NY Philharmonic Announces Worldwide Radio Broadcasts for Oct-Dec 2014

The October broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begins with Jeffrey Kahane conducting the New York Philharmonic in J.S. Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe, featuring Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples (now the Orchestra's Acting Concertmaster) and Principal Oboe Liang Wang with Mr. Kahane leading from the harpsichord; Mozart's Symphony No. 33; and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Mr. Kahane conducting from the piano.

In the second week of October broadcasts Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in the New York Premiere of Steven Stucky's Symphony, a New York Philharmonic co- commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Barber's Violin Concerto, with Gil Shaham as soloist; and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances. In the next week of October broadcasts, Zubin Mehta conducts the Orchestra in Bruckner's Symphony No. 8. In the final week of October, Alan Gilbert conducts the Philharmonic in Haydn's Symphony No. 88; orchestrations of Schubert songs by Britten, Reger, and Webern, performed by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter; and two works by Ravel: Mother Goose (complete ballet) and La Valse.

In the November broadcasts the Philharmonic highlights its 2014-15 season as well as a week of historic recordings. The first week of November features Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting the U.S. Premiere of Unsuk Chin's Clarinet Concerto -- a New York Philharmonic co-commission with the Gothenburg Symphony, WDR Symphony, Philharmonia, and Barcelona Symphony orchestras -- performed by Kari Kriikku in his Philharmonic subscription debut -- and Mahler's Symphony No. 1. Next, The New York Philharmonic This Week features historic recordings including Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein conducting Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration of Musorgsky's Prelude: Dawn on the Moskva River from Khovanshchina; Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia; and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, Leningrad. The Russian-themed program will also include Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur conducting Giya Kancheli's And Farewell Goes Out Sighing... with violinist Gidon Kremer and countertenor Derek Lee Ragin as soloists.

Next, Alan Gilbert leads the Orchestra in the World Premiere of The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Thunderstuck; Haydn's Symphony No. 103, Drumroll; and Brahms's Violin Concerto with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist in her first performance as the 2014-15 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence.

In the last week of November, Leonard Slatkin leads the Orchestra in Copland's El Salon Me?xico, the New York Premiere of The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Flute Concerto with Principal Flute Robert Langevin as soloist, and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit and Bole?ro.

The Philharmonic's December broadcasts feature masterworks conducted by Alan Gilbert as well as holiday favorites. In the first week, Alan Gilbert leads the Orchestra in A Dancer's Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky, a multidisciplinary, theatrical reimagining of the ballets The Fairy's Kiss and Petrushka, created by Giants Are Small. The production starred Sara Mearns, New York City Ballet principal dancer. The Orchestra will take its production of Petrushka on the EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour.

The next week, Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and the U.S. Premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Frieze -- written in response to Beethoven's Ninth and co-commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, New York Philharmonic, and BBC Radio 3. This performance was part of the Royal Philharmonic Society's 2013 bicentennial, reflecting the New York Philharmonic's historic link to the Ninth Symphony.

In the third week of December, Music Director Alan Gilbert leads the Philharmonic in the New York Premiere of The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence Christopher Rouse's Oboe Concerto, featuring Principal Oboe Liang Wang, and Richard Strauss's Don Juan and Also sprach Zarathustra. The next week features a rebroadcast of Handel's Messiah from 2012, conducted by Gary Thor Wedow, with soprano Layla Clair; countertenor Tim Mead; tenor Kenneth Tarver; bass Alastair Miles; and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

The final week of concerts in 2014 will feature a winter holiday program featuring Mozart's German Dance in C, also known as "Sleigh Ride," and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams, conducted by Leonard Bernstein; Skitch Henderson's arrangement of selections from Winter Holiday, conducted by and piano performed by Henderson; Leonard Bernstein narrating and conducting Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf; and Danny Kaye conducting Johann Strauss II's Overture to Die Fledermaus.

The New York Philharmonic This Week airs locally in the New York metropolitan area on WQXR 105.9 FM, Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. [Check local listings.] Concerts are available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org, for two weeks following the broadcast. The broadcasts are syndicated to more than 465 outlets nationally and 122 outlets internationally by the WFMT Radio Network. Alec Baldwin is the host, New York Philharmonic Audio Producer Mark Travis is the broadcast producer, and Audio Director Lawrence Rock is the music producer.

The New York Philharmonic's first live national radio broadcast took place on October 5, 1930, over the CBS radio network. On that Sunday Erich Kleiber was on the podium leading the Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Since that historic broadcast, the Philharmonic has enjoyed an almost continuous presence on national radio. Advancing its role as a media pioneer, the Philharmonic, since 2002, has shared its radio broadcasts with a worldwide audience through its Website, nyphil.org. In 2004 the New York Philharmonic was the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live. Following on this innovation, in 2009 the Orchestra announced the first-ever subscription download series: Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season, available exclusively on iTunes, produced and distributed by the New York Philharmonic, and comprising more than 50 works performed during the 2009-10 season. In the 2013-14 season, the Orchestra released another digital recording series: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2013-14 Season. The first two albums are now available for download and streaming. Since 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings, with more than 500 currently available.

