CARNEGIE HALL ANNOUNCES 2008–2009 SEASON
| TWO MAJOR FESTIVALS EXPLORE AMERICA’S RICH MUSICAL HERITAGE: |
Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds
Commemorating Leonard Bernstein—Fall 2008 |
Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy
Curated by Jessye Norman—Spring 2009 |
| CARNEGIE HALL PERSPECTIVES ENTERS 10TH SEASON: |
Acclaimed Conductor-Pianist Daniel Barenboim in 15-Event Series
Culminating in a Complete Mahler Symphony Cycle Led by Barenboim and Pierre Boulez |
Tabla Virtuoso Zakir Hussain Showcased in Five Events
Collaborating with Wide Range of Artists |
ELLIOTT CARTER APPOINTED CARNEGIE HALL’S
DEBS COMPOSER’S CHAIR WITH
SEASON-LONG RESIDENCY LAUNCHING IN HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY WEEK
LEGENDARY COMPOSER GYÖRGY KURTÁG’S FIRST NEW YORK VISIT
PART OF TWO-WEEK CELEBRATION OF HUNGARIAN MUSIC
EXTENSIVE EDUCATION ACTIVITIES OF THE WEILL MUSIC INSTITUTE AND
THE ACADEMY ENRICH PROGRAMMING AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES
TO STUDENTS, MUSICIANS, AND AUDIENCES
(NEW YORK)—Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall’s 2008–2009 season featuring more than 200 performances by many of the world’s finest artists, presented on Carnegie Hall’s three stages and throughout New York City in collaborations with many of the city’s leading cultural institutions. Major highlights of Carnegie Hall’s new season include two complementary citywide festivals that celebrate the dynamic culture and distinctive history of American music—Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, commemorating the life of iconic American musician Leonard Bernstein, co-presented with the New York Philharmonic in fall 2008, and Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, curated by Jessye Norman in spring 2009.
“With two major festivals in 2008–2009, we build on our programming approach launched in 2007–2008. Working in partnership with many great New York City cultural institutions, we are offering audiences exciting journeys across a broad cultural spectrum, inspired and drawn together by compelling themes,” said Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director. “Following our current major international focus, our 2008–2009 season pays tribute to the remarkable contribution that the United States has made to world culture, with celebrations of Leonard Bernstein, the African American cultural legacy, and Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, featuring concerts, special events, and major educational initiatives. Building on Carnegie Hall’s remarkable history, our goal is to ensure that our institution, through its programming, continues to play a central part in broadening the role and relevance of arts and culture in the lives of the people of this great city and beyond.”
Highlights Overview
With two major festivals—Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds and Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy—anchoring its 2008–2009 season, Carnegie Hall invites audiences to explore important American themes, celebrating the musical riches and diverse cultural history of the US—a history that has been intertwined with that of the Hall for nearly 120 years.
Carnegie Hall’s season opens on September 24 with a gala concert launching Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds with Michael Tilson Thomas leading the San Francisco Symphony and soloists Thomas Hampson, Yo-Yo Ma, and Dawn Upshaw in an all-Bernstein program, to be recorded for later broadcast on PBS’s Great Performances. The Bernstein festival, co-presented with the New York Philharmonic, celebrates the extraordinary achievements of the late Leonard Bernstein, one of the most important international musicians of the 20th century and a quintessential New Yorker, in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his appointment as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The citywide festival continues through December 13 and includes over 30 events and educational projects at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City Center, and other collaborating partner venues.
In March 2009, Carnegie Hall salutes the enduring vitality, influence, and creativity of African American music. Curated by renowned soprano Jessye Norman, Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy offers a personal exploration of the Spiritual, gospel, jazz, R&B, and classical voices that have made African American music celebrated throughout the world; it also pays tribute to these pioneering artists with nearly 20 concerts, recitals, and panel discussions at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and other venues in the city.
The Bernstein and Honor! festivals represent Carnegie Hall’s commitment to presenting major festivals each season, drawing together all of the Hall’s programmatic and educational resources and inviting audiences to explore compelling themes, reflected across the spectrum of the arts. Carnegie Hall launched this initiative in November 2007 with its first major international festival Berlin in Lights, which received worldwide acclaim. As with Berlin in Lights, Carnegie Hall’s two American festivals in 2008–2009 feature collaborations with a wide variety of cultural institutions throughout New York City and large-scale education projects under the aegis of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.
