Artist-in-Association Inon Barnatan Will Make NY Philharmonic Debut Next Month

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, with Philharmonic Artist-in-Association Inon Barnatan in his Philharmonic debut, in a program that also includes Esa-Pekka Salonen's Nyx, Debussy's Jeux, and R. Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Thursday, March 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 20 at 11:00 a.m.; Tuesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m.

"I've loved this concerto for a long time," Inon Barnatan said. "One of my first memories of hearing it was in a recording with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein, so to be able to play it with this Orchestra is fantastic. I think of it as a very New York piece. Ravel wrote it after Gershwin took him to hear jazz in Harlem - where I live in an apartment that used to be a speakeasy for the great jazz musicians - and you can hear the American jazz scene's influence in this concerto. It also has extraordinary depth, and the second movement has some of the most moving music Ravel ever wrote."

The performances of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Nyx will mark the first time that a conductor other than Mr. Salonen will lead one of his works with the Philharmonic; Alan Gilbert will later lead the Orchestra in Nyx in Dublin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Cologne during the EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour. Mr. Salonen will begin a three-year tenure as the Philharmonic's Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in-Residence in the 2015-16 season.

The position of the New York Philharmonic Artist-in-Association was created to highlight an emerging artist over the course of several consecutive seasons through concerto and chamber music appearances, building a relationship between the artist, the Philharmonic, and its audiences.

"I'm honored that Inon Barnatan is part of our family as the Philharmonic's first Artist- in-Association," Alan Gilbert said. "He was the perfect person to start this new long-term relationship with: we believe in him that much. He's a complete artist, wonderful pianist, a probing intellect, and plays an enormous range of music."

"To build such a deep, meaningful, and long-term relationship between the Orchestra, the audience, and me is a golden opportunity," Inon Barnatan said. "I have such admiration for the musicians of the Orchestra and for Alan Gilbert, an intellectual musician who also brings his whole heart into music."

Inon Barnatan began his Artist-in-Association tenure in December 2014, when he joined cellist Alisa Weilerstein and Philharmonic musicians for a chamber music concert at 92nd Street Y as part of Dohna?nyi / Dvor?a?k: A Philharmonic Festival. Also during the 2014-15 season, he will perform Dvor?a?k's Piano Quintet, Op. 81, with Philharmonic musicians (February 7, 2015).

Alan Gilbert, Inon Barnatan, and the Philharmonic will perform the same program at Long Island University's Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, New York, on March 21, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.

To post a comment, you must register and login.