NY Philharmonic Announces Upcoming Holiday Concerts

The New York Philharmonic will celebrate the holiday season with programs that feature a variety of seasonal favorites and performers: "Holiday Brass," Handel's Messiah, and an All-American New Year's Eve Concert.

• Sunday, December 13, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. - Holiday Brass
The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet collaborates with The
West Point Band Brass & Percussion for the first time in the 15th anniversary of this annual concert tradition, featuring a program of holiday favorites.
• Tuesday, December 15-Saturday, December 19, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. - Handel's Messiah
Helmuth Rilling conducts Handel's famous and festive oratorio, featuring his own choir, the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, with soprano Annette Dasch (Philharmonic debut); countertenor Daniel Taylor (debut); tenor James Taylor; and bass Shenyang (debut).
David Wallace, NY Philharmonic Senior Teaching Artist and member of The Juilliard School faculty, will introduce the program with a Pre-Concert Talk, beginning 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.

• Thursday, December 31, 2009, 7:30 p.m. - All-American New Year's Eve Concert
New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert is joined by The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Thomas Hampson for a concert to ring in 2010. The program will include Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite and Old American Songs (selections), in addition to selections from Broadway musicals and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The concert will be broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS stations. [Check local listings]

Artists
Holiday Brass (December 13, 2009)
The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet enjoys worldwide exposure and an international reputation. The Quintet - featuring Principal Trumpet Philip Smith, Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, Principal Horn Philip Myers, Principal Trombone Joe Alessi, and Principal Tuba Alan Baer - has hosted an annual Holiday Concert at Lincoln Center since 1995, collaborating most frequently with the Canadian Brass. Other guests have included groups such as The German Brass and the Salvation Army's New York Staff Band. The Principal Brass Quintet has become a regular encore feature on Philharmonic tours and residencies.

The West Point Band Brass & Percussion
Founded in 2003, The West Point Band Brass & Percussion comprises members of The West Point Band, the U.S. Army's oldest active band and the oldest unit at West Point, which traces its roots to the Revolutionary War. The soldier-musicians of this organization are recruited by the Army and selected through a competitive audition process especially for service with the West Point Band. They represent a cross-section of the nation's finest music schools and conservatories. In support of military functions, the ensemble has entertained the U.S. Corps of Cadets and performed for many visiting dignitaries and heads of state at West Point. Additionally, the ensemble actively performs throughout the New York metropolitan area and across the nation. The West Point Band Brass & Percussion are proud to represent the Army and perform with the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet.

Handel's Messiah (December 15-19, 2009)
Born in 1933 in Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling is active as a conductor, pedagogue, and an ambassador for the music of J. S. Bach worldwide. In 1954 he founded the Gächinger Kantorei and 11 years later he founded the Bach Collegium Stuttgart as the choir's regular orchestral partner in 1965. Inspired by this devotion to Bach's music, in 1981 Mr. Rilling founded the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart dedicated to furthering the composer's music through public concerts, master classes for singers and conductors, symposia, and residencies all over the world. Either with his house ensembles in Stuttgart or as a guest conductor, Mr. Rilling is active on the international concert podium, performing regularly throughout Europe, U.S., and Canada. He has a special friendship with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, dating back some 30 years and since 1970 has
been the artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival. He has recently appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Minnesota Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago. In 2007 he led a choral workshop at Carnegie Hall that culminated in a performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion. His highly acclaimed premieres include Passions (2000), composed by Wolfgang Rihm, Sofia Gubaidulina, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tan Dun; and Robert Levin's new completion of Mozart's Mass in C minor at Carnegie Hall (January 2005). Mr. Rilling has hundreds of CD, radio and television recordings to his credit, and between 1970 and 1984 he was the first musician to record all of Bach's cantatas (Hänssler Classic). Furthermore, he was the guiding hand behind the Internationale Bachakademie's critically acclaimed project of recording the complete works of J.S. Bach for Hänssler Classic, which was released in 2000 to coincide with the 250th Anniversary of Bach's death. Among Mr. Rilling's many prizes are the UNESCO International Music Prize in 1994 and the Theodor Heuss Prize in 1995. He won a Grammy Award in 2000 for his recording of Krzyztof Penderecki's Credo and was again nominated in 2001 for his recording of Wolfgang Rihm's Deus Passus.

In 2003 he became an honorary member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.
Soprano Annette Dasch's international career started in 2000 when she won important singing competitions in Barcelona, Zwickau, and Geneva. Subsequent engagements have included performances with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, Sächsische Staatsoper in Dresden, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, New National Theatre in Tokyo and the Innsbrucker Festwochen. She has worked with many renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, and Sebastian Weigle, among others. Past roles include Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni under Daniel Barenboim at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2007) as well as her role-debut as Elettra in Mozart's Idomeneo at the Bayerische Staatsoper at the reopening of the Cuvilliés Theatre (June 2008). With the Vienna Philharmonic, she made her debut in Schumann's Paradies und die Peri at the Wiener Musikverein in March 2008. Ms. Dasch is an exclusive artist at Sony BMG.

Countertenor Daniel Taylor has made more than 75 recordings, including Bach cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and John Elliot Gardiner for Deutche Gramophone and SDG; Renaissance duets with James Bowman and the actor Ralph Fiennes on BIS; Handel's Saul with the Bach Academy Orchestra and conductor Helmuth Rilling on Hansller Classics; and Handel's Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music, led by Christopher Hogwood, on Decca. His debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in Handel's Theodora (recorded for Erato) followed his operatic debut in Jonathan Miller's production of Handel's Rodelinda (recorded for EMI). His North American operatic debut was in Handel's Guilio Cesare at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. Mr. Taylor is professor of voice at the University of Ottawa, visiting artist at the University of Toronto, adjunct professor at McGill University, guest faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and founder and conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music.