Major highlights of Carnegie Hall’s 2008–2009 season also include the 10th anniversary of Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives, with personally curated series by conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and tabla player Zakir Hussain; the appointment of American composer Elliott Carter to the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall during his 100th birthday year; and a celebration of the music of Hungary, to include a weeklong residency by eminent composer György Kurtág, who makes his first visit to New York. Also, the extensive educational activities of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and of The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—have been further integrated into Carnegie Hall’s programming. Programs of The Weill Music Institute continue to offer valuable opportunities for people from all walks of life to engage more closely with music with special programs to be presented as integral parts of the two American festivals as well as eight Professional Training Workshops for young professional musicians, led by world-class visiting artists.
For the fourth consecutive year, Bank of America will be Carnegie Hall’s season sponsor. ”We are immensely grateful to Bank of America for their tremendous support,” said Mr. Gillinson. “Their ongoing commitment helps us to build on the great history of Carnegie Hall, honoring the Hall’s remarkable traditions of presenting artists and ensembles who represent the very best in music, creating diverse programming that attracts a wide variety of audiences, and expanding programming initiatives to provide access to new audiences, bringing the joy of extraordinary music to ever more people.”
Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds
Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, presented by Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic, celebrates one of the most important international musicians of the 20th century and a quintessential New Yorker—Leonard Bernstein—in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his appointment as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Recognizing Bernstein’s many roles as performer, composer, educator, advocate, and idealist, this wide-ranging festival, presented from September 24 to December 13, 2008, features more than 30 events at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City Center, and a number of partner venues throughout New York City. The celebration, reflecting Bernstein’s multifaceted artistry and work in diverse musical genres, includes concerts, recitals, musical theater, lectures, and film screenings, as well as family and educational programming, illustrating the breadth of this legendary artist’s contributions to music history on both the American and international music scenes.
Bernstein festival events presented by Carnegie Hall include:
• Opening Night Gala of Carnegie Hall’s 118th Season with the San Francisco
Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas, Thomas Hampson, Yo-Yo Ma, and Dawn Upshaw
• Bernstein’s Mass at Carnegie Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra led by
Marin Alsop, a Bernstein protégé
• New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall marking the 65th anniversary of
Bernstein’s legendary 1943 Philharmonic debut with a program led by Music Director
Designate Alan Gilbert
• Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel
• The New York Pops: The Bernstein Songbook
• Standard Time with Michael Feinstein
• Bill Charlap Trio in Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein, a jazz tribute
presented in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC
• Arias, Barcarolles, a Sonata, and Riffs, a program of Bernstein chamber music and
songs with Robert Spano, Susan Graham, Rod Gilfry, Ricardo Morales, Jeremy Denk,
and members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic
• Special Leonard Bernstein exhibit in Carnegie Hall’s Rose Museum
Complementing these concerts and reflecting Bernstein’s unique legacy as an educator, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute undertakes several special projects in fall 2008 tied to the Bernstein festival, including a Carnegie Hall Family Concert and The Bernstein Mass Project, an expansive education program for hundreds of New York City public school students culminating with performances at Zankel Hall and the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights.
Media participation extends the reach of the Bernstein festival beyond New York City. Thirteen/WNET New York will record Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala performance for later broadcast on Great Performances on PBS. Major support for this broadcast will be provided by S. Donald Sussman.
Bernstein festival events presented by the New York Philharmonic include:
• New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, two subscription programs pairing
Bernstein symphonies with works by fellow Philharmonic music directors and
20th-century American composers; led by Music Director Lorin Maazel and conductor
David Robertson
• New York Philharmonic Presents The Juilliard Orchestra led by Philharmonic
Music Director Designate Alan Gilbert
• New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concert with host Jamie Bernstein and
conductor Delta David Gier
• New York Philharmonic’s School Partnership Program
• The Scores Behind the Music, an exhibit at Avery Fisher Hall
Bernstein festival events presented at partner venues include:
• New York City Center Encores! Presents Bernstein’s On The Town; six
semi-staged performances of Bernstein’s breakthrough 1944 musical with book and
lyrics by celebrated collaborators, Betty Comden and Adolph Green
• The Joy of Music: Leonard Bernstein on Film, a film series at the Walter Reade
Theater, presented by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in association with the
New York Philharmonic, Classifilms, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center
• Leonard Bernstein: Reaching for the Note, a screening at The Jewish Museum of
the Emmy Award-winning American Masters documentary on Bernstein’s life
• Leonard Bernstein: A Jewish Legacy, a performance/demonstration at The Jewish
Museum
• Bernstein’s Broadway, an exhibition of screenings at The Paley Center for Media
(formerly The Museum of Television and Radio)
• Seminar: Bernstein’s Broadway, an examination of Bernstein’s contributions to the
Broadway stage at The Paley Center for Media, moderated by director Rick McKay
(Broadway: The Golden Age) that features archival footage from the Paley Center
collection
For more information on Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, including a complete festival press kit, visit bernsteinfestival.org.
Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, Curated by Jessye Norman
Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy salutes the enduring vitality, influence, and creativity of African American culture through a collection of concerts and special events curated by internationally renowned soprano Jessye Norman. This Carnegie Hall festival, presented in March 2009, is designed to celebrate African American music and its influence worldwide, and, in particular, to pay tribute to pioneering African American artists who forged the path for succeeding generations. Through partnerships with New York cultural institutions, including the legendary Apollo Theater, Honor! engages diverse audiences and provides a showcase for African American music in its many genres: classical, gospel, Spirituals, contemporary popular music, blues, and jazz, offering close to 20 events, including concerts, recitals, lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions, and educational programs at Carnegie Hall, Apollo Theater, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and other venues throughout New York City.
Honor! festival events presented at Carnegie Hall include:
• Honor: Blues, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Beyond, an evening of music
paying tribute to the great African American popular artists of the past by today’s
daring innovators
• Ask Your Mama! with soprano Jessye Norman and special musical guests. Emmy
Award-winning composer Laura Karpman and Jessye Norman collaborate on a new
multimedia musical presentation on a text by Langston Hughes, Ask Your Mama:
12 Moods for Jazz
• Discovery Day: The African American Musical Experience, an all-day Zankel Hall
event with panel discussions, talks, and performances presenting an overview of
African American music: its origins, the work of today’s creative artists, and the
worldwide influence of these diverse musical forms. For the event, Carnegie Hall has
commissioned composer Daniel Bernard Roumain to write a new piece for the Imani
Winds
• The Philadelphia Orchestra in a program conducted by Charles Dutoit, including
Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony and Milhaud’s La création du monde, works both
inspired by African American music, and the New York premiere of George Walker’s
Violin Concerto
• An evening with jazz great Dee Dee Bridgewater
• The Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival featuring a performance
of Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time
• Honor: The Voice, an evening of music hosted by Jessye Norman and featuring
renowned singers from the classical music and musical theater world paying homage
to African American musical icons who opened the doors for succeeding generations
Honor! festival events presented at the Apollo Theater include:
• A Celebration of the Spiritual and Gospel Music, a concert program tracing the
development of the Spiritual from its African roots through solo vocal and choral
performances that will culminate in a performance by New York choirs who will join
forces for a joyous celebration of gospel music
• Panel Discussion: The Spiritual and Gospel Music, a wide-ranging conversation
exploring the historical, political, and musical issues associated with Spirituals and
gospel music
Honor! festival events presented at additional New York City venues:
• Sacred Ellington at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a selection of excerpts from
Ellington’s Three Sacred Concerts and featuring Jessye Norman
• Neighborhood concerts throughout New York City
Education and community programs will be an integral part of Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy. In addition to the Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival and neighborhood concerts, both presented this year in conjunction with Honor!, The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall’s Perelman American Roots program provides a curriculum specially created for middle school students focusing throughout the school year on the connections between African American music and US history.
In conjunction with this special festival, Carnegie Hall’s Rose Museum mounts an exhibition that offers visitors the opportunity to explore the fascinating history of African American artists and political and social figures who have appeared at Carnegie Hall throughout its 118-year history.
For updated artist and event information for Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, please visit carnegiehall.org/honor in the coming months.
