Lorin Maazel's 'A GRAND FINALE' Begins Its Final Weeks 6/4

Lorin Maazel’s finAl Weeks as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic will culminate with wide-ranging repertoire that includes a new work, and large-scale masterpieces that represent Mr. Maazel’s myriad interests, influences, and personal passions while also showcasing the artistry of the New York Philharmonic. Highlights include a World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Co-Commission; works by Bach and Copland that feature soloists from the Orchestra; Britten’s War Requiem; Mahler’s rarely performed Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand; and performances of two of Mr. Maazel’s own works — Monaco Fanfares and Farewells.

In addition, the Philharmonic will mount a multimedia archival exhibition, Lorin Maazel — A Grand Finale, May 18–June 28, on the Grand Promenade of Avery Fisher Hall, which will include a retrospective of Mr. Maazel’s Philharmonic career through photos, programs, and interviews with Mr. Maazel. A special Website tribute on nyphil.org will launch on May 14 and will include a specially produced video featuring exclusive interview footage and highlights from Mr. Maazel’s various Live From Lincoln Center appearances; a slide show of moments from his seven-year Philharmonic tenure; and a timeline that covers his more than 60-year career.

Lorin Maazel became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra, at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. By the conclusion of his tenure, in June 2009, he will have led the Philharmonic in 605 performances — starting from his debut on August 5, 1942 — conducted 11 world premieres, 10 of which were New York Philharmonic commissions, and hired 19 of the current musicians, renewing one-fifth of the Orchestra.

The first program in Mr. Maazel’s finAl Weeks, on June 4, 6, and 9, 2009, will open with J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, concluding Mr. Maazel’s 2008–09 season cycle of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and featuring solos by Assistant Concertmaster Michelle Kim and flutists Renée Siebert and Mindy Kaufman. Next on the program will be the World Premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’s a Voice, a Messenger, a New York Philharmonic Co-Commission with the Big Ten Band Association, and written for Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, who will perform as soloist. The program also celebrates
Principal Clarinet Stanley Drucker’s 60th and final season with the Philharmonic; he will perform Copland’s Clarinet Concerto. Ravel’s Boléro will conclude the program.

On Friday, June 5, at 8:00 p.m. the Philharmonic will perform at the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center. The program will comprise J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto
No. 4, with the same soloists as at Avery Fisher Hall; Pictures at an Exhibition by
Mussorgsky/Ravel; Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with Stanley Drucker as soloist; and
Ravel’s Boléro.

Related Events, June 4, 6 and 9
• Hear & Now Pre-Concert Talk
Steven Stucky will discuss Aaron Jay Kernis’s a Voice, a Messenger with the composer one hour before each performance on the Avery Fisher Hall stage. Free to ticket holders.
• 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, will host this podcast. These previews of upcoming programs — through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians — are available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of June 8, 2009,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 295 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by WFMT’s Kerry Frumkin, 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 96.3 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.

*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

On June 11-13, 2009, Mr. Maazel will conduct Britten’s massive War Requiem, with Lionel Bringuier conducting the chamber orchestra in his Philharmonic debut. The performance will feature soprano Nancy Gustafson, tenor Vale Rideout, (Philharmonic debut), baritone Ian Greenlaw, and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director; The Dessoff Symphonic Choir, James Bagwell, director; and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director.

Related Events, June 11–13
• Insights Series Event
James M. Keller, New York Philharmonic Program Annotator and Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence, will curate and host Music in Time of War, exploring works composed through the centuries in response to war, with a special focus on the biographical, cultural, political, literary, and musical perspectives of Britten’s War Requiem. Tuesday, June 2, 2009, at 6:30 p.m., Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Tickets are $10. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• Pre-Concert Talk
James M. Keller will introduce the program one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• New York Philharmonic Podcast
Elliott Forrest, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, producer, is the host of this podcast. Available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of June 15, 2009,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week.

Works by Lorin Maazel and Sibelius
The third of Mr. Maazel’s final programs, on June 17–18 and 20, 2009, begins with two of the conductor’s own compositions: Monaco Fanfares and Farewells. The evening concludes with a performance of Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2, which Mr. Maazel chose specially to pair with his own Farewells.

On Friday, June 19, at 8:00 p.m., the New York Philharmonic will perform at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, New York. The program will comprise J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, featuring solos by Assistant Concertmaster

Michelle Kim and flutists Renée Siebert and Mindy Kaufman; Lorin Maazel’s Farewells; Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with Principal Clarinet Stanley Drucker; and Ravel’s Boléro.

Related Events, June 17–18 and 20
• Pre-Concert Talk
Paul Moravec, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and University Professor at Adelphia University, will introduce the program one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656.
• 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, will host this podcast. Available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of June 22, 2009,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand
Lorin Maazel completes his final season on June 24–27, 2009, with performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, bringing to a close the survey of the complete Mahler symphonies that he began in his first season. The evening’s soloists will be sopranos Christine Brewer, Nancy Gustafson, and Jeanine De Bique (Philharmonic debut); mezzo-sopranos Mary Phillips and Nancy Maultsby; tenor Anthony Dean Griffey; bass Wolfgang Schöne; and bass-baritone Jason Grant; with the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director; The Dessoff Symphonic Choir, James Bagwell, director; and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director.

Related Events, June 24–27
• Pre-Concert Talk
Erik Ryding, author, lecturer, and recording producer, will introduce the program one hour before each performance. Tickets are $5 in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• 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, will host this podcast. Available at nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.
• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast in the 2009–10 season on The New York Philharmonic This Week. Date to be announced.

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he will have conducted 10 World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; MeLinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto; and Steven Stucky’s Rhapsodies for Orchestra. He has led cycles of works by Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, and conducted the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in
the DG Concerts series — a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.

Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including the historic visit to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in February 2008 — the first performance there by an American orchestra. Other recent tours have included Europe 2008 in August–September; Asia 2008 — to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing in February; the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the Philharmonic Tour of Italy in June 2006, sponsored by Generali; the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries in autumn 2005; and residencies in Cagliari, Sardinia, and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Maazel is music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. A frequent conductor on the world’s operatic stages, he returned to The Metropolitan Opera in January 2008 for the first time in 45 years to conduct Wagner’s Die Walküre.

Prior to his tenure as New York Philharmonic Music Director, Mr. Maazel led more than 100 performances of the Orchestra as a guest conductor. He served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993–2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988–96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982–84); music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965–71). He is an honorary member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, and a Commander of the Legion of Honor of France.

A second-generation American, born in Paris, Mr. Maazel was raised and educated in the United States. He took his first violin lesson at age five, and conducting lesson at seven. Between ages 9 and 15 he conducted most of the major American orchestras. In 1953 he made his European conducting debut in Catania, Italy.

Mr. Maazel is also an accomplished composer. His opera, 1984, received its world premiere on May 3, 2005, at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was revived in the 2007–08 season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the DVD has been released by Decca.