Details of Lincoln Center's 52nd season of Great Performers were announced today by Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director. Since its inception, the series has captivated audiences by presenting the world's most accomplished and inspirational musicians in the concert halls and theaters across the Lincoln Center campus. The 2017/18 season features prominent and beloved artists of our time: distinguished vocalists and illustrious instrumental soloists; acclaimed period-instrument orchestras and renowned chamber ensembles; esteemed choral groups; and extraordinary conductors with their virtuosic orchestras.
The season is bookended with appearances by two internationally acclaimed ensembles, each bringing an intensive focus on a singular composer over the course of three consecutive concerts. To open the season,
John Eliot Gardiner, the enduring, beloved, and respected trailblazer of historically informed performance, brings two of the groups he founded, the
Monteverdi Choir and
English Baroque Soloists, to observe a Monteverdi milestone-the composer's 450th birthday. Monteverdi is regarded as a forefather of opera, and in tribute, Gardiner and his groups will perform semi-staged performances of the great composer's three surviving operas:
L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, and
L'incoronazione di Poppea.
Toward the end of the season,
Simon Rattle, in his first New York appearance as music director of the
London Symphony Orchestra, offers an in-depth study of Mahler's dramatic final three symphonic masterpieces: his ninth and tenth symphonies as well as
Das Lied von der Erde. All three works were written at the end of Mahler's life and, performed back-to-back, give audiences a rare glimpse into the mind of this great composer as he contemplated his own mortality.
Other highlights of the season include the
Emerson String Quartet pairing late Beethoven and Shostakovich; single-composer focuses with violinist
Christian Tetzlaff performing unaccompanied Bach, plus an all-Beethoven recital with pianist
Garrick Ohlsson;
Gustavo Dudamel conducting two concerts with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic; a holiday appearance by
Bach Collegium Japan and
Masaaki Suzuki; the
Academy of St. Martinin the Fields with
Joshua Bell; a film series focusing on legendary conductors at work and cellist
Mstislav Rostropovich ; and a wide range of recitals and concerts with luminaries and emerging artists presented in
David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Walter Reade Theater, and the
David Rubenstein Atrium.
"Each Great Performers season offers us the opportunity to explore extraordinary musical works performed by the outstanding virtuosos and ensembles of our time," said
Jane Moss. "These musical experiences provide us with transcendent illumination of the human heart and are certain to elevate our spirit in the midst of very challenging times."
