Alice Tully Hall To Re-Open With A Bang In February '09

 After saying "Good Night Alice" last April, a transformed Alice Tully Hall, designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro in association with FX Fowle, will open on February 22, 2009 with the Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival, an exciting two-week celebration designed to highlight the artistic range of Alice Tully Hall's primary tenants, and showcase the Hall's prominence as one of New York City's premier concert venues.   Most Festival performances—including orchestral and chamber music, choral works, recitals, popular song, world music, period and contemporary ensembles, and film--will be presented either free or with tickets priced at $25 or less. Overall, the Festival will offer 22 events including three world, one U.S., and six New York premieres.   Most tickets go on sale May 28, 2008; information about ticket distribution for free Festival events will be available in the fall.  For more information, visit www.LincolnCenter.org.   

First Look—The Opening-Night concert of the Festival on February 22 will be a collaboration of three of the Lincoln Center resident organizations that have most frequently used Alice Tully Hall as a venue over the years: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and The Juilliard School.  In a program that ranges from 15th-century Sephardic music to works by Bach and Golijov, the performance will feature the celebrated viola da gamba player Jordi Savall and soprano Montserrat Figueras, pianist Leon Fleisher, the Emerson String Quartet, members of The Chamber Music Society, and conductor David Robertson leading the Juilliard Orchestra.  A Late-Night Concert titled Occident – Orient: A Dialogue of Cultures assembled by early music specialist Jordi Savall, will follow at 9 PM. Savall and a hand-picked pool of musicians will perform a musical journey that travels through Afghanistan, Turkey, Sarajevo, Alexandria, Morocco, and points in between, demonstrating that these diverse cultures share a common bond of instruments, expression, and creative inspiration.

Visitors to the transformed Hall will be greeted by the striking three-story-high, glass-enclosed lobby that cantilevers out onto Broadway at 65th Street.  To better accommodate Lincoln Center audiences and visitors before and after performances, the soaring, light-filled space will house new facilities including a mezzanine-level donor room for special events, more restrooms, a café/bar with extended public hours, and an expanded box office and ticketing area.  Inside the concert hall, patrons will experience a transformed auditorium with innovative lighting that glows softly from translucent walls, custom theater seats that retain the original spacious plan required by Ms. Tully, an automated film screen, and two mechanized stage extensions that will create adjustable staging options.  For artists, a new warm-up/rehearsal room has been added along with expanded dressing/choral spaces, extended stage wings, and a bigger freight elevator to accommodate larger stage equipment for a variety of presentations.

Commented Lincoln Center President Reynold Levy, "Alice Tully Hall's dramatic reopening in February, 2009, will herald the rare rebirth of a concert hall on prime Broadway real estate. The transparency and openness of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's spectacular design, as well as all the new amenities and the intimacy of the auditorium itself that make it a more welcoming destination, will ensure the venue's position as one of New York's top concert spaces. It is a perfect preamble to the celebration of our 50th-anniversary year, which begins in May, 2009."

"This Festival is intended to celebrate and feature the remarkable musical accomplishments and voices that are Alice Tully Hall's legacy and its future," said Lincoln Center's Vice President of Programming, Jane Moss.  "We set out to match in musical virtuosity, vision, and passion the visual imagination and spirit of the architectural design.  And in our aspiration, we discovered the very special artistic stimulation and rewards of collaboration with our fellow Lincoln Center family members, The Chamber Music Society, The Juilliard School, and The Film Society."  

FESTIVAL PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FOUR PRESENTING ORGANIZATIONS:

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA)

LCPA events during the Festival begin with the Opening-Night concert mentioned above (2/22), and continue with an all-Schubert program by tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Imogen Cooper of Die schöne Müllerin, and the composer's Piano Sonata in A minor (2/25).

LCPA will also present the U.S. premiere of Russian composer Vladimir Martynov's opera Vita Nuova, with principal conductor Vladimir Jurowski leading the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the EuropaChor Akademie, and guest artists in a concert version of the production. The work is based on Dante's La Vita Nuova, a collection of 31 poems about the author's love for the unattainable Beatrice (2/28).

A period-instruments performance of Bach's Mass in B minor is next, with the Collegium Vocale Gent Choir and Orchestra led by Philippe Herreweghe (3/1); followed by two all-Beethoven programs with Paavo Järvi conducting The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen on March 2. The Deutsche Kammerphilnarmonie return for a FREE midday concert with pianist Hélène Grimaud on March 3.

On March 3, a New York, New Music, New Hall concert will present three generations of New York's contemporary music ensembles:

    * Alarm Will Sound, the 20-member band committed to innovative programs of today's music, will perform the New York premiere of Derek Bermel's Hot Zone, based on African rhythms;  the New York premiere of  Oscar Bianchi's Mezzogiorno, influenced by European modernist traditions; and a world premiere by the post-rock-inspired composer Caleb Burhans
    * Bang on a Can All-Stars, the award-winning group founded to blur the lines between classical and pop ensembles, will appear with special guest Glenn Kotche of the indie-rock band Wilco in a New York premiere performance of one of his compositions. The program will also feature three works by Bang on a Can co-founders: the New York premiere of Sunray by 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang, the New York premiere and Lincoln Center commission of a work by Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe's Lick.
    * Steve Reich & Musicians, a key early influence on the two other ensembles, will perform Reich's Music for 18 Musicians with the acclaimed London-based, contemporary music a cappella group, Synergy Vocals.