Perspectives
Featured in the inaugural season of Perspectives in 1999–2000, acclaimed pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim becomes the first artist to be invited for a second time to curate Carnegie Hall’s hallmark concert series, now entering its 10th season. Barenboim is featured in over 15 performances next season, appearing as conductor, soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. As the music director of the Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, in partnership with fellow conductor and close musical colleague Pierre Boulez, leads the orchestra in a complete cycle of Mahler symphonies, performed by the Staatskapelle in ten concerts. The Mahler symphony cycle also features several sets of the composer’s lieder, with soloists Dorothea Röschmann, Michelle DeYoung, Burkhard Fritz, Thomas Hampson, and Thomas Quasthoff. As pianist, Barenboim joins Carnegie Hall’s celebration of composer Elliott Carter’s centenary in two concerts, presenting the New York premiere of Carter’s Interventions with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor James Levine on the evening of the composer’s 100th birthday, and performing later in the season in an all-Carter chamber concert featuring members of the Staatskapelle Berlin. Barenboim and Levine also collaborate at the keyboard, performing works for four hands: Schubert’s Fantasie in F Minor at the Boston Symphony concert, as well as Schubert’s “Grand Duo” Sonata and both sets of Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer on a program by The MET Chamber Ensemble. As part of his Perspectives, Mr. Barenboim conducts Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera and performs a solo piano recital on the Met’s stage—an exceptionally rare event.
Indian classical tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain—who curates a five-event Perspectives—has received countless honors in his illustrious career, including the titles of Padma Bhushan in 2002 and Padma Shri in 1988, given to civilians of merit by the Indian government, becoming the youngest percussionist to be awarded these titles. Hussain is recognized both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon and a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement. His historic collaborations have included such groups as Shakti, Remember Shakti, Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum, Tabla Beat Science, and Sangam, in addition to recordings and performances with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Rennie Harris, and the Kodo drummers of Japan. Hussain’s Perspectives at Carnegie Hall celebrates the scope of his collaborative career. As part of the series, he performs with santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma; his own group Masters of Percussion, featuring percussion virtuosos from around the world; double bass player Edgar Meyer and banjo player Béla Fleck; and an all-star ensemble featuring members of Remember Shakti—ghatam player T.H. “Vikku” Vinayakram, mandolin player U. Shrinivas, kanjira and mridangam player V. Selvaganesh, and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan—along with saxophonist Charles Lloyd and drummer Eric Harland of his jazz trio Sangam. Hussain—a long-time teacher who has been a visiting professor at both Princeton and Stanford universities—extends his mentorship skills at Carnegie Hall, working with young musicians in a Professional Training Workshop presented by The Weill Music Institute.
Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall, 2008–2009 Season
Carnegie Hall has appointed Elliott Carter to its Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair and has planned a season-long celebration of his works in honor of his 100th birthday. Internationally recognized as a legendary American voice in classical music, Carter is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the first composer to receive the United States National Medal of Arts, and one of the few composers to win Germany’s prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. At 99 years of age, he has composed over 130 works, including 30 in the last ten years and nine in 2007. In the new season, Carnegie Hall pays tribute to Mr. Carter–who turns 100 in December–by programming a wide variety of his music, including a number of premieres and commissions, in contexts that illuminate his central role in the music of the last hundred years.
Carnegie Hall’s tribute to Carter launches on his 100th birthday—December 11, 2008—when James Levine leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra and pianist Daniel Barenboim in the New York premiere of his Interventions, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall. The following day, Carter’s chamber works, including the New York premiere of 2004’s Mosaic, are featured in a Making Music program with musical selections interspersed with film interludes by Frank Scheffer. Notable champions of Carter’s music perform special concerts of his work in celebration of the centenary: pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard performs a program entitled Carter in Context, pairing the composer’s formidable solo works for piano with selections from Bach’s The Art of Fugue; Pierre Boulez conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the New York premiere of Carter’s Réflexions on a program that also includes works by Ives and Varèse, two composers much admired by Carter; and Barenboim performs in an all-Carter chamber music program with members of the Staatskapelle Berlin, including the Quintet for Piano and Winds and the Quintet for Piano and Strings. The holders of the Carnegie Hall Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair have been Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1995–1999), Pierre Boulez (1999–2003), John Adams (2003–2007), and Thomas Adès (2007–2008).
Celebrating Hungary
In late January/early February 2009, Carnegie Hall presents a celebration of the music of Hungary, encompassing orchestral, chamber, and folk music. The focus also highlights the music of three leading voices of Hungarian modernism: György Ligeti, Peter Eötvös, and György Kurtág, who makes his first visit to New York, appearing as composer, performer, and educator.
