The New York Philharmonic will give the New York premiere of Time Turns Elastic - a work for vocals, electric guitar, and orchestra composed by Trey Anastasio, lead singer and guitarist of Phish, and his longtime collaborator, Don Hart - at Carnegie Hall, Saturday, September 12, 2009, at 8:00 p.m.
Evening with Trey Anastasio and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Asher Fisch - a benefit for the Kristine Anastasio Manning Memorial Fund and the New York Philharmonic - will also include orchestrations of classic Anastasio songs, featuring Mr. Anastasio, who was named one of Rolling Stone's "Greatest Guitarists of All Time," in his Philharmonic debut. The concert will be presented by Princeton Entertainment and the New York Philharmonic.
Time Turns Elastic blends classical music with rock-blues guitar. "Initially," says Mr. Anastasio, "I thought it would be a Phish song, but after I sent a demo of it to Don, it just grew organically into an orchestral piece. I grew up loving Ravel and Eric Clapton equally," Mr. Anastasio continues, "so I kept saying to Don, ‘why can't we have a piece of music that's half Ravel and half Cream's Disraeli Gears?'" The work received its world premiere in September 2008 with Orchestra Nashville, conducted by Paul Gambill, at the Ryman Auditorium. It was recently performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop. In May 2009 it was released on Rubber Jungle Records, Mr. Anastasio's independent label.
The Kristine Anastasio Manning Memorial Fund was created by the Anastasio and Manning families to pay tribute to Trey Anastasio's sister, who passed away earlier this year. The fund was set up to benefit a diverse selection of causes that Kristy supported, which currently include the Seven Below Arts Initiative in Burlington, Vermont; the Carolina Friends School/Afghan Sister School Project in Durham, North Carolina; and the Neuroendocrine Tumor Clinic at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida.
Over the past 25 years, Trey Anastasio has established himself as a prolific composer, masterful guitarist, and compelling performer. He is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated, genre-melding rock band Phish, which has produced 64 albums and DVDs with combined sales of over seven million units. Renowned for its live performances, Phish was included on the Top Ten Grossing Concert Tours in North America from 1995 to 2000 and from 2002 to 2004, and its series of self-produced festivals is widely regarded as a precursor to the current rock festival boom.
Drawing inspiration from experimental jazz, pop, reggae, metal, classical, and barbershop music, Mr. Anastasio has produced eight solo albums. His June 2004 performance with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival provided the crowd of 80,000 rock fans with an introduction to "new classical" music. Mr. Anastasio has also teamed with the Vermont Youth Orchestra for benefit performances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Music Hall in Troy, New York, and the Flynn Theatre in Burlington, Vermont.
Israeli conductor Asher Fisch has conducted at the world's great opera houses, and is currently principal guest conductor of the Seattle Opera. A former music director of both the Vienna Volksoper and the New Israeli Opera, he makes frequent guest appearances throughout Europe and the U.S. During the 2009-10 season he will conduct a new production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for the Seattle Opera, and will make his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in a program featuring Daniel Barenboim as piano soloist. He also will lead concerts with the Kansas City Symphony, and in Naples, Genoa, and Bologna, Italy.
Mr. Fisch has conducted the orchestras of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, Houston, St. Louis, Toronto, Montreal, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C. In Europe, he appears regularly with the Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and the Staatskapelle Dresden, which he led on an acclaimed tour of Italy in 2002. In Asia, he has conducted the NHK Orchestra of Tokyo. Mr. Fisch began his conducting career as Daniel Barenboim's assistant and Kapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper, and has been championed by Mr. Barenboim ever since. He is also an accomplished pianist, and has directed Mozart piano concertos and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue from the keyboard. He continues to perform in chamber concerts and vocal recitals. Mr. Fisch last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in September 2006 for the concerts with Andrea Bocelli, and will lead the Orchestra's upcoming performances with Mr. Bocelli at Carnegie Hall on September 8-9 and 11, 2009.
