Alan Gilbert Conducts Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2 At New York Philharmonic 5/4

Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, will lead the New York Philharmonic in Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica, Wednesday, May 4, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, May 6, at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, May 7, at 8:00 p.m. These are the Orchestra's final concerts before departing for the EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour; both works on this program will also be performed on this tour of European capitals.

"Lisa Batiashvili is one of my favorite soloists to work with,? said Mr. Gilbert. -She's completely natural and unpretentious. I've conducted the Bartók concerto with her and she plays it with a characteristic, folk-like approach with a beauty of tone and expression that is remarkable."

Commenting on Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, he said: "I've conducted the symphony many, many times, and what is incredible about these great masterpieces is how they continue to evolve - how there's always something more to discover in the music."

- Pre-Concert Talk
Philharmonic Principal Librarian Lawrence Tarlow will introduce the program one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
- On the Music: The New York Philharmonic Podcast
Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week-per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week is the producer of this podcast. These award-winning
previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at nyphil.org/podcast and from iTunes.
- National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of May 30, 2011,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, 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 Classical 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009. The first native New Yorker to hold the post, he ushered in what The New York Times called -an adventurous new era? at the Philharmonic. In his inaugural season he introduced a number of new initiatives: the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, held by Magnus Lindberg; The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, held in 2010-11 by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; an annual three-week festival, which in 2010-11 is titled Hungarian Echoes, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. In the 2010-11 season Mr. Gilbert is leading the Orchestra on two tours of European music capitals; two performances at Carnegie Hall, including the venue's 120th Anniversary Concert; and a staged presentation of Jana?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Highlights of his inaugural season included major tours of Asia and Europe and an acclaimed staged presentation of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre.

In January 2011 Alan Gilbert was named Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that will begin in fall 2011. This adds to his responsibilities as the first holder of Juilliard's William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies, establishing Mr. Gilbert as the principal teacher for all conducting majors at the school. He is also conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. From 2003 to 2006 he served as the first music director of the Santa Fe Opera.

Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School. From 1995 to 1997 he was the assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams's Doctor Atomic. His recordings have received a 2008 Grammy Award nomination and top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. On May 15, 2010, Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music.

Season after season violinist Lisa Batiashvili is featured with many of the world's greatest orchestras. In the United States she works regularly with the New York Philharmonic, with which she made her debut in March 2005, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, among others. In Europe and elsewhere she performs with all of the major ensembles, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tokyo's NHK Symphony, and Sydney Symphony. Highlights of Ms. Batiashvili's 2010-11 season include the EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour with the New York Philharmonic with Music Director Alan Gilber, and concerts with The Philadelphia Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski, Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanskä, Philharmonia Orchestra with Lorin Maazel, and Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra with Alan Gilbert.

Chamber music has always played an important part in Ms. Batiashvili's schedule, with invitations from festivals such as Salzburg, Edinburgh International, Tanglewood, Saratoga, Schleswig-Holstein, Schubertiade, and Kuhmo. This season she will perform with Adrian Brendel and Till Fellner in concerts at London's Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Vienna's Konzerthaus, and Berlin's Philharmonie. In recent seasons she has given the world premieres of three works, including Magnus Lindberg's Violin Concerto. In 1995, at the age of 16, Lisa Batiashvili was awarded second prize in the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki. In 2003 she was named winner of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival's Leonard Bernstein Award and was later awarded the Beethoven Ring Prize from the Beethoven Festival Bonn. In 2008 she received an ECHO Klassik Award. She performs on the 1709 Engleman Stradivarius, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation, and now records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. Ms. Batiashvili, who last performed with the New York Philharmonic in June 2010, playing Sibelius's Violin Concerto, will appear with the Orchestra in Munich (May 14, 2011), Vienna (May 17), Budapest (May 18), Dresden (May 22), and Prague (May 24) on the EUROPE / SPRING 2011 tour. Follow the Philharmonic's tour at nyphil.org/europespring2011.

When violinist Zoltán Székely came to Béla Bartók with a commission for the Violin Concerto No. 2, the composer first suggested making the work one vast set of variations. Székely, preferring a more traditional concerto, expressed his displeasure with Bartók's first version, which did not include the solo violin in the last 22 measures. Bartók acquiesced by providing a virtuoso finish, although he included both versions in the published score. Székely performed the premiere on April 23, 1939, with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The work was first performed by the New York Philharmonic in October 1943, led by Artur Rodzinski, with Tossy Spivakovsky as soloist. The most recent performance took place in October 2008, performed by violinist Leonidas Kavakos, with David Robertson conducting.

Seeing Napoleon as the liberator of the downtrodden, Ludwig van Beethoven originally titled his Symphony No. 3 -Bonaparte.? However, when Napoleon crowned himself the Emperor of France, Beethoven, disgusted, changed the title to -A Heroic Symphony Composed to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man,? leading to its familiar nickname, Eroica. It was then dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz, at whose home Beethoven conducted a private performance prior to the public premiere at the Theater an der Wien on April 7, 1805. The Eroica Symphony, in which Beethoven perfected the new -symphonic ideal,? was a turning point in the history of modern music. In the words of New York Philharmonic Program Annotator James M. Keller, -After Beethoven's Third there was no turning back for symphonists.? The New York Philharmonic gave the U.S. premiere of the Symphony No. 3 on February 18, 1843, with Ureli Corelli Hill conducting. It was performed most recently in November 2009, led by Riccardo Muti.

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Programs of the New York Philharmonic are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Single tickets for these performances start at $40. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $18.
Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts are available for multiple concerts, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). All other tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or the Alice Tully Hall Box Office at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $12.50 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]

Photo Credit: Michael J. Lutch