Kurtág’s eight-day New York residency serves as the centerpiece of Carnegie Hall’s Hungarian music celebration, with the composer and his music featured in three events. With his wife Márta, he performs selections from his ongoing work of miniatures for piano, Játékok (“Games”), on a program that also includes the US premiere of his work Hipartita for Solo Violin with soloist Hiromi Kikuchi. Eötvös—himself highly influenced by the music of Kurtág and Ligeti—conducts the UMZE Ensemble and Amadinda Percussion Group of Hungary in a chamber music program featuring the world premiere of the complete version of Kurtág’s Songs to Poems by Anna Akhmatova and Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova paired with Melodien, Cello Concerto, and Sippal, dobbal, nadihegeduvel (With Pipes, Drums, Fiddles), all by Ligeti, Kurtág’s late colleague and friend. During his New York visit, Kurtág also leads, for the first time in the US, one of his renowned workshops for young string quartets, focusing on his own music as well as repertoire by Beethoven and Bartók, as part of Carnegie Hall’s series of Professional Training Workshops presented by The Weill Music Institute.
Eötvös is himself the subject of a Making Music program during the Hungarian music focus, in an evening featuring a discussion with the composer and performances of his works, including a number of US premieres performed by Ensemble ACJW. Launching the celebration, Hungary’s leading classical music exponents, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Music Director Iván Fischer, perform folk-inspired works by Liszt and Brahms, along with traditional Gypsy folk music featuring renowned Hungarian father and son violinists József Lendvay Sr. and József Lendvay Jr, as well as cimbalom player Oszkár Ökrös. Also featured are traditional Gypsy music concerts by violinist Roby Lakatos and vocalist Beáta Palya. The celebration culminates with a performance of the great Austro-Hungarian composer Joseph Haydn’s choral masterwork, The Creation, led by conductor Helmuth Rilling as the concluding concert of the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop.
Celebrating Hungary at Carnegie Hall is part of the citywide 2009 HERE HUNGARY Festival, presented by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture.
The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall
In the new season, the extensive education programs of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall continue to enrich the Hall’s concert programming, providing musical journeys of exploration for audiences, children, families, students, musicians, and festival-goers. During Carnegie Hall’s 2008–2009 festivals—Bernstein and Honor!—The Weill Music Institute implements large-scale education projects for school students, as well as a variety of family, community, and classroom programs.
As part of Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, The Weill Music Institute presents The Bernstein Mass Project, a creative-learning project for New York City middle and high school students, who will be engaged in a variety of initiatives created to explore Bernstein’s Mass beginning in spring 2008. Exploring the work’s themes of faith, doubt, tolerance, and renewal of tradition, students will compose original choral anthems and perform them in a free concert in Zankel Hall. In the Project’s culminating event, hundreds of school children form a massive choir, joining conductor Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a performance of the Mass at the United Palace Theater in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Other WMI programs presented during the Bernstein festival include a Carnegie Hall Family Concert and Discovery Day: Leonard Bernstein, a program exploring several aspects of Bernstein’s life through panel discussions and multimedia presentations. In addition, LinkUP! classroom curriculum for third- to fifth-grade students focuses on American music, including Bernstein’s.
In conjunction with the Jessye Norman festival, Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, The Weill Music Institute presents its annual Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival, in which four high school choirs from across the country, selected by audition, work with choral conductor Craig Jessop on Sir Michael Tippett’s 1941 oratorio A Child of Our Time in preparation for a final performance at Carnegie Hall. One of the most deeply moving and spiritually uplifting contemporary choral works of the 20th century, A Child of Our Time uses the African American Spiritual in much the same way that Bach employed chorales in his great choral compositions. The students also perform excerpts of the work in a concert at the Apollo Theater. Additional activities during Honor! include a series of Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts (artists and locations to be announced) and the Perelman American Roots program for middle school music and social studies students, a specially created yearlong curriculum that focuses on the broad and meaningful connections between the tradition of African American song forms and the history of the United States.
