and a program of works by Schoenberg, including the rare Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene (Music for a Cinematographic Scene). “In a time when recording contracts are rare enough to be an endangered species, I feel both lucky and privileged to be working further with EMI Classics, my lo...

Webcast precedes Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle’s U.S Tour November 11-24 featuring Brahms’s symphonies in concert Deutsche Bank will present a free webcast of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle performing Brahms’s Third and Fourth symphonies on Monday, November 9 at 8.00 p.m. EST on its website, www.db.com. The webcast celebrates the start of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle’s U.S. tour that begins at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday November 11, and the recent release of the Brahms symphonies on CD. In addition to three concerts at Carnegie Hall November 11-13, the orchestra will perform in Boston (Nov. 15), Chicago (Nov. 16), Ann Arbor (Nov. 17), San Francisco (Nov. 20 & 21) and Los Angeles (Nov. 23 & 24). All concert programs feature Brahms symphonies with the third and fourth symphonies being performed in New York (Nov 13), Boston and Ann Arbor . To register for the free webcast, visit www.db.com and click on the link to the web...

November 15 Recital at New York’s Alice Tully Hall features works by George Benjamin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mozart and Beethoven Pierre-Laurent Aimard ’s 2009-10 season is, as has become the norm for the French pianist, conductor, and impresario, replete with engagements all over the world. He performs in major cities and at festivals in Japan, Europe, and the U.S., often conducting from the keyboard. This season he plays recitals in New York, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, and elsewhere; performs concertos with Pierre Boulez and James Levine in Chicago and Boston; and leads such ensembles as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Aimard began the season with two tours – one leading the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Frankfurt, Bonn, Baden-Baden, and Paris; the other as piano partner of German baritone Matthias Goerne. The two performed in Japan, where Aimard also gave concerts with the Bamberg Symphony, with which he often tours in the U.S. and Europe as well. On November 15, Aimard...

“Reigning New Diva” Also Performs Four Back-to-Back Roles at Vienna State Opera and Makes Appearances in Berlin, London, Paris, and St. Petersburg Anna Netrebko’s first full season of performances since the birth of her son is highlighted by a new Metropolitan Opera production of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann , directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, and opening on December 3 in New York. Meanwhile, this month sees the Russian soprano on the big screen, when Emerging Pictures releases a feature film version of La bohème , in which she stars alongside Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón. Puccini’s Mimì is also one of the four characters Netrebko will portray at the Vienna State Opera, where she takes on four leading operatic roles over a six-week period near the season’s end. In the Met’s new production of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann , Netrebko appears as the young Antonia. Audiences worldwide will be able to see her in the role, thanks to the Met: Live In HD movie theat...

Concerts in New York, Boston, Chicago, Ann Arbor, San Francisco and Los Angeles with works by Brahms, Schoenberg and Wagner Complete Brahms Symphonies Released by EMI Classics October 6 The Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle will perform 10 concerts in six North American cities in November, beginning with three concerts at Carnegie Hall November 11, 12 and 13. The Orchestra will then perform in Boston (Nov. 15), Chicago (Nov. 16), Ann Arbor (Nov. 17), San Francisco (Nov. 20 & 21) with the tour concluding in Los Angeles (Nov. 23 & 24). The orchestra’s tour programs encompass the complete Brahms symphonies with all four performed during the three Carnegie Hall concerts. The concert programs also include Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9b, Erwartung and Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34 as well as his orchestral arrangement of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25. Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger will also be performed. T...

with Televised Gala Concert on Wednesday, September 16 Alan Gilbert begins his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009–10 season, which launches on Wednesday, September 16 with a concert from Avery Fisher Hall that will be televised on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center . The program features a new work, EXPO, by the Philharmonic’s new Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg, commissioned by the Philharmonic for the occasion; superstar soprano Renée Fleming singing Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mi ; and Gilbert conducting Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique . The opening-night concert will also be projected live onto Lincoln Center ’s Josie Robertson Plaza , and the public is invited to a free open rehearsal of the evening’s program conducted by Alan Gilbert that morning. Most of Gilbert’s concerts this season will be with the New York Philharmonic, but he will also return to Europe to continue his relationship with Hamburg ’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, where he has been pr...