The evening will be preceded by a free event: the New York premiere of Space, a site-specific, sound installation for amplified string quartet by composer Phil Kline and sound artist Jody Elff.  A substantial departure from traditional chamber music, Space is designed for performance in large public spaces, and includes both live and recorded music as well as computer manipulated loops.  The work will be performed in the new glass-enclosed outer lobby of Alice Tully Hall at 5:30 PM.

American Songbook artist STEW—the singer-songwriter currently starring in his own Broadway show, Passing Strange—will perform an evening of his unique pop music on March 6; and rounding out LCPA's Festival presentations, a world music night of international artistry will be offered on March 7.

All LCPA events will be presented free, or with tickets priced at $25 or less.

Pfizer is a proud sponsor of Lincoln Center's American Songbook.

Major support for Lincoln Center's American Songbook is provided by Fisher Brothers, In Memory of Richard Fisher, Amy & Joseph Perella and Sara & Maury Rosenberg.

Additional corporate support is provided by Merrill Lynch.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS)

"The unveiling of the new Alice Tully Hall is an internationally anticipated milestone in the history of chamber music, "said Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han.  "CMS reopens its home with four exceptional performances."

In a program titled Coming Home, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns to Alice Tully Hall in a celebratory concert that includes Bach's Trio Sonata in C—the same work played by Society musicians to christen the Hall at its opening in 1969.  Founding CMS musicians Charles Wadsworth and Paula Robison will join current CMS Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han and other CMS artists for an evening that also offers world premieres by William Bolcom and George Tsontakis (2/24).  War and Pieces, a program conceived by violinist Daniel Hope, will feature Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale and a specially commissioned jazz/cabaret arrangement of Beethoven's Egmont Overture. The performance blends "military" music with texts about war and peace, read by the Oscar-nominated actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (2/27).   Additional CMS events are an evening of Haydn, Prokofiev, and Schubert with the Belcea Quartet (3/4), and It's About Time, a Family Concert about the mysteries of rhythm with Bruce Adolphe as Inspector Pulse, Private Ear (3/8).

CMS events will be presented with tickets available at $25 or less.

The Juilliard School

"The members of the Juilliard community are thrilled to be able to perform in Alice Tully Hall once again," said Juilliard President Joseph Polisi.  "The School's orchestral, chamber music, and vocal arts presentations in Tully Hall have been a long-standing tradition since 1969 where we have invited New Yorkers and visitors from around the world to experience the artistry of our students at no charge. We look forward to great concerts in the time ahead."

 
Members of the Juilliard Orchestra will join forces with Chamber Music Society artists under the baton of conductor David Robertson for a performance of Stravinsky's Pulcinella on the Festival's opening concert (2/22).  Next, faculty and students will come together for a FREE midday, all-Schubert concert of chamber music.  These free lunchtime concerts by Juilliard performers are part of the School's Wednesdays at One series, and take place most Wednesdays of the school year. (2/25).    Robertson then returns to lead the Juilliard Orchestra in Messiaen's Des canyons aux étoiles—inspired by the beauty of Utah's Bryce Canyon—with Juilliard student soloists chosen by competition especially for this performance. The work was commissioned by Ms. Alice Tully to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial, and premiered at the Hall in 1974 (2/26).

Wednesdays at One concerts are free, no tickets required, doors open at 12:30 PM.  Free tickets for the Juillliard Orchestra performance (2/26) will be available at the Juilliard Box office two weeks prior to the concert.

 
The Film Society of Lincoln Center

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the opening night selection of its popular annual exploration of Gallic culture and creativity, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. Ticket holders can travel to France without ever leaving New York City in this leading American showcase for contemporary French cinema, which will celebrate its 14th year with a vibrant selection of new and provocative works   Many directors and special guests attend the screenings and participate in Q&As and special receptions (3/5).

Free Events

The Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival will offer a number of free events as part of the celebration. These include two concerts by The Juilliard School: an all-Schubert lunchtime performance (2/25) and a Messiaen program featuring the Juilliard Orchestra led by David Robertson (2/26). Two additional free events will be offered by LCPA: an afternoon concert by The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with soloist Hélène Grimaud (3/4), as well as the New York premiere of Phil Kline's Space preceding the New York, New Music, New Hall evening (3/3).

Alice Tully Hall's Historic Past

The building housing The Juilliard School and Alice Tully Hall (ATH), designed by architect Pietro Belluschi,  was completed in 1969.  When the Hall opened on Ms. Tully's birthday in September of that year—she had donated the entire amount needed to design and build the Hall—it  was the first major concert venue in the City designed specifically for chamber music, and the last building of the original Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex to be completed.  The concert also marked the first-ever performance by the new chamber music organization that would make the Hall its home, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  In October, The Juilliard School celebrated its opening with three concerts in ATH, including a Gala televised on CBS with remarks by Leonard Bernstein and performances by Juilliard alumni Van Cliburn, Shirley Verrett, and Itzhak Perlman.

Since then, Alice Tully Hall has been utilized by the Mostly Mozart Festival, Great Performers, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Lincoln Center Festival, outside rentals, and served as the venue for the "Classical Jazz" series, the forerunner of Jazz at Lincoln Center.  It has been the setting for thousands of stellar events, from Lincoln Center performance debuts and world premieres to star-studded openings and galas including the annual New York Film Festival.  Luminaries ranging from Leopold Stowkowski to Spike Lee, Sir Harold Pinter to David Byrne, Yo-Yo Ma to Rosie O'Donnell, and Beverly Sills to Clint Eastwood have graced its stage.

After nearly 40 years of year-round use (approximately 750 events are held annually), Alice Tully Hall closed for renovations following a gala "Good Night Alice" concert on April 30, 2007.

To post a comment, you must register and login.