Xian Zhang to Lead NY Philharmonic in Performances with Pianist Garrick Ohlsson

Xian Zhang, the New York Philharmonic's former Arturo Toscanini Associate Conductor, will lead the Orchestra in Haydn's Symphony No. 95; Martin's Piano Concerto No. 4, Incantation, with Garrick Ohlsson as soloist; and Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 on November 12, November 13, November 14, and November 17.

In Europe, future highlights include debuts with Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where her program includes the world premiere of Mikko Heiniö's Moon Concerto; and Orchestre National de Belgique, with whom she will appear at the Europalia Festival. Other European engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Verona Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Residentie Orkest, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She will also conduct the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, and Vienna Symphony at the 2011 Bregenz Festival, and the ORF Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

In North America, upcoming engagements include her debuts with the New Jersey and National Symphony Orchestras; The Minnesota Orchestra; and a return to the Juilliard Orchestra, following her recent tour with the ensemble to China. Last season she appeared with the Chicago, Toronto, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As an opera conductor, Xian Zhang made her debut with Puccini's La bohème for English National Opera in spring 2007, and conducted Puccini's Turandot in Beijing in May 2009.

Born in Dandong, China, Xian Zhang made her professional debut conducting Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at the Central Opera House in Beijing at the age of 20. She trained at Beijing's Central Conservatory, earning both her bachelor and master of music degrees, and served one year on its conducting faculty before moving to the United States in 1998.

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson's repertoire ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson is particularly known for his interpretations of the works of Chopin. He is also an avid chamber musician who has collaborated with many major ensembles. In recognition of the bicentenary of Chopin's birthday, Mr. Ohlsson will present a series of all-Chopin recitals in Seattle, Berkeley, and La Jolla, culminating at Lincoln Center in fall and winter of 2010; a film based on Chopin's life and music is planned for simultaneous release. Highlights of Mr. Ohlsson's 2009-10 season include appearances with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta,
Vancouver, Indianapolis, San Diego, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Baltimore. He will be heard in solo recital in Chicago, Fort Worth, and Philadelphia, and in a special gala concert to be presented in Chopin's birth house in Warsaw on March 1, 2010. Mr. Ohlsson's debut in Russia will take place during St. Petersburg's winter festival in December 2009, when he appears both in recital and with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

A native of White Plains, New York, Garrick Ohlsson began his piano studies at the age of eight. He won first prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, in addition to his 1970 triumph at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. He was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In February 2008, he won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra) for his Beethoven Sonatas, Vol. 3 (Bridge). Mr. Ohlsson can be
heard on the Arabesque, RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel, Bridge, BMG, Delos, Hänssler, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Virgin Classics labels.

When Franz Joseph Haydn's patron of 28 years, Prince Nicolaus Esterházy, died in 1790, the impresario Johann Peter Salomon did not delay in engaging Haydn for his subscription concert series in London. Haydn arrived in England on January 1, 1791, and thus commenced the first of two immensely successful London residencies that quickly made him the most celebrated musician in England. Under the terms of the contract, Haydn composed 12 symphonies for Salomon's concerts. The Symphony No. 95 was among those composed for his first visit. The London orchestra at Haydn's disposal was larger than Esterházy's ensemble, allowing him to experiment on a new scale with orchestral effects and variations in length and form. The first performance of this symphony took place in April 1791, in the fashionable Hanover Rooms. As was the custom of the time, there were two conductors: Salomon, the concertmaster, and Haydn himself, presiding at the harpsichord. The New York Philharmonic first performed the work in January 1875, conducted by Carl Bergmann, and most recently, in March 2005, led by Lorin Maazel.

The prolific output of Czech composer Bohuslav Martin? includes almost 400 works, and although they show a wide range of influences - from early music to jazz to folk music - they are always integrated into his fresh and very distinctive personal idiom. The Piano Concerto No. 4, which Martin? called Incantation, was composed in New York in 1955-56, was premiered in October 1956 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Rudolf Firkušný, for whom it had been written. As in many of his works, Martin? sought to achieve a fluid, intuitive sense of form, and so the concerto has the character of a fantasia, passing through various colorful and imaginative episodes. The composer
referred to the piece as a "magic-story" and suggested that it was a response to the world in which modern man found himself. He wrote: "The pressures of mechanization and uniformity which our life is subject to evoke his protest, and he has only one means to express it: in music." The only previous New York Philharmonic performances of the Piano Concerto No. 4 were given in February 1958, led by Rafael Kubelík, with Rudolf Firkušný as soloist.

Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 was composed in 1899, and was first performed the same year in Helsinki under the composer's direction. The then-33-year-old Finnish symphonist had recently been granted a state pension that freed him to devote himself to composition full time. His works already displayed a powerful individuality, and this first symphony already presents the striking melodic and rhythmic profile that would characterize Sibelius's work throughout all seven of his symphonies and his major tone poems. The New York Philharmonic first performed the Symphony No. 1 in December 1930, led by Leopold Stokowski, and most recently, in May 2008, led by David
Robertson.

For more information, visit the New York Philharmonic website at nyphil.org.