David Hyde Pierce to Narrate YOUNG PEOPLE'S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA, 7/29

The 2011 Season of The Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC will feature many firsts including award winning actor and Saratoga Springs native David Hyde Pierce joining us to narrate the orchestra's performance of Britten's classic, A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, an evening with Grammy winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and a full screening of classic film Casablanca with a live orchestral performance of the film's score.

These magnificent programs will come to life under the baton of a series of distinguished guest conductors including famed Maestra Marin Alsop, our Conductor Emeritus Charles Dutoit, pops conductor Stephen Reineke, the Orchestra's own Rossen Milanov, as well as several making their first appearance on SPAC's podium including Giancarlo Guerrero, Stephane Deneve, Bramwell Tovey and Constantine Kitsopoulos.

The roster of superstar soloists joining us during orchestra season includes Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Gil Shaham and Emanuel Ax as well as two acclaimed artists making their first appearance at SPAC, pianist Gabriela Montero and violinist James Ehnes.

For more information on the performance line-up, click here.

The orchestra was founded in 1900 by Fritz Scheel, who also acted as itsfirst conductor. The orchestra had its beginnings with a small group of musicians led by the pianist F. Cresson Schell (1857-1942).

In February 1907, Leandro Campanari took over and served as interim conductor for a short time during Scheel's illness and after his death. A flautist in the orchestra, August Rodemann, had stood in before Campanari's arrival. He started sabotaging the performances and Campanari was obliged to remove himself from a bad situation.

In 1907, Karl Pohlig became music director and served until 1912. No one liked him but they could find no one else at the time. Finally, they cancelled his contract, giving him a year's salary in severance.

In 1912 Leopold Stokowski became music director, and brought the orchestra to national prominence. Under him, the orchestra gained a reputation for great virtuosity, and developed what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound." Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years.

In 1936 Eugene Ormandy joined the organization, and jointly held the post of principal conductor with Stokowski until 1938 when he took over the role full-time. He remained with the orchestra for a total of 44 years, after which he became Conductor Laureate. Ormandy conducted many of the orchestra's best-known recordings. He took the orchestra on its historic 1973 tour of the People's Republic of China, where they were the first Western orchestra to visit that country in many decades. They were highly popular in China, and have since returned for three more successful tours.

Riccardo Muti became principal guest conductor of the orchestra in the 1970s, and took over from Ormandy as Music Director in 1980, serving through 1992. His recordings with the orchestra included the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Alexander Scriabin, for the EMI and Philips labels.

Wolfgang Sawallisch succeeded Muti as Music Director from 1993 to 2003. He made a number of recordings with the orchestra of music of Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, among other composers, for the EMI label. However, the orchestra lost its recording contract with EMI during this time, which led to the orchestra going on strike for 64 days in 1996. Toward the end of Sawallisch's tenure, the orchestra released a self-produced set of recordings of the Schumann symphonies with Sawallisch conducting. In 2003, Sawallisch was named Conductor Laureate of the orchestra.

In 2003, Christoph Eschenbach became music director. This appointment was controversial because Eschenbach had not conducted the orchestra in over four years and there was a perceived lack of personal chemistry between him and the musicians prior to the appointment. At least one early report tried to downplay this concern. The orchestra returned to commercial recordings with Eschenbach, on the Ondine label. However, in October 2006, Eschenbach and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his tenure as music director in 2008, for a total of five years, the shortest tenure as music director in the history of the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with Pohlig.

In February 2007, the orchestra named Charles Dutoit to the newly created posts of chief conductor and artistic adviser for four seasons, starting in the fall of 2008 and running through the 2011-2012 season. This move was made to provide an "artistic bridge" while the orchestra searched for its eighth music director. According to news articles from August 2007, the orchestra had now devised a search process in which each musician in the orchestra would have a say in the choice of the next Music Director.

In December 2008, at the invitation of Dutoit Yannick Nezet-Seguin made his first guest-conducting appearance with the orchestra. He returned for a second series of concerts in December 2009. In June 2010, Nezet-Seguin was named the eighth Music Director of the orchestra, effective with the 2012-2013 season. He immediately assumed the title of Music Director Designate, with a scheduled duration under that title from 2010 to 2012, with 2 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2010-2011 season, and 5 weeks of scheduled appearances in the 2011-2012 season. His initial contract as music director is for 5 seasons, with 7 weeks of scheduled concerts in the 2012-2012 season, 15 weeks in the next 2 seasons, and 16 weeks in the subsequent 2 seasons of his Philadelphia contract.

The Philadelphia Orchestra's current concertmaster is David Kim. Past concertmasters have included Norman Carol and Erez Ofer. Since 2000, the Associate Conductor of the orchestra is Rossen Milanov, who is scheduled to conclude his tenure in Philadelphia after the 2010-2011 season.Past Associate Conductors of the orchestra have included William Smith and Luis Biava. The resident chorus of the orchestra is the Philadelphia Singers.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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