In another highlight of the new season, The Weill Music Institute’s series of Professional Training Workshops, in which some of Carnegie Hall’s renowned visiting artists work closely with select young professional musicians, feature eight sessions this year, led by composer Osvaldo Golijov and soprano Dawn Upshaw; György and Márta Kurtág; tabla player Zakir Hussain; and violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Claude Frank; as well as two annual events: the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop, led this year by conductor Helmuth Rilling, and The Song Continues …, a celebration of the vocal recital presented in partnership with The Marilyn Horne Foundation, celebrating its 15-year anniversary. The Weill Music Institute also launches a workshop for wind and brass players interested in perfecting their orchestral playing skills next season, including one-on-one lessons, ensemble playing, preparation for auditions, and public performances, with guidance from leading players from top professional orchestras. Further details on this new workshop will be announced at a later date.
The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall creates broad-reaching music education programs, playing a central role in the Hall’s commitment to making great music accessible to as many people as possible through creative musical interaction and inspiring lifelong learning. Educational programs are woven into the fabric of the Carnegie Hall concert season, with opportunities for preschoolers to adults, new listeners to emerging professional musicians. The Weill Music Institute annually serves over 115,000 children, students, teachers, parents, young music professionals, and adults in the New York City metropolitan area, across the United States, and around the world.
The Academy
Beginning in the 2008–2009 season, activities of The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—are even further integrated into Carnegie Hall’s regular concert programming. For the first time, concerts by Ensemble ACJW—made up of fellows of The Academy—are presented as part of Carnegie Hall various subscription series, many featuring collaborations with visiting artists. Performance highlights of the Ensemble’s 14 concerts at Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School include programs with conductors Peter Eötvös, Oliver Knussen, Andrew Manze, and Susanna Mälkki. In addition, Ensemble ACJW is featured in its own subscription series, Chamber Sessions IV.
Established in January 2007, The Academy is an innovative two-year fellowship program designed for outstanding US-based post-graduate musicians embarking on their careers. The program, which combines extensive performance opportunities with intensive music education training, seeks to instill in the artist of tomorrow both the highest performance standards and the capacity to give back to the community, inspiring new generations of musicians and music lovers. Central to the program is the partnership with the New York City Department of Education, in which each Academy Fellow is paired with a New York City public school, working with students in their classrooms in collaboration with their music teachers, for an average of 1.5 days per week for 24 weeks. The Academy, currently comprising 34 fellows, completes the second phase of its pilot program in June 2008.
2008–2009 Season Overview
The 2008–2009 Carnegie Hall season of over 200 events includes close to 160 orchestral, chamber, and recital performances; more than 40 pop, jazz, folk, and world music concerts; and a number of additional events presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Included in this season are two festivals celebrating American music—Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, with over 30 events, and Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, with close to 20 events. The season also features 27 world premieres, 6 US premieres, and 20 New York premieres.
Additional 2008–2009 Season Highlights
Commissions and Contemporary Music
Two legendary composers—Elliott Carter and György Kurtág—are in residence at Carnegie Hall during the 2008–2009 season, with Carter holding the Carnegie Hall Composer’s Chair and Kurtág making his first visit to New York during Carnegie Hall’s Hungarian music celebration. In other highlights, seven major works commissioned by Carnegie Hall have their premieres. These are Elliott Carter’s Interventions, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conductor James Levine, and pianist Daniel Barenboim, as well as new works by Thomas Adès for the Emerson String Quartet, David Bruce for the St. Lawrence String Quartet and clarinetist Todd Palmer, Brad Mehldau for mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Nico Muhly for soprano Jessica Rivera, André Previn for The Mutter-Previn-Harrell Trio, and Daniel Bernard Roumain for Imani Winds.
As part of the Osvaldo Golijov/Dawn Upshaw Professional Training Workshop presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, eight young composers will be commissioned by Carnegie Hall, and their new works will be premiered in the Workshop’s culminating concerts. Additionally, three works previously commissioned by Carnegie Hall are featured in encore performances: Elliott Carter’s Intermittences from 2005 by pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Carter’s In the Distances of Sleep from 2006 by The MET Chamber Ensemble, and David Bruce’s Piosenki from 2007 by soprano Dawn Upshaw and Ensemble ACJW. Carnegie Hall has also co-commissioned cellist Maya Beiser’s new full-length concert program, Provenance, which is inspired by Spain’s Golden Age when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together peaceably over centuries and includes music by composers working in various Middle Eastern traditions, with a number of premieres.
