NY Philharmonic Announces 2017-18 Season

The New York Philharmonic welcomes Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden in 2017-18, a season that celebrates the Philharmonic's greatest strengths and essential commitments while looking to the future as an innovative, global ensemble, spotlighting its musicians and partners, dedication to new music, wide-ranging repertoire, education programs, and accessibility.

Offering a glimpse of his upcoming tenure as Music Director, Jaap van Zweden will conduct three weeks of diverse programs, featuring works by both canonic and contemporary composers with whom he has a history: Mahler, Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, Wagner, Stravinsky, and Brahms. He also begins appearing with the Orchestra outside New York, during its second residency with the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan and on the ASIA / WINTER 2018 tour. A new recording agreement with Universal Music Group's U.S. Classical Division and the New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden will bring performances to a broader audience throughout his tenure.

While anticipating its new era with Jaap van Zweden, the Philharmonic also honors the partnerships, artists, and programs that have created the legacy of excellence and innovation for which it is known. Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes appears as The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence and Esa-Pekka Salonen serves in his third and final season as The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence. In his first appearances after concluding his tenure as Music Director, Alan Gilbert conducts concerts honoring the Philharmonic's family and history. These include two programs in Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival and a program celebrating the New York Philharmonic's 175th birthday, spotlighting the unique contributions of the Orchestra's own musicians through solo appearances by Philharmonic Principals.

The Philharmonic bolsters its enduring commitment to new music with the return of the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, the citywide exploration of today's music, and CONTACT!, the new-music series, and by commissioning and premiering new works. The Orchestra will maintain its tradition of performing wide-ranging repertoire, from movie scores performed live to film (Star Wars - Film Concert Series and Amadeus - Live) to Philharmonic premieres past and present, as well as classical masterworks including Mahler's Symphony No. 5, Richard Strauss's An Alpine Symphony, Bruckner's Symphony No. 9, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica.

The Philharmonic continues to reach out to more people through free and low-cost access to performances. These include both longstanding traditions - such as the annual free Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer - and newer initiatives, including Philharmonic Free Fridays for young people. The 2017-18 season also furthers the Philharmonic's role as a global ambassador through its relationships with educational institutions. Under the New York Philharmonic Global Academy, the Philharmonic enters the fourth year of the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Residency Partnership and continues its partnership with the Music Academy of the West. Maintaining its century-old tradition of touring, the Orchestra will embark on the ASIA / WINTER 2018 tour, led by Jaap van Zweden.

"I am so looking forward to returning to the New York Philharmonic as Music Director Designate next season, which will be just the beginning of our exciting partnership," said Jaap van Zweden. "I cannot wait to develop a very personal relationship with the Philharmonic musicians and audiences. I have chosen repertoire that represents a range of my interests - but there is so much more to come!"

"The 2017-18 season will mark a truly exciting moment at the New York Philharmonic," said President Matthew VanBesien. "The Orchestra will welcome Music Director Designate Jaap van Zweden - who will conduct a variety of repertoire both in New York and around the world, offering a taste of the Philharmonic's next era of inspired programs and music-making - and celebrate its 175th birthday with a program that spotlights the Philharmonic's remarkable musicians and storied legacy. And the institution will reaffirm its core commitments: to serving the community by increasing access to the Philharmonic, and to presenting brilliant performances of the greatest works, ranging from pillars of the repertoire to music by today's most interesting composers."

"I am thrilled by the plans for the 2017-18 season, which opens the next chapter of the New York Philharmonic's story," said Chairman Oscar S. Schafer. "The astounding talent of the New York Philharmonic musicians, who can play absolutely anything with passion as well as perfection, inspires us as we continue to build on our solid foundation for an even more vibrant future, which begins with the new era under Jaap van Zweden."

2017-18 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

• In the 2017-18 season the New York Philharmonic welcomes Jaap van Zweden as Music Director Designate before he becomes Music Director in the 2018-19 season. van Zweden will lead three weeks of diverse programs in New York City, and appear with the Orchestra abroad on the ASIA / WINTER 2018 tour and during its University Musical Society residency at the University of Michigan.