A native of Houston, tenor James Taylor attended Texas Christian University as a student of Arden Hopkin. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, where he graduated in 1993 with a Meisterklassendiplom. In May 2005 the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music announced his appointment as associate professor of voice in the program in early music, song, and chamber ensemble. One of the most sought-after Bach Evangelists, Mr. Taylor performed the role for his New York Philharmonic debut with Kurt Masur in 2008, as well as throughout the United States, in South America, Japan, and Israel, as well as in the great concert halls of Europe including Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw, Vienna's Musikverein, and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Mr. Taylor can be heard on more than 30 recordings. New releases include the Mozart Requiem with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra led by Andreas Delfs on Limestone Records, Beethoven's Missa solemnis with the Nashville Symphony on Naxos, and the rarely-heard Baroque opera Ariadne by Johan Georg Conradi with the Boston Early Music Festival led by Paul O'Dette on ArkivMusik.

The 23-year-old Chinese bass-baritone Shenyang is currently enrolled in The Juilliard School's artist diploma program as a member of the Juilliard Opera Center, and he has joined the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. After studying at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and at Zhou Xiaoyan Opera Center, he rose to prominence after winning the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, the youngest of six finalists. His operatic roles include Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Verona Philharmonic Theatre and Zhou Xiaoyan International Opera Center, and Don Alfonso in Mozart's Così fan tutte in France and Germany with the Berlin Sibelius Orchestra. Shenyang has taken part in many concerts, including modern chamber music concerts at both the Eastern-Asia Music Festival in Korea and at the Beijing Music Festival. In the last two years he has made several recordings, including Super Bass and Schubert's Winterreise (a Chinese premiere), which were released by FengLin Records Company.
The Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (GKS) was founded in 1954 by Helmuth Rilling when he was still a student; it took its name from Gächingen, a small village in the Swabian Mountains, and retained that name even after relocating to Stuttgart. Initially the mainstay of its repertoire was a cappella works from the 16th, 17th, and 20th centuries, but in 1965, after Mr. Rilling founded the Bach Collegium - the primary instrumental partner of the chorus - the repertoire was extended to embrace music from the 18th and 19th centuries, and made possible the rediscovery and presentation of the Romantic choral repertoire (including several world premieres, such as Mendelssohn's youthful opera Der Onkel aus Boston in 2004). The GKS has sung many world premieres of contemporary works, such as Litany by Arvo Pärt, Requiem der Versöhnung (Requiem of Reconciliation, written by 14 composers from 14 nations), and Wolfgang Rihm's Deus Passus. Helmuth Rilling and the chorus are regular guests at the world's most prestigious music festivals, including Salzburg, Berlin, Lucerne, Vienna, Prague, London, Berlin, and Leipzig, to name a few, and since 1976 have made regular guest performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

All-American New Year's Eve Concert (December 31, 2009)
Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has introduced a number of new initiatives: The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg; The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week Philharmonic festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series. He led the Orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi, and will lead a European tour in February 2010. Mr. Gilbert is also the first to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting, and performance master classes.

Highlights of Mr. Gilbert's 2008-09 season with the New York Philharmonic included the November 14, 2008, Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra, presented by the Philharmonic, featuring Bernstein's Symphony No. 3, Kaddish. 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 New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, and four concerts 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 (NDRSO) since 2004. Mr. Gilbert regularly conducts other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; The Cleveland Orchestra; Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw; and Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2003 he was named the first music director of Santa Fe Opera, where he served for three seasons.

Born and raised in New York City, Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School; he was a substitute violinist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for two seasons, and assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams's Dr. Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.
American baritone Thomas Hampson has performed in the world's preeminent concert halls and opera houses and with many of today's most renowned musicians and orchestras; he also maintains an active interest in teaching, music research, and technology. An important interpreter of German romantic song, he is known as a leading proponent of the study of American song through his Hampsong Foundation, which he founded in 2003 to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. In the 2009-10 season Mr. Hampson becomes the first Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic as well as the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence. In these roles he will perform three programs with the Orchestra, appear on the Orchestra's European tour, give a recital in Alice Tully Hall, and present three lectures entitled "Listening to Thought" as part of the Orchestra's Insights Series. Much of Mr. Hampson's 2009-10 season is devoted to his "Song of America" project. In collaboration with the Library of Congress, Mr. Hampson is performing recitals and presenting master classes, educational activities, exhibitions, and broadcasts across the country and through a new interactive online resource, www.songofamerica.net; as part of the project, he has just released a new album, Wondrous Free - Song of America II, on his own label, Thomas Hampson Media. Other engagements include Mendelssohn's Elijah, led by Kurt Masur in Leipzig; Verdi's Ernani and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with Zurich Opera; Verdi's La traviata at The Metropolitan Opera; solo recitals throughout the United States and in many European capitals; and the galas of the Vienna Staatsoper and the new Winspear Opera House in Dallas.

Raised in Spokane, Washington, Thomas Hampson has released more than 150 albums that have received many honors, including a Grammy Award, two Edison Prizes, and the Grand Prix du Disque. He has been named Kammersänger of the Vienna Staatsoper; Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France; and Special Advisor to the Study and Performance of Music in America by Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress. Other accolades include the Austrian Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences (in 2004), and the Edison Life Achievement Award (2005). Mr. Hampson last appeared with the New York Philharmonic on September 20.