New role follows his appointment in october 2008 as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra Emmanuel Villaume has been appointed Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra that is based in Bratislava . He will begin his tenure with the orchestra during the 2009-10 season with three programs featuring Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, Poulenc’s Gloria and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique . Mr. Villaume will gradually increase his presence with the orchestra over the next few years. Founded in 1949, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra marks its 60th anniversary during the 2009-10 season. The Orchestra resides in the Baroque-era Reduta Concert Hall built in 1773 and in addition to its concert season, performs regularly at music festivals throughout Europe, and has made international tours to Cyprus, Turkey, Japan, and the United States. In October 2008 Mr. Villaume was appointed the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmo...

Concert includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite Robert Spano leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in John Adams’ Violin Concerto featuring Leila Josefowicz on Thursday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Friday, October 30, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Thursday and Friday’s performances will also include Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Stravinsky’s 1919 Suite from The Firebird . Saturday’s Casual Concert Series on Saturday, October 31 at 11 a.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall will only include Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite and John Adams’ Violin Concerto. The BSO will present an Off the Cuff performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade on Saturday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Composed just over a decade ago in 1993, John Adams wrote what is now one of the most frequently performed of all contemporary concertos—his Violin Concerto. Featured in this demanding work is Leila Josef...

Thirty-three Berliner Philharmoniker concerts to be webcast live from the Berlin Philharmonie Full season subscriptions, a 30-day pass and individual tickets available for live and archived concerts The Berliner Philharmoniker’s first full Digital Concert Hall season opens on Friday, August 28 with Sir Simon Rattle leading the orchestra in Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra , the world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Laterna Majica and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique . Over the season, 33 concerts will be webcast live from the Berlin Philharmonie and later become available on the site’s video archive. Live as well as archived content can be accessed at www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/dch The Berliner Philharmoniker’s Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Sir Simon Rattle will lead 12 of the concerts. Guest conductors for the 2009-10 season include Gustavo Dudamel, Asher Fisch, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Donald Runnicles, Bernard Haitink, Christoph...

“Her singing is utterly delectable and completely assured…Sheer ‘joie de vivre’ and mastery come spilling across, to the eyes as well as the ears.” -The New York Times New York, NY – On September 8th, 2009, Decca will release The Mozart Album , the hotly anticipated second solo recording from 30-year-old soprano Danielle de Niese . The full album will be available at digital music retailers including the iTunes Music store on August 18th. On July 28th, iTunes will exclusively offer the single “La ci darem la mano” performed by Danielle de Niese together with baritone Bryn Terfel. An Australian–born American soprano of Dutch and Sri Lankan heritage, the exotically beautiful de Niese has been captivating audiences since childhood, when she was a fixture of Los Angeles local television hosting a weekly arts showcase for teenagers, for which she won an Emmy Award. De Niese was just 18 when she was accepted as the youngest artist ever into the Lindemann Young Artist Development Prog...

New York, NY— Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and cellist Zuill Bailey will release a recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Piano and Cello on Telarc on August 25 in the US and September 28 in the UK. The 2-disc set includes Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5 No. 1; Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 5 No. 2; Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69; and Variations for Piano and Cello in G major, F major, and Eb major. Grammy Award-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse is the producer for the recording. On August 25 at 8pm, the duo will perform the Beethoven Sonatas at the Ravinia Festival, near Chicago (Bennett Gordon Hall at 201 St. Johns Avenue, Highland Park, IL). On August 27, they will perform Sonatas Nos. 3, 4, and 5 at a CD release concert at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York (158 Bleecker Street). Ms. Dinnerstein and Mr. Bailey have performed together regularly for more than a decade, and received the Classical Recording Foundation Award in 2006 and 2007. Both are known as highly accomplished musician...

Pape Performs Verdi in Japan With La Scala Forces Under Barenboim, and Opens Berlin State Opera’s New Season With Tristan und Isolde This summer, German basso René Pape appears at several of the most prestigious European music festivals – including Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein , Switzerland ’s Verbier, and Austria’s Salzburg . On July 20, Pape portrays Leporello in a concert performance of Don Giovanni at the Verbier Festival, and on the 21st he participates in a gala concert with colleagues Bryn Terfel, Thomas Quasthoff, Vadim Repin, Mischa Maisky, and Lang-Lang. A week later he sings in the Salzburg Festival’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with Paavo Järvi conducting the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. On August 29, Pape portrays King Marke in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde on opening night of the Berlin State Opera “Unter den Linden” for his home company’s 2009-10 season. Soon after, he departs for Tokyo with the orchestra and chorus of Milan’s La Scala. There h...

