Marin Alsop will lead the New York Philharmonic in four concerts, each featuring Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World, October 7, 10, and 11, 2008. The programs on October 7 at 7:30 p.m. and October 11 at 8:00 p.m. will comprise Bartók’s The Wooden Prince Suite; Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with Rafał Blechacz making his New York Philharmonic debut; and the Dvořák symphony. The Saturday Matinee on October 11 at 2:00 p.m. will begin with Brahms’s Piano Quintet, featuring Philharmonic musicians and guest pianist Shai Wosner, followed by Dvořák’s New World Symphony. On Inside the Music, Friday, October 10, at 8:00 p.m., the story of the Dvořák symphony will be told in a multimedia presentation, followed by a complete performance, conducted by Ms. Alsop. Bass Kevin Deas will participate in this program, which was written and produced by Joseph Horowitz. Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World, received its world premiere by the New York Philharmonic on December 16, 1893.
The schedule will be as follows:
• Insights Series
“Dvořák in Search of America” traces the composer’s influence in a program exploring his music, his African-American student Harry Burleigh, and jazz stylist Art Tatum. Joseph Horowitz, curator and host; Steven Mayer, piano. Saturday, October 4, 2008, 2:00 p.m., Gilder Lehrman Hall, The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street.
• Pre-Concert Talk
Joseph Horowitz will introduce the evening programs on October 7 and 11 and the Saturday Matinee on October 11 one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656.
• New York Philharmonic Podcast
Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and afternoon host of 96.3 FM WQXR, will host this podcast. These previews of upcoming programs — through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians — are available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast
The evening programs of October 7 and 11 will be broadcast the week of October 20, 2008,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 250 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 96.3 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
Marin Alsop was appointed the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, beginning with the 2007–08 season. She is the first woman to head a major American orchestra, mirroring her ongoing success in the United Kingdom as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra since 2002. The first artist to win both Gramophone’s “Artist of the Year” award and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s conductor’s award in the same season, Ms. Alsop was named a MacArthur Fellow and won the Classical Brit Award for Best Female Artist that year — the first conductor to receive this prestigious American honor. She has also received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s BBC Radio 3 Listeners Award and European Women of Achievement Award.
Ms. Alsop is a regular guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. She is also one of the few conductors to appear every season with both the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic orchestras, and has appeared as a guest conductor with many other distinguished orchestras worldwide, including Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Tokyo Philharmonic.
Highlights of Marin Alsop’s recording collaboration with Naxos include a Brahms symphony cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and an ongoing series of Bournemouth Symphony CDs of music by Bartók, Bernstein, Orff, and several living American composers. One of her first projects as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be a Dvořák symphonic cycle. Ms. Alsop can also be heard regularly as a commentator on NPR’s Weekend Edition segment “Marin on Music,” and on BBC’s Radio 3.
