Medici.tv to Host Live Webcast of NY Phil's Performance in Dresden, Germany, 5/14

On Tuesday, May 14 at 2:00 p.m., EDT, medici.tv (www.medici.tv) will present a free live Webcast of the New York Philharmonic's concert of 20th- and 21st-century music at Volkswagen's Die Gläserne Manufaktur, or Transparent Factory, in Dresden, Germany, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert.

The sold-out concert, given as part of the Orchestra's EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour and presented by the Dresden Music Festival, will showcase Magnus Lindberg's groundbreaking, site-specific work Kraft with the composer himself at the piano, alongside Prospero's Rooms by Christopher Rouse and Bernstein's Serenade with Joshua Bell as soloist. The webcast will be available to audiences worldwide for the following 90 days.

With video production by the New York Philharmonic, this will be the first Philharmonic concert from Europe to appear on medici.tv following the success of the Webcasts of New York Philharmonic's historic concert from Pyongyang, D.P.R.K., in February 2008 (the performance was also released on DVD by Euroarts), its 2013 gala concert celebration of Chinese New Year, and the Orchestra's spatial music program Philharmonic 360, a co-production with Park Avenue Armory in July 2012 seen by more than 65,000 unique viewers to date.

The highlight of the Webcast will be Magnus Lindberg's Kraft, which was given its New York Premiere in October 2010 by the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, during Mr. Lindberg's tenure as the Orchestra's Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence from 2009-12. It offers European audiences a taste of the unusual and adventurous repertoire for which the Orchestra has become renowned under Mr. Gilbert, who describes the piece as "raucous and theatrical." In keeping with the composer's original intent, the Orchestra will use repurposed locally sourced metal, in this case provided by Volkswagen specifically for this concert. In addition to Mr. Lindberg himself at the piano, Kraft's soloists include Philharmonic Principal Percussion Christopher S. Lamb and Associate Principal Percussion Daniel Druckman, Principal Timpani Markus Rhoten, and Principal Cello Carter Brey, as well as Chen Halevi on clarinet and Juhani Liimatainen on electronics.

"Magnus Lindberg's Kraft is all about power and construction, and therefore it has found a remarkably apt venue in the Volkswagen factory," said Music Director Alan Gilbert. "We are gratified that our collaboration with medici.tv - which broadcasted our Webcasts of other outstanding events, including last year's Philharmonic 360 at Park Avenue Armory - is allowing us to share this unique experience with as large an audience as possible."

"Since its New York Premiere in 2010, Magnus Lindberg's Kraft has represented the innovative and exciting journey on which Alan Gilbert is taking the Philharmonic's musicians and audiences," said Executive Director Matthew VanBesien. "We are absolutely delighted to have medici.tv as our partner in realizing our dream of sharing this unique event with a worldwide audience."

Also featured in the program are two American works, including The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Prospero's Rooms, a Philharmonic commission that received its World Premiere in New York by the Orchestra in April and will also be heard in Istanbul, Zurich, Munich, and Vienna. The program is rounded out with violinist Joshua Bell performing Bernstein's Serenade (after Plato's Symposium), which was described by the composer himself as his most important serious work, and which was recorded by Mr. Bell in 2001.

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world; on May 5, 2010, it performed its 15,000th concert - a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world. The Orchestra has always played a leading role in American musical life, championing the music of its time, and is renowned around the globe, having appeared in 431 cities in 63 countries - including its October 2009 debut in Vietnam and its February 2008 historic visit to Pyongyang, DPRK, earning the 2008 Common Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy. The Philharmonic's concerts are broadcast on the weekly syndicated radio program The New York Philharmonic This Week, streamed on nyphil.org, and have been telecast annually on Live From Lincoln Center on U.S. public television since the series' premiere in 1976. The Philharmonic has made almost 2,000 recordings since 1917, with more than 500 currently available. The first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live, the Philharmonic released the first-ever classical iTunes Pass in 2009-10; the self-produced recordings continue with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2012-13 Season. The Orchestra has built on the long-running Young People's Concerts to develop a wide range of education programs, including the School Partnership Program, enriching music education in New York City, and Learning Overtures, fostering international exchange. Alan Gilbert became Music Director in September 2009, succeeding Lorin Maazel in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical giants that goes back to Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini. Credit Suisse is the New York Philharmonic's exclusive Global Sponsor.

Critical praise grows for medici.tv with each passing month. The Toronto Star called the site "a seismic shift in the world of classical music," and the Baltimore Sun said: "This is an amazing site for lovers of classical music." According to Alex Ross's blog, The Rest Is Noise, "The hits keep coming at medici.tv." Offering "treasures aplenty" was how Gramophone editor-in-chief James Jolly put it, naming medici.tv as one of the web's best classical experiences.

Since its official launch in May 2008, medici.tv has gained international recognition, bringing together a community of 120,000 music and arts lovers from 182 countries - who have watched over 20 million videos to date. In addition to offering live concert hall events that music lovers can experience on their computers and entertainment systems, medici.tv now offers a free application (available at the Apple App Store and for the Android) that makes it possible to experience world-class artistry on iPads, iPhones, and the Android. Consumers of Samsung Smart TVs can now access the medici.tv application - worldwide in 170 countries since March 1, 2013 on the 2011/2012 models and on all future models.

In addition to webcasts of more than 100 live concerts each year, medici.tv has partnered with the world's top artists and music institutions to offer subscriptions that give music lovers the opportunity to watch more than 1,000 video-on-demand programs. They include concerts, operas, recitals, documentaries, master classes, artist portraits and archival material by such legendary musicians as Maria Callas, Glenn Gould, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Arthur Rubinstein, Georg Solti and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Reference opera productions have also been added to the medici.tv library, including Don Carlo at London's Royal Opera House starring Rolando Villazón and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne conducted by William Christie. Also new to the library is archival footage of Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan and Vladimir Horowitz, alongside master classes by Alfred Brendel and James Conlon.

Pictured: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic Performing Kraft. Photo Credit: Chris Lee.