Alan Gilbert's Final Program to Broadcast on 'New York Philharmonic This Week', 6/24

The final program of Alan Gilbert's inaugural season as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic will be broadcast live, Thursday, June 24, 2010, on 'The New York Philharmonic This Week', a two-hour national, weekly radio program of concerts by the Philharmonic. The radio program will begin at 7:30 p.m. The evening will be hosted by Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and weekend host on Classical 105.9 FM WQXR. The evening will be hosted by Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, and weekend host on Classical 105.9 FM WQXR.

The program, broadcast from Avery Fisher Hall, will feature Al largo, a World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commission by Magnus Lindberg, The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, and Beethoven's Missa solemnis. Joining the Orchestra for the Beethoven mass will be soprano Christine Brewer; mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel; tenor Anthony Dean Griffey; and bass-baritone Eric Owens; and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director. During intermission Elliott Forrest will interview Mr. Lindberg; radio listeners who wish to submit questions for Mr. Lindberg to answer live on the radio, can text "NYP" to 72648 for a prompt to send their question. Video clips from the concert will be available on June 25 on the Orchestra's Website, nyphil.org and YouTube channel (youtube.com/newyorkphilharmonic).

Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has introduced a number of new initiatives: the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, held by Magnus Lindberg, and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, held by Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. This season he led the Orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi; took the musicians on a European tour in January-February 2010; and conducted world, U.S., and New York premieres. Also in the 2009-10 season, Mr. Gilbert became the first person to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting, and hosting performance master classes.

Highlights of Mr. Gilbert's 2008-09 season with the New York Philharmonic included the Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra, presented by the Philharmonic. In May 2009 he conducted the World Premiere of Peter Lieberson's The World in Flower, a New York Philharmonic Commission, and in July 2009 he led the Philharmonic's Concerts in the Parks and Free Indoor Concerts, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, and performances at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. In June 2008 Mr. Gilbert was named conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, following his final concert as its chief conductor and artistic advisor. He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra since 2004, and he has conducted other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2003 he was named the first music director of the Santa Fe Opera.

The June 24 concert will be broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR at 7:30 p.m. and will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks, beginning Tuesday, June 29, at noon. 'The New York Philharmonic This Week' is a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 300 stations by the WFMT Radio Network.