In February 2012 The New York Philharmonic This Week — the weekly radio series of concerts by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin — begins with an encore performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah from November 2010 led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, with soprano Carolyn Sampson, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, tenor Allan Clayton, bass-baritone Gerald Finley, and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director. The second program — from the Orchestra’s EUROPE / WINTER 2010 tour — is also led by Mr. Gilbert and includes EXPO by The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg; Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Yefim Bronfman as soloist; and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 and Valse triste as performed in Cologne, Germany.
In the third broadcast, Mr. Gilbert leads the Orchestra in Mr. Lindberg’s Feria; Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Lang Lang as soloist; and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 from the concerts January 18–21, 2012. The final February broadcast will comprise commercial recordings by the New York Philharmonic: Rossini’s Stabat Mater led by Thomas Schippers, with soprano Martina Arroyo, mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff, tenor Tito Del Bianco, bass Justino Días, and The Camerata Singers, Abraham Kaplan, director (January 14, 1965); and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 led by Leonard Bernstein, with soprano Reri Grist as soloist (January 28, 1960).
The New York Philharmonic This Week airs locally in the New York metropolitan area on WQXR 105.9 FM, Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. [Check local listings.] Concerts are available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks following the broadcast. The broadcasts are syndicated to more than 300 outlets nationally and 122 outlets internationally by the WFMT Radio Network. Alec Baldwin is the host of the program, New York Philharmonic Audio Producer Mark Travis is the broadcast producer, and Audio Director Lawrence Rock is the music producer.
The New York Philharmonic’s first Live National radio broadcast took place on October 5, 1930, over the CBS radio network. On that Sunday Erich Kleiber was on the podium leading the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Since that historic broadcast, the Philharmonic has enjoyed an almost continuous presence on national radio. Advancing its role as a media pioneer, the Philharmonic, since 2002, has shared its radio broadcast with a worldwide audience through its Website, nyphil.org. In 2004 the New York Philharmonic was the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live. Following on this innovation, in 2009 the Orchestra announced the first-ever subscription download series: Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season, available exclusively on iTunes, produced and distributed by the New York Philharmonic, and comprising more than 50 works performed during the 2009–10 season. Last season the Orchestra released another iTunes pass: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2010–11 Season. Since 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings, with more than 500 currently available.