Alec Baldwin is the Radio Host of the New York Philharmonic. The actor last appeared onstage in the 2010 Guild Hall (East Hampton) production of Peter Shaffer's Equus, directed by Tony Walton. Mr. Baldwin's other stage credits include Entertaining Mr. Sloane (the Roundabout Theatre Company, 2006 production); Loot (Broadway, 1986); Serious Money (Broadway, 1988); Prelude to a Kiss (Circle Repertory Company, in 1990 (Obie Award); A Streetcar Named Desire (Broadway, 1992); Macbeth (New York Shakespeare Festival, 1998); and The Twentieth Century (Roundabout Theatre Company, 2004), earning him Theatre World and Obie Awards as well as a Tony nomination.

Mr. Baldwin has appeared in more than 50 films, including Beetlejuice, Working Girl, Miami Blues, The Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Juror, The Edge, Ghosts of Mississippi, State and Main, The Cat in the Hat, The Cooler (National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Oscar nomination), The Aviator, The Departed, and It's Complicated. On television Mr. Baldwin starred with Tina Fey on NBC's 30 Rock, winner of the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. For his portrayal of Jack Donaghy, Mr. Baldwin received seven Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globes, the Television Critics Award, and two Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. In 2011 Mr. Baldwin received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His company, El Dorado Pictures, has produced projects including Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial for TNT (Emmy Award nomination); The Confession for Showtime (Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay); and David Mamet's film State and Main. A dedicated supporter of public policy and arts causes, Alec Baldwin serves on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, People For the American Way, The Hamptons International Film Festival, and Guild Hall of East Hampton. He is an active supporter of The Radiation and Public Health Project, East Hampton Day Care Center, The Actors Fund, The Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival, Roundabout Theatre Company, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and The Water Keeper Alliance, among many others. His book, A Promise to Ourselves, was published by St. Martin's Press in paperback in 2009.

Lawrence Rock has been Audio Director of the New York Philharmonic since 1997, overseeing all audio activities including recording, broadcasting, and live sound. He is the recording and mastering engineer as well as a producer for the recent iTunes Passes, Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2012-13 Season, and Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season, both produced and distributed by the New York Philharmonic. His other recent projects have included producing New York Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel: The Complete Mahler Symphonies, Live; Deutsche Grammophon's New York Philharmonic DG Concerts downloads; and a Deutsche Grammophon recording of music by Richard Strauss, performed by the Philharmonic. In 2005 Mr. Rock received three Grammy Awards for John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, for which he served as co-producer with the composer, and in 1997 he won a Grammy for engineering an album of works by Aaron Copland, performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the Philharmonic's own recording label, New York Philharmonic Special Editions, Mr. Rock co-produced the Grammy-nominated CD Sweeney Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic and the 10-CD set Kurt Masur at the New York Philharmonic. He has also made recordings with the Chicago, Houston, and Milwaukee symphony orchestras.

Mark Travis, an award-winning 18-year music industry veteran, joined the New York Philharmonic as its full-time in-house producer in August 2011. For the previous 12 years he worked for Chicago's WFMT Radio Network. He has written and produced The New York Philharmonic This Week since its inaugural season in 2004-05. Other broadcast credits include the Lyric Opera of Chicago Broadcasts as well as broadcasts by the Berlin Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Bavarian Staatsoper, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Travis has an extensive discography as a music producer that ranges from recordings by the New York Philharmonic to those by William Warfield, Jenny Lin, Jeffrey Siegel, the Lyrebird Ensemble, and the Chicago Chorale. An accomplished singer and classical guitarist, he also hosts and produces several podcasts and educational pieces for a variety of organizations. He is a member of the Classical Committee of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS) and serves on both the grand jury and advisory board of the New York Festivals International Broadcasting Competition. From 2010-2012, Mr. Travis proudly served as a music committee chair for the United States Artists Music Awards in Los Angeles. In 2013 he and his production team earned a Gold World Medal for Best Sound, A Bronze World Medal for Best Regularly Scheduled Music Program, and a Finalist Certificate for Best Classical Format from the New York Festivals International Radio Awards for their work on The New York Philharmonic This Week.

The WFMT Radio Network, the international syndication division of award-winning Chicago classical music station 98.7WFMT, distributes these broadcasts worldwide. In addition to the New York Philharmonic broadcasts, the WFMT Radio Network syndicates many programs, including concerts by the Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Milwaukee symphony orchestras, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, as well as ongoing series such as Relevant Tones, Fiesta!, and Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin. The WFMT Radio Network also offers a full season of performances by American opera companies such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, and more. In addition, exclusive programming from Carnegie Hall, Germany's Deutsche Welle Radio, and dozens of classical, folk, jazz, documentaries, and specials are offered to radio outlets around the world.

Pictured: Alec Baldwin (left) with Music Director Alan Gilbert. Photo by Chris Lee.