Case Scaglione Conducts NY Philharmonic with Violinist Joshua Bell, Now thru 11/18

New York Philharmonic Associate Conductor Case Scaglione will conduct the Orchestra in Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; Glazunov's Violin Concerto, with Joshua Bell as soloist; and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5, tonight, November 12, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 14 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, November 15 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Case Scaglione was promoted to New York Philharmonic Associate Conductor in September 2014 after having served as Assistant Conductor beginning in the 2011-12 season. This program marks his first complete subscription program with the Philharmonic; he made his subscription debut in November 2012, stepping in to lead the opening work on a concert otherwise conducted by Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur, and in May-June 2013 he led the Orchestra in two works on a program also conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. In its review of Case Scaglione's performance of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 with the Alabama Symphony in May 2014, AL.com wrote that he "brought power and sweep to this 20th century masterpiece.... From the stark, somber opening movement, Scaglione drew intrigue and expectation."

Joshua Bell, who made his Philharmonic debut in 1990 and is on the Board of Directors, most recently appeared with the Orchestra in September 2014 for the Opening Gala Concert, La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, performing alongside Rene?e Fleming and Josh Groban.

Related Events:

- Pre-Concert Insights
Composer Joelle Wallach will introduce the program. Admission/Tickets to Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups. These events take place one hour before performances, and are held in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org/preconcert or (212) 875-5656.

Artists:

American conductor Case Scaglione began his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic in September 2011, the same year he received the Conductor's Prize by the Solti Foundation U.S. He made his Philharmonic subscription debut in November 2012, stepping in to lead the opening work on a concert otherwise conducted by Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur, and in May-June 2013 he led the Orchestra in two works on a program also conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. He has also conducted seven New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts. In September 2014 he was elevated to Associate Conductor, a position revived for him by Alan Gilbert. This season Mr. Scaglione makes debuts with the Lucerne and Dallas Symphony Orchestras and the Rochester Philharmonic, and returns to the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He made his professional conducting debut with The Cleveland Orchestra in 2010 after being awarded the Aspen Conducting Prize the same year. Since then, he has appeared as a guest conductor with Orchestra of St. Luke's and the St. Louis, Baltimore, Houston, Colorado, and Jacksonville symphony orchestras, among others. In September 2013 he assisted Andrew Davis on a production of Richard Strauss's Elektra at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Scaglione is a regular visitor to China, where he has given concerts with the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras and China Philharmonic. Last season he conducted Bach's Mass in B minor with Madrid's Orquesta Cla?sica Santa Cecilia. Mr. Scaglione was music director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles from 2008 to 2011, when he was the driving force behind the continued artistic growth and diversification of the organization and founded 360° Music, which took that orchestra to inner-city schools. His programs ranged from Wagner to Ligeti and included the orchestra's first staged opera in almost 60 years as well as the Los Angeles Premiere of John Adams's Doctor Atomic Symphony, supported by the National Endowment of the Arts. Case Scaglione was a student of David Zinman at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, where he won the James Conlon Prize, and was assistant conductor of the Aspen Music Festival and School. In 2011 Mr. Scaglione was one of three conducting Fellows at Tanglewood, chosen by James Levine and Stefan Asbury. He received his bachelor's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and his post-graduate studies were spent at the Peabody Institute, studying with Gustav Meier. Mr. Scaglione made his New York Philharmonic debut leading a Young People's Concert in November 2011; his most recent appearance was the Young People's Concert Points of Entry: Mozart's Symphony No. 41, Jupiter, in December 2013.

Violinist Joshua Bell is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra leader. In the 2013-14 season he toured with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (ASMF), where he was recently named music director - the first person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. Other highlights of his 2013-14 season included performances with the Houston, Dallas, and St. Louis symphony orchestras, an appearance at Carnegie Hall with The Philadelphia Orchestra, performances of Brahms's Violin Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic led by Paavo Ja?rvi, and Sibelius's Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel. The season also included a U.S. recital tour and a Kennedy Center appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs, garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik Awards. Recent releases include French Impressions with pianist Jeremy Denk, At Home With Friends, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the ASMF, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic. His discography encompasses the major violin repertoire, in addition to John Corigliano's Oscar-winning sound track for The Red Violin. His 2007 incognito subway station performance in Washington, D.C., resulted in a provocative Washington Post Pulitzer Prize- winning story examining art and context. The conversation continues with the new Annick Press illustrated children's book, The Man with the Violin. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Joshua Bell received his first violin at age four, and at 12 began studying with Josef Gingold at Indiana University. Two years later he came to national attention in an appearance with Riccardo Muti and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and at age 17, made his Carnegie Hall debut. Mr. Bell, who plays the 1713 "ex-Huberman" Stradivarius, is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, and recently received the New York Recording Academy Honors, among other accolades. Joshua Bell made his New York Philharmonic debut in April 1990 performing Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, led by Charles Dutoit; he most recently appeared with the Orchestra in September 2014 for the Opening Gala Concert La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert.

Repertoire:

The music of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was formed as much by artistic and literary currents of the 1890s as it was by his musical training. It was thus no accident that one of his earliest masterpieces was based on the Ste?phane Mallarme? poem L'Apre?s-midi d'un faune. The musical cadences of Mallarme?'s verse, with its strong, sensuous appeal and blurred descriptions, must have appealed to Debussy. The words are assumed to be the monologue of a faun, the rural deity of Roman mythology who was part man, part goat. In his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, first performed in 1894, Debussy virtually reinvented the orchestra, finding new harmonies, new rhythms, and new ways of ordering events, and created a lush, sensual sound-world that had not been heard before. The New York Philharmonic first performed the work in November 1905, under the direction of Walter Damrosch; Alan Gilbert conducted its most recent presentation in December 2010.

After a childhood spent composing in the style of Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) found his own voice by studying the Viennese classics. Though many of his works are marked by what Igor Stravinsky called "a heavy German academic stamp," Glazunov's Violin Concerto is an attractive exception. Composed in 1904, the concerto unfolds in three interconnected movements, effortlessly moving from one section to the next, and featuring a long, lyrical, and challenging cadenza. Violinists throughout the 20th century, including Jascha Heifetz, have been drawn to this concerto. The Philharmonic first performed it in November 1911 with violinist Efrem Zimbalist and conductor Joseph Stransky; James Ehnes joined the Orchestra and then Music Director Lorin Maazel for its most recent performance in November 2007.

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) composed his Symphony No. 5 during the summer of 1944, while he was working at the Soviet government's House of Creative Work, a converted state farm in the countryside some 150 miles northeast of Moscow. First performed in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory several months later, the new symphony was an immediate success, and signaled the composer's return to symphonic composition after a 14-year hiatus. Prokofiev, writing in 1951 in the Moscow News, described the music as "a hymn to the freedom of the human spirit ... intended as a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit." The first Philharmonic performance of this work was in March 1946, led by Artur Rodzin?ski; Alan Gilbert most recently led the work in during the Orchestra's EUROPE / WINTER 2012 tour.

Tickets for these performances start at $48. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $20. Pre-Concert Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). 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 Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. 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. A limited number of $16 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.]

Pictured: Joshua Bell performing with the New York Philharmonic. Photo by Chris Lee.