Nathan Lane to Narrate New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Concert

Tony Award-winning star of theater, film, and television - will join this year's edition of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, La Vie Parisienne, narrating Saint-Sae?ns's Carnival of the Animals. Conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, the performance will also feature pianists Inon Barnatan, the Philharmonic's Artist-in-Association, and Makoto Ozone. Mr. Lane will present the World Premiere of a new narration commissioned by the Philharmonic, in which each animal is a New York archetype, written by Broadway writers/composers/lyricists Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, whose collaborations include the Tony-nominated and Olivier Award-winning Legally Blonde, The Musical. The concert will be telecast live nationally on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS stations.

The program will also feature mezzo-soprano Susan Graham performing vocal works including Edith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" and Offenbach arias, jazz pianist Makoto Ozone joining the Orchestra for Ravel's Pavane pour une Infante de?funte, and the Orchestra performing selections from Offenbach's Gai?te? parisienne.

Nathan Lane is returning to the Philharmonic following his January 2013 debut hosting Symphonic Sondheim, a performance of symphonic suites of music from Sondheim shows.

Nathan Lane recently appeared in the Broadway production of Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play, having starred as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh at Brooklyn Academy of Music and in The Nance on Broadway (for which he received Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations and the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Distinguished Performance Awards). Recent television appearances include The Good Wife (Emmy nomination), Modern Family (three Emmy nominations), and the Broadway production of The Nance (Live From Lincoln Center/PBS). He will next be seen on Ryan Murphy's FX limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story alongside John Travolta, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and David Schwimmer. Nathan Lane's Broadway credits include his debut opposite George C. Scott in Present Laughter (Drama Desk nomination), Merlin, The Wind in the Willows, Some Americans Abroad, On Borrowed Time, Guys and Dolls (Tony nomination; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Love! Valour! Compassion! (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards), The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Producers (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Olivier Awards), The Frogs, The Odd Couple, Butley, November, Waiting for Godot (Outer Critics Circle nomination), and The Addams Family (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations). His Off-Broadway credits include The Common Pursuit, The Film Society, The Lisbon Traviata (Outer Critics Circle nomination; Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards), Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Love! Valour! Compassion! (Obie Award), Bad Habits, Dedication, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, Trumbo, Measure for Measure (St. Clair Bayfield Award), A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, She Stoops To Conquer, In a Pig's Valise, Love, and Do Re Mi. Mr. Lane has starred in more than 35 films including The Birdcage (Golden Globe nomination; Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Awards), Ironweed, Frankie and Johnny, Mousehunt, Jeffrey, The Lion King, Stuart Little, Nicholas Nickleby (National Board of Review Ensemble Acting Award), The Producers (Golden Globe nomination), Swing Vote, Mirror Mirror, and The English Teacher. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2006), was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame (2008), and is the recipient of two Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Nathan Lane made his New York Philharmonic debut in January 2013 hosting Symphonic Sondheim.

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham achieved international stardom within a few years of her professional debut. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi's Poppea (L'incoronazione di Poppea) to Jake Heggie's Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), written especially for her, and her recital repertoire is equally wide-ranging. As one of today's foremost interpreters of French vocal music, the Texas native was awarded the French government's Chevalier de la Le?gion d'Honneur. Ms. Graham enjoyed early success in "trouser" roles before mastering more virtuosic parts and title roles. She created the female leads in The Metropolitan Opera's premiere productions of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby and Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy. Her discography features oratorios and song cycles by Berlioz, Ravel, and Chausson, as well as solo albums including her Grammy-winning recording of Ives songs. Among her additional honors are being named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year and receiving an Opera News Award. She also collaborates frequently with pianist Malcolm Martineau. Susan Graham kicked off the 2015-16 season with a solo recital in Washington, D.C., and a concert with Mercury Baroque in Houston. She then returns to the Met as Countess Geschwitz in a new production of Berg's Lulu by artist-director William Kentridge, and for a revival of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus as Prince Orlovsky. European concert dates include Britten at Teatro Real Madrid and recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, Glasgow's Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. In the United States, Susan Graham appears with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, at the Celebrity Series of Boston, and with Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the New York Philharmonic. The mezzo-soprano later returns to Carnegie Hall to headline the program Susan Graham & Friends.

Equally commanding in solo and chamber performances, Inon Barnatan, an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Berlin's Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the San Francisco, Jerusalem, and Shanghai symphony orchestras. He has worked with such conductors as Roberto Abbado, James Gaffigan, Matthias Pintscher, David Robertson, Edo de Waart, and Pinchas Zukerman. Passionate about contemporary music, last season Mr. Barnatan premiered new pieces composed for him by Pintscher and Sebastian Currier. In his second season as the New York Philharmonic's Artist-in- Association, in 2015-16 he performs concertos by Mozart and Beethoven, including as part of the Philharmonic's residency partnership with the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan; appears on the annual New Year's Eve concert; and performs Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time alongside Alan Gilbert on violin and Philharmonic principal musicians at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Temple of Dendur. Other season highlights include his Disney Hall debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Gustavo Dudamel, and a U.S. tour with the San Francisco Symphony, led by Michael Tilson Thomas, featuring appearances at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Barnatan's discography includes Avie and Bridge recordings of Schubert's solo piano works, as well as Darknesse Visible, which was included on The New York Times's "Best of 2012" list. His Chopin and Rachmaninoff duo sonatas album, recorded with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, will be released by Decca Classics next season. Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started piano at the age of three and made his orchestral debut at eleven. His studies have connected him to past distinguished pianists and teachers: he studied with Professor Victor Derevianko (a student of Heinrich Neuhaus); continued studies with Maria Curcio (a student of Artur Schnabel) and Christopher Elton at London's Royal Academy of Music; and has since studied with and been mentored by Leon Fleisher. Inon Barnatan made his Philharmonic subscription debut in March 2015 performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert; he most recently appeared with the Orchestra in October 2015 performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, led by Jaap van Zweden.

Pianist Makoto Ozone taught himself to play the organ while very young, made his first television appearance at six, began performing regularly on Osaka Mainichi Broadcasting, and, after attending an Oscar Peterson concert at 12, turned his attention toward jazz piano. He moved to the United States in 1980 to study at Boston's Berklee College of Music, and graduated at the top of his class in 1983 - the same year he gave a solo recital at Carnegie Hall and became the first Japanese musician to sign an exclusive contract with CBS. He has recently explored classical repertoire with conductors including Alan Gilbert, Charles Dutoit, Thomas Zehetmair, Joseph Swensen, Alexandre Rabinovitch, Arie van Beek, Francois-Xavier Roth, Tadaaki Otaka, Eiji Oue, and Michiyoshi Inoue. He has played Gershwin, Bernstein, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Orchestre d'Auvergne, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with numerous other jazz artists including Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Christian McBride, Dave Weckl, and Mike Stern. He is a regular guest of classical music festivals including the Festival de la Roque d'Anthe?ron in France and La Folle Journe?e in Nantes and Japan. Makoto Ozone made his New York Philharmonic debut in February 2014 on the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, in Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokohama, and was immediately engaged to reprise the work with them in New York that April. The same year he made a jazz arrangement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, Jeunehomme, for Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, with which he performed the World Premiere. He also appeared with NDR Radiophilharmonie, San Francisco Symphony, and Sa?o Paulo Symphony Orchestra. He also toured Japan with his big band, No Name Horses, and celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new recording.

Single tickets for New Year's Eve: La Vie Parisienne start at $89. Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the David Geffen Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one- half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. (Ticket prices subject to change.)