• Jaap van Zweden will open the Philharmonic's 2017-18 season, leading the Opening Gala Concert, September 19, 2017, and opening subscription program, September 22-23, 2017. Both programs include Mahler's Symphony No. 5; the opening subscription program also features the New York Premiere of Philip Glass's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, with Katia and Marielle Labèque as soloists.

• Jaap van Zweden will also conduct the New York Premiere of John Luther Adams's Dark Waves alongside Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre; Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring; and Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Yuja Wang as soloist.

• Jaap van Zweden leads the Orchestra in Ann Arbor as part of the Philharmonic's second residency with the University Musical Society; he also makes his first international appearances with the Orchestra on the ASIA / WINTER 2018 tour, which includes performances in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

• The New York Philharmonic honors Leonard Bernstein, former Philharmonic Music Director and Laureate Conductor, with Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival, October 25-November 14, 2017. Part of the worldwide celebrations of Bernstein's centennial, the festival celebrates Bernstein's enduring legacy as a composer, conductor, and educator through performances of his music, including his complete symphonies, and music by composers he admired and championed, as well as a Young People's Concert.

• Alan Gilbert will lead Bernstein's Serenade (after Plato's Symposium), with violinist Joshua Bell; Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah, with mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor; Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, with Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill; and Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, with jazz pianist Makoto Ozone in his Philharmonic subscription debut, on a program that also features Mr. Ozone in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

• Leonard Slatkin conducts Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, Kaddish, paired with Richard Strauss's Don Quixote, with Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps and Principal Cello Carter Brey.

• The festival also includes the Young People's Concert Inspirations and Tributes: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein," conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

• The Philharmonic's celebrations of Bernstein's centennial will continue after the festival with programs representing the music he composed for the Broadway stage: the New Year's Eve concert, Bernstein on Broadway, featuring Members of the New York Philharmonic led by Bramwell Tovey, and Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen conducting Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story in his Philharmonic subscription debut.

• Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes - "a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight" (The New York Times) - has been named The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in Residence for the 2017-18 season. He will perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4, Britten's Piano Concerto, Debussy's Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra, and a recital.

• Esa-Pekka Salonen will begin his third and final season as The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence. The Orchestra will perform the New York Concert Premiere of Mr. Salonen's Helix; Mr. Salonen will curate a project for the 2018 NY PHIL BIENNIAL; and he will conduct the World Premiere of a new work by Kravis Emerging Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, with Benjamin Grosvenor as soloist (inaugural recipient of the Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize at the New York Philharmonic).

• The New York Philharmonic will present the third NY PHIL BIENNIAL, a wide-ranging exploration of today's music by an array of contemporary and modern composers in venues throughout New York City. Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen will curate a project for the biennial. Complete details of the 2018 NY PHIL BIENNIAL will be announced at a later date.

• CONTACT!, the Philharmonic's new-music series, will return to National Sawdust with Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen advising. In its ninth season, the series will continue to highlight the works of both emerging and established contemporary composers, performed by smaller ensembles of Philharmonic musicians in intimate venues outside the Lincoln Center campus. Complete details of the 2017-18 season of CONTACT! will be announced at a later date.

• The Orchestra will perform two World Premieres commissioned by the New York Philharmonic - both made possible with the support of the Kravis Prize for New Music - by Philharmonic Kravis Emerging Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Bent Sørensen.

• The New York Philharmonic will present the World Premiere of the Star Wars - Film Concert Series, September 15-October 7, 2017, featuring screenings of the complete films A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens with Oscar-winning composer John Williams's musical scores performed live to the films. The concerts will be led by acclaimed conductor David Newman.

• The fifth annual THE ART OF THE SCORE, with Artistic Advisor Alec Baldwin, will continue in April 2018 with the New York Premiere screening of Amadeus - Live, with the score performed live to the film, conducted by Richard Kaufman in his Philharmonic debut.

• Alan Gilbert will return to lead the Orchestra in a subscription week that celebrates the New York Philharmonic on its 175th birthday. The program combines an homage to the New York Philharmonic's inaugural concert - with Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Weber's Oberon Overture - with a salute to the musicians who comprise the Orchestra itself - with Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for Winds performed by Principal Oboe Liang Wang, Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill, Principal Bassoon Judith LeClair, and Principal Horn Philip Myers.