Anne-Sophie Mutter and Manfred Honeck Set for All-Dvorak Program with NY Phil, 12/10

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter will return to the New York Philharmonic for the first time since her tenure as the 2010-11 season's Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence. Manfred Honeck will conduct the one-night-only all-Dvor?a?k program featuring the Carnival Overture; the Violin Concerto, with Ms. Mutter as soloist; and Symphony No. 9, From the New World, December 10, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.

"I very fondly remember my time as the Orchestra's Artist-in-Residence," Ms. Mutter says. "I've grown even closer with the Philharmonic's musicians, with whom I've done such great recordings. I have a deep admiration for this outstanding orchestra and am excited now to bring the Dvor?a?k here with them."

At the conclusion of her tenure as Artist-in-Residence, The New York Times praised, "In all these concerts there was a sense of classical music as vibrantly alive, with exciting relationships between old and new."

Ms. Mutter's Deutsche Gramophon recording of Dvor?a?k's Violin Concerto, among other works, with Manfred Honeck and the Berlin Philharmonic will be released November 5. "The decision to perform and record the Dvor?a?k this year came about because of my collaboration with Manfred, with whom I've worked a number of times," Ms. Mutter said. "He has a strong connection with Czech music, and he brings such a level of personal insight to his reading of the score. This was exactly the musical partnership I wanted to bring to the piece."

Two of the works on the program are connected with Dvor?a?k's residence in New York, where he moved to be the first director of the National Conservatory of Music. He conducted the New Carnegie Hall, and in 1893 the Philharmonic premiered his New World Symphony.

Artists:
Manfred Honeck has served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) since the 2008-09 season; after two extensions, his contract now runs through the end of the 2019-20 season. Since 2010, annual tours have led Mr. Honeck and the PSO to numerous European music capitals and major music festivals, including the Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Musikfest Berlin, Grafenegg Festival, Lucerne Festival, and the BBC Proms. The 2012 tour focused on a week-long residency at Vienna's Musikverein, and they undertook a European Festival Tour in the summer of 2013. Mr. Honeck and the PSO's recordings of Mahler's Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 4, and 5, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben have been released to critical acclaim on Japan's Exton label; the recording of Mahler's Fourth Symphony won a 2012 International Classical Music Award. Born in Austria, Manfred Honeck began his career as conductor of Vienna's Jeunesse Orchestra, which he co-founded, and as assistant to Claudio Abbado at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Vienna. He was subsequently engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where he was awarded the prestigious European Conductor's Award in 1993. In 1996 he began a three-year stint as one of three main conductors of Leipzig's MDR Symphony Orchestra and, in 1997, he served as music director at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. A successful European tour with the Oslo Philharmonic marked the beginning of a close collaboration with that orchestra, which consequently appointed him principal guest conductor. He was music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Stockholm from 2000 to 2006, and principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2011, a position he resumed at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. As music director of the Stuttgart Staatsoper from 2007 to 2011, he conducted Berlioz's Les Troyens, Mozart's Idomeneo, Verdi's Aida, Richard Strauss's Rosenkavalier, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carme?lites, and Wagner's Lohengrin and Parsifal. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with the Bavarian Radio and London Symphony Orchestras; Leipzig's Gewandhaus and Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestras; Israel and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras; Dresden Staatskapelle; and Orchestre de Paris. U.S. appearances have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago, National, and Boston symphony orchestras. Mr. Honeck most recently appeared with the New York Philharmonic in January 2013, his Philharmonic debut, leading works by Braunfels, Grieg, and Beethoven with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

For more than 35 years, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has sustained a career of exceptional musicianship combined with an unwavering commitment to the future of classical music. Since her debut at the Lucerne Festival in 1976, she has appeared in all of the major concert halls of Europe, North and South America, and Asia. In addition to performing and recording established masterpieces of the violin repertoire, Ms. Mutter, an avid champion of 20th- and 21st-century violin repertoire, has had works composed for her by Sebastian Currier, Dutilleux, Sofia Gubaidulina, Lutos?awski, Norbert Moret, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Andre? Previn, and Wolfgang Rihm. In December she celebrates the 25th anniversary of her Carnegie Hall recital debut as well as her artistic partnership with pianist Lambert Orkis. In 2013 she performed with the Berlin Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with Manfred Honeck, the London Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras with Yannick Ne?zet-Se?guin, and the Dresden Philharmonic with Rafael Fru?hbeck de Burgos, and she played Dvor?a?k's Violin Concerto with Andris Nelsons and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In June she gave the world premiere of Currier's Ringtone Variations, commissioned by the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, providing the prelude for an Asian Tour with Mutter's Virtuosi, an ensemble comprising current and former scholarship students of the ASM Foundation. Ms. Mutter was awarded the Atlantic Council's 2012 Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award for her encouragement of young music talent through the ASM Foundation, and was inducted as a 2013 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She recently released her debut recording of Dvor?a?k's Violin Concerto with Mr. Honeck and the Berlin Philharmonic, following on Deutsche Grammophon's release of a comprehensive box set with all of her DG recordings, extensive documentation, and previously unpublished rarities to celebrate the 35th anniversary of her stage debut. Anne-Sophie Mutter made her New York Philharmonic debut in 1980 performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with Zubin Mehta, and most recently made numerous appearances with the Orchestra as The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence during the 2010-11 season.

Repertoire:
Antonin Dvor?a?k's Carnival Overture was composed in 1892 as part of his "Nature, Life, and Love" triptych (the other two are In Nature's Realm and Othello). The work was premiered in Prague just before Dvor?a?k left for New York City, where he was to begin his post as director of the National Conservatory of Music. In October 1892, shortly after his arrival, he led the Carnival Overture with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in his first New York appearance. Dvor?a?k described the programmatic work: "The lonely, contemplative wanderer reaches the city at nightfall, where a carnival is in full swing. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their feelings in their songs and dance tunes." The Orchestra's most recent performance of the Carnival Overture was in May 2012, led by Alan Gilbert.

Composed in 1879, Dvor?a?k's Violin Concerto wasn't premiered until 1883, when it was performed by Frantis?ek Ondr?i?c?ek in Prague. It was inspired by a meeting with violinist Joseph Joachim, but after discussions and some revisions (Dvor?a?k took some of the violinist's advice, but not all - notably his construction of the opening movement), Joachim ultimately never performed the work, yet still accepted the composer's dedication. The New York Symphony (which later merged with the New York Philharmonic) performed the Violin Concerto in January 1894, with soloist Henri Marteau led by Walter Damrosch; the Philharmonic's most recent presentation was by then Artist-in-Residence Frank Peter Zimmerman in March 2012, led by Christoph von Dohna?nyi.

Dvor?a?k's Symphony No. 9, From the New World, has become one of the composer's most popular works: Neil Armstrong even took a recording of it to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It was written in 1893 while Dvor?a?k was serving as director of the National Conservatory of Music of America, and premiered by the Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall on December 13, conducted by Anton Seidl. The symphony illustrates Dvor?a?k's strong interest in Native American music and African American spirituals he heard in the U.S. He wrote: "I am convinced that the future of music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them." Andrey Boreyko led the Orchestra's most recent performance of the New World Symphony in November 2012.

Tickets for these concerts start at $41. Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 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. 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. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]

Pictured: Anne-Sophie Mutter performing with the New York Philharmonic. Photo Credit: Chris Lee.