New York Philharmonic Presents Staged Productions Of Bartók's BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE And Schoenberg's EWARTUNG

The New York Philharmonic will present the US Stage Premiere of director / set and lighting designer Bengt Gomér's production of Schoenberg's Erwartung and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Bluebeard's Castle will feature soprano Nina Stemme (New York Philharmonic debut), recipient of the 2018 Birgit Nilsson Prize, as Judith and baritone Johannes Martin Kränzle (debut) as Duke Bluebeard; Erwartung will feature mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus as A Woman (debut). The performances will take place Thursday, September 26, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, September 27 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m.

The production features video, lighting, and supernumerary roles created to integrate the two one-act operas into a complete narrative that explores the unconscious. Erwartung and Bluebeard's Castle were composed within two years of each other at the turn of the 20th century, when psychoanalysis dominated as a new medical field in both composers' home countries. This is the first performance in the United States of Bengt Gomér's staging, which was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2019.

The production's dramaturg, Magnus Lindman, writes: "If there is one thing that psychoanalysis teaches us, it is that there is no truth. Only an onion with layer upon layer of interpretations, not to say speculations. Freud himself could be tempted to psychoanalyze historical personages, works of art, and works of literature ... just like art, psychoanalysis still has something to say in response to the eternal question of what it is to be human."

The first Sound ON concert of the 2019-20 season, "Telling Tales" - tied to the staging of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung - will take place on October 1, 2019. Hosted and curated by The Marie-Josée Kravis Creative Partner Nadia Sirota, the program will explore narratives in music through Jacob Druckman's Reflections on the Nature of Water; Thea Musgrave's Narcissus; Ellen Reid's Lumee's Dream from p r i s m, which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Music; and John Luther Adams's Dream in White on White. The GRoW @ Annenberg Sound ON series - three evening chamber concerts at The Appel Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center - presents contemporary chamber repertoire performed by Philharmonic musicians. The concerts dive deeper into the season's key initiatives and explore the music of our time through the performer's lens. Host and curator Nadia Sirota leads conversations with the musicians, exploring what they love about the works they are performing - what is difficult, new, and unexpected.

The Insights at the Atrium event "Staging Tales of Darkness" will take place Tuesday, September 24, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. Bengt Gomér, director / set and lighting designer of the staged production of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung, will go behind-the-scenes to discuss the making of this new production with New York Philharmonic President and CEO Deborah Borda.

The New York Philharmonic Archives will present the exhibit Béla Bartók: A Hungarian in New York in the Bruno Walter Gallery on David Geffen Hall's Grand Promenade, September 11-November 21, 2019. Drawing on material from the New York Philharmonic Archives and the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the exhibit examines Bartók's relationship with the New York Philharmonic, New York City, and Columbia University as well as his contributions as a pianist, composer, and ethnomusicologist. Bartók's Philharmonic history spans his entire stay in the United States, including the first American performance of one of his orchestral works (1919); his US debut as a soloist (1927); and his last appearance onstage (1943), two years before his death in New York City. He composed some of his most famous works in the US, including the Concerto for Orchestra, and served as a visiting professor at Columbia University, where he transcribed and published his volumes of Eastern European folk songs. Additional items from Columbia's Bartók holdings will be on display September 26-28, 2019, during the performances of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung.

The New York Philharmonic will offer an allotment of free tickets to young people ages 13-26 for the concert on Friday, September 27 as part of Philharmonic Free Fridays.

Single tickets start at $35. Single tickets to Sound ON start at $45 and will be available at a later date. (Ticket prices subject to change.) The New York Philharmonic is offering an allotment of free tickets to young people ages 13-26 for the concert Friday, September 27 as part of Philharmonic Free Fridays; learn more at nyphil.org/freefridays.

Tickets to the New York Philharmonic performances 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.