NY Philharmonic Announces Details Of June 2009 Radio Broadcasts

In June 2009, The New York Philharmonic This Week — a two-hour, national, weekly radio program of concerts by the New York Philharmonic — begins with a concert from the Philharmonic’s sixth annual residency in Vail, Colorado, as part of the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. In this program, from the July 18, 2008 performance, Music Director Designate Alan Gilbert leads the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Lang Lang as soloist; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4; and Sibelius’s Finlandia. The following week, after conducting J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Music Director Lorin Maazel leads the World Premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s a Voice, a Messenger (a Co-Commission with the New York Philharmonic and the Big Ten Band Association); Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, with Principal Clarinet Stanley Drucker as soloist; and Ravel’s Boléro. The third June broadcast, conducted by Lorin Maazel, will be Britten’s powerful War Requiem. Lionel Bringuier conducts the chamber orchestra (in his Philharmonic debut), and soprano Nancy Gustafson, tenor Vale Rideout (Philharmonic debut), and baritone Ian Greenlaw will be the soloists with the New York Choral Artists, the Dessoff Symphonic Choir, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. In the final June broadcast, Lorin Maazel conducts two of his own compositions, Monaco Fanfares and Farewells, concluding with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2.

The New York Philharmonic This Week is syndicated nationally to more than 295 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin is the host; WFMT’s Mark Travis is the broadcast producer; New York Philharmonic Audio Director Lawrence Rock is the engineer and music producer. The concerts are available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks following the broadcast. The program is heard locally in the New York metropolitan area on 96.3 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. [Check local listings.] Attached is the program schedule for the month of May.

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 broadcasts with a worldwide audience through its Website, nyphil.org.

The New York Philharmonic This Week 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.

Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic.

The WFMT Radio Network, the international syndication division of the award-winning Chicago classical music station 98.7 FM WFMT (streaming live at wfmt.com/streaming), produces and distributes these broadcasts nationwide. In addition to the New York Philharmonic broadcasts, WFMT syndicates concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as ongoing series and documentary specials such as Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin and Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. The WFMT Radio Network also offers exclusive programming from Germany’s Deutsche Welle Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and dozens of classical, folk, jazz, and news series, as well as specials to radio outlets around the world.

Host Kerry Frumkin, along with Mark Travis and Lawrence Rock, is responsible for the format of The New York Philharmonic This Week. Previously, he produced the nationally syndicated New York Philharmonic Live! for five years. A Peabody Award-winning producer, he is the afternoon drive-time host of WFMT, Chicago. He hosts and produces the station’s weekly series of live studio performances, Live from WFMT, featuring soloists and ensembles from the Chicago area and across the nation, and is also the host and producer of summer broadcasts from the Ravinia Festival. For several years he hosted Rising Stars at Ravinia, which featured performances by up-and-coming artists. Mr. Frumkin hosted and produced the station’s first live broadcasts from Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival, and is the recipient of the Armstrong, Ohio State, San Francisco State Media, and International Radio Festival awards.

Mark Travis is a producer for 98.7 FM WFMT, Chicago, and the WFMT Radio Network. He produced the inaugural season of the The New York Philharmonic This Week in 2004–05, and during the 2003–04 season was the producer for the monthly New York Philharmonic Live! radio broadcasts, syndicated by the WFMT Radio Network. Since joining WFMT in 1999, he has written and produced specialty programs for local and national broadcasts, including the highly successful Berlin Philharmonic broadcasts, and has produced a number of commercial recordings for labels such as RCA/BMG, Naxos, Sony, and Bis. Mr. Travis, an accomplished singer and classical guitarist, has also written and produced a syndicated radio series of broadcasts by L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among numerous other projects. He is also a producer/host of the New York Philharmonic Podcast, which previews upcoming programs through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, Orchestra musicians, and experts. Lawrence Rock has been Audio Director of the New York Philharmonic since 1997, overseeing all audio activities, including recording, broadcasting, and live sound. He received a 2005 Grammy Award in the category of Best Classical Album as co-producer, with composer John Adams, for Mr. Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls, which also won two other Grammy Awards. The work, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers, was recorded live during its World Premiere in September 2002 and released on CD on August 31, 2004, on Nonesuch Records. For the Orchestra’s own recording label, New York Philharmonic Special Editions™, Mr. Rock produced the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic, and the 10-CD set, Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic. He has produced live broadcasts and commercial recordings for some of the most prestigious performance organizations in the United States, and received a Grammy Award in 1997 for his work on a recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

The New York Philharmonic This Week

Week of June 3, 2009 (from July 18, 2008)

Alan Gilbert, conductor

Lang Lang, piano

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

Beethoven Symphony No. 4

Sibelius Finlandia

Week of June 10, 2009 (from concerts June 4, 6, and 9, 2009)

Lorin Maazel, conductor

Michelle Kim, violin

Renée Siebert, flute

Mindy Kaufman, flute

Philip Smith, trumpet

Stanley Drucker, clarinet

J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4

Aaron Jay Kernis a Voice, a Messenger (World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with the Big Ten Band Association)

Copland Clarinet Concerto

Ravel Boléro

Week of June 17, 2009 (from concerts June 11–13, 2009)

Lorin Maazel, conductor

Lionel Bringuier,* conductor

Nancy Gustafson, soprano

Vale Rideout, tenor*

Ian Greenlaw, baritone

New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director

The Dessoff Symphonic Choir, James Bagwell, director

Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director

Choral preparation by Joseph Flummerfelt

Britten War Requiem 

Week of June 24, 2009 (from June 17, 18, and 20, 2009)

Lorin Maazel, conductor

Lorin Maazel Monaco Fanfares

Lorin Maazel Farewells

Sibelius Symphony No. 2

* denotes New York Philharmonic debut