Other world premieres next season include a new work by Charles Wuorinen for The MET Orchestra and pianist Peter Serkin; and André Previn’s Concerto for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and violist Yuri Bashmet. And in its annual “Orchestra Underground” series, the American Composers Orchestra performs 12 premieres from a wide variety of composers.
The 45th anniversary of Terry Riley’s revolutionary piece In C is celebrated at Carnegie Hall by the Kronos Quartet, which will invite more than two dozen favorite collaborators to join this one-time-only all-star ensemble to perform the seminal work for the first time ever in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Kronos Quartet performs another contemporary music program of note, offering the New York premiere of Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche’s Anomaly with Kotche as featured percussionist.
Carnegie Hall’s Making Music series of conversations with composers and performances of their works includes programs devoted to George Crumb, Elliott Carter, and Peter Eötvös next year.
Orchestras
Carnegie Hall presents performances by 12 American orchestras and 9 international orchestras during the 2008–2009 season. Among the highlights: In addition to an Opening Night program that launches the Bernstein festival, the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas appear in two subsequent concerts, closing its series with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra appears four times in the new season, twice under Conductor Laureate Pierre Boulez in a wide array of 20th-century masterworks from Stravinsky to Ives, and twice under Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink in the monumental Bruckner Eighth and Schubert Ninth Symphonies. The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst perform the New York premiere of George Benjamin’s Piano Concerto with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with soprano Measha Brueggergosman as part of its three-concert series.
Carnegie Hall celebrates the 80th birthday of conductor-pianist-composer André Previn this season. Previn leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in Strauss’s Symphonia domestica and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 from the keyboard, as well as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a program of his own works, including the world premiere of a concerto for violin and viola for Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yuri Bashmet and arias from A Streetcar Named Desire with soprano Renée Fleming. In addition, Carnegie Hall has commissioned a new work from Previn, a piano trio that has its world premiere by The Mutter-Previn-Harrell Trio on a chamber music program in the spring.
The Philadelphia Orchestra appears three more times in the new season, twice under Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit in works ranging from the first piano concertos of Prokofiev and Shostakovich with soloist Martha Argerich to Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” and the New York premiere of George Walker’s Violin Concerto as part of the Jessye Norman-curated festival Honor!. Sir Simon Rattle also leads the orchestra in Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust with soloists Magdalena Kožená, Giuseppe Sabbatini, and Thomas Quasthoff. In addition to the Previn program, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s offers a concert version of Osvaldo Golijov’s opera Ainadamar conducted by Robert Spano with vocalists Dawn Upshaw, Kelley O’Connor, and Emily Albrink, and an all-Mozart concert led by Roberto Abbado.
In addition to the premiere of Elliott Carter’s Interventions with pianist Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director James Levine give the New York premieres of new works by Leon Kirchner and Gunther Schuller, and perform Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Maurizio Pollini and Mozart arias with Barbara Frittoli over three concerts. Levine also leads the annual three-concert series by The MET Orchestra with soloists including violinist Christian Tetzlaff, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and pianists Peter Serkin and Lang Lang.
The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta makes its annual three-concert visit, with highlights such as Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in three programs featuring new works by Jörg Widmann and Rodion Shchedrin, in addition to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 with Emanuel Ax and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Julia Fischer, among other works.
David Robertson leads the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in two programs, including the New York premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Mirage with soprano Karita Mattila and cellist Anssi Karttunen in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, and, in Zankel Hall, HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! and Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat. And, in addition to marking the 65th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s historic Philharmonic debut with a program led by Music Director Designate Alan Gilbert, the New York Philharmonic returns with two programs led by Lorin Maazel in his final season as Music Director.
Chamber Music
A number of exceptional chamber music collaborations take place at Carnegie Hall during the new season. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, renowned as a soloist throughout the world, brings his quartet, the Tetzlaff Quartet, which features his sister, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, violinist Elisabeth Kufferath, and violist Hanna Weinmeister to Zankel Hall. Violinist Gil Shaham collaborates on two all-Brahms programs with such artists as cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianists Akira Eguchi and Orli Shaham. And flutist Emmanuel Pahud performs Bach and other Baroque music with harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock and cellist Jonathan Manson.