The dazzling French soprano Sandrine Piau will make her New York recital debut this fall at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall (Friday, October 9). Other highlights of 2009-10 will be a new recording for naïve, entitled Between Heaven and Earth , featuring sacred music by Handel, and performances throughout Europe, including a concert with the Berlin Philharmonic. Piau recently won the Victoire de la musique (a major French music award), and she will sing at the renowned Salzburg Festival this summer (August 15 and 16). Sandrine Piau has received exceptional acclaim for her stage and recorded performances of gems from the Baroque repertoire, especially the music of Handel. Her most recent recording, featuring arias and duets by Handel with contralto Sara Mingardo and Rinaldo Alessandrini conducting his Concerto Italiano, was just named CD of the Month in the July 2009 issue of Gramophone . The magazine’s editor, James Inverne , notes in his “Editor’s Choice” commentary: “Sandrine...

Internationally renowned conductor Günther Herbig will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, “Choral,” July 23 at the Music Center at Strathmore at 8:00 p.m. and July 24 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall at 7:30 p.m. These concerts will feature soprano Heidi Stober , mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor , tenor Gordon Gietz and baritone Stephen Powell . This program will conclude the BSO’s 2009 Summer Nights season at the Meyerhoff and Strathmore. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is among the most recognizable works in the classical canon. Since the composer was already completely deaf, the theatre’s music director, Michael Umlauf, conducted alongside Beethoven on the podium for its premiere in 1824. Because the musicians followed Umlauf’s count, Beethoven was still fervently conducting when the orchestra finished the piece, leading one of the musicians to turn him around to see the audience’s standing ovation. The Ninth ...

Opens Tanglewood (JULY 3), Ravinia (JULY 7) and Saratoga (AUG. 5), and is Artist Étoile at Lucerne Festival “A marvel of digital dexterity, warmly romantic sentiment and jaw-dropping bravura” – Chicago Tribune The Grammy Award-winning pianist Yefim “Fima” Bronfman is set to embark on a juggernaut tour of American and European music festivals this summer. The beloved pianist has been chosen as the opening soloist for the Tanglewood (July 3), Ravinia (July 7) and Saratoga (August 5) festivals, and as Artist Étoile for the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland . Bronfman will also appear at Waldbühne for a televised concert with the Berlin Philharmonic (June 21), and on tour in Europe with conductor/composer Esa-Pekka Salonen for performances of his Piano Concerto, which was written for Bronfman. “This is a summer that I have been planning and looking forward to for a long time,” the pianist comments. “I will be visiting top festivals around the world and collaborating with many of my favor...

JUNE 30 – AUGUST 7 Composers-in-Residence Joan Tower and Stephen Jaffe Lead Composers Forums Approximately 100 “First Performances” Presented By Young Composers Over Five-Week Summer Festival The Walden School 2009 Festival Concert Series features 16 public events presented free of charge June 30 through August 7. Musical compositions and presentations by Composers-in-Residence Joan Tower and Stephen Jaffe are featured alongside world premiere compositions by Walden students and faculty members. The Festival Concert Series is highlighted by distinguished guest artists including the Brooklyn-based M Shanghai String Band, led by Matt Schickele; contemporary music ensemble and composers collective Wet Ink, who will present 8 world premieres by emerging composers; folk music trio Cross Country; preeminent organist and alumnus John Weaver; The Walden School Players, featuring contemporary music performers Claire Chase, Peter Evans, Nathan Davis, Meighan Stoops, Jane Chung, Greg Hesseli...

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will embark on a two-week journey of South American music with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the ¡Música Ardiente? Festival, May 27-June 6.The festival, presented by CNN en Español, will feature three programs. The first program, May 28 and 30, 2009, entitled Caminos del Inka, will share the rich musical traditions of the Inca Trail. The second program will feature a special presentation on May 29, 2009 of Osvaldo Golijov's cello concerto, Azul, performed by Yo-Yo Ma. The third program, June 4-6, 2009, will celebrate the modern evolution of Latin-American song and dance in a program entitled Tangos, Fados, and Dance, featuring vocalist Luciana Souza and the Rosa Collantes Dancers. The ¡Música Ardiente? Festival was inspired by the concept and programs of conductor and curator Miguel-Harth- Bedoya's Caminos del Inka Project. The project was created to rediscover, preserve, and disseminate the musical legacy of South America. It is an effort ...