Carnegie Hall continues to present the finest period-instrument ensembles in concerts in Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall. In 2008–2009, these include performances by mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux with members of the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Les Talens Lyriques (with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato), Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, The English Concert (with countertenor David Daniels), Quatuor Mosaïques, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
The MET Chamber Ensemble and Artistic Director James Levine are featured in three programs performing music by Schumann, Brahms, Carter, and Dallapiccola with members of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Other chamber music highlights include pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma collaborating in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, and the Brentano String Quartet in a program uniting music and poetry, performing Lee Hyla’s Howl based on the Allen Ginsberg poem and Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ with a newly commissioned poem by Mark Strand.
Recitals
Vocal recital highlights of Carnegie Hall’s 2008–2009 season include the New York recital debut of bass René Pape in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage; mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli with the Orchestra La Scintilla of Zürich Opera; mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter in recital with pianists Bengt Forsberg and Brad Mehldau in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, as well as in a program of recital and chamber repertoire by composers who were imprisoned at Terezín during World War II, with violinist Daniel Hope, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, and pianist Bengt Forsberg in Zankel Hall; soprano Dawn Upshaw performing with members of Ensemble ACJW; and soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, who focuses on works by Gomidas Vartabed in a program celebrating her Armenian heritage with members of the Armenian Philharmonic. Additional recitalists include sopranos Danielle de Niese (New York recital debut), Soile Isokoski, and Jessica Rivera; mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager; tenors Ian Bostridge and Paul Groves; baritone Andrew Garland; and bass Eric Owens (New York recital debut).
A particular highlight of the new season’s recitals is the conclusion of pianist András Schiff’s two-year Beethoven sonata cycle, which he began in 2007–2008. Other instrumental recitals in the new season offer a variety of noteworthy collaborations: pianist Leon Fleisher appears with close friends and fellow pianists Yefim Bronfman, Jonathan Biss, and Katherine Jacobson; Bronfman performs four-hand repertoire with Emanuel Ax; violinists Viktoria Mullova and Giuliano Carmignola offer duo works from Vivaldi to Prokofiev; and violinist Christian Tetzlaff gives a recital with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. For the first time, Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debuts series features only artists chosen expressly by Carnegie Hall to make their New York recital debuts, including horn player Jennifer Montone (principal horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra), violinist Veronika Eberle, and pianist Llŷr Williams. Other recitals are given by cellist Alisa Weilerstein; guitarist John Williams; and pianists Piotr Anderszewski, Jonathan Biss, Jeremy Denk, Richard Goode, Stephen Hough, Evgeny Kissin, Yundi Li, Maurizio Pollini, Mitsuko Uchida, and Krystian Zimerman.
World Music, Jazz, and Pop
In addition to concerts associated with Zakir Hussain’s Perspectives series and the Hungarian music celebration, Carnegie Hall presents a wide array of artists performing music from around the world during the 2008–2009 season. Highlights in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage include concerts by Afro-Peruvian singer Eva Ayllón and Spanish flamenco singer Estrella Morente, as well as a special Klezmer All-Star Bash featuring David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness!, The Klezmatics, Brave Old World, Mikveh, and other guest artists to be announced. A new series, Women of Note, in Zankel Hall, features Cape Verdean singer Lura, Afropop superstar Angelique Kidjo, and Mexican chanteuse Lila Downs. Carnegie Hall also continues its World Views series in partnership with the World Music Institute, with artists including Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Corsican folk vocal music group I Muvrini, and Argentine chamamé musician and accordionist Chango Spasiuk.
Carnegie Hall continues its Shape of Jazz series in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment with a trio of concerts from the Bill Charlap Trio, guitarist John Scofield, and vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Among pop music highlights of the new season, mandolin player Chris Thile performs with bassist Edgar Meyer and violinist Mark O’Connor; The New York Pops performs a wide variety of music in five programs; and the City Folk® Live at Zankel series, curated by WFUV Music Director Rita Houston and Carnegie Hall, returns for a fourth season (artists are to be announced) celebrating the art of singer-songwriters and the eclectic nature of modern folk music.
Carnegie Hall Partnerships
The following organizations are artistic partners during the 2008–2009 season: Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC, Apollo Theater, The Bard College Conservatory of Music, The Festival Network, Flamenco Festival, Hungarian Culture Center New York, The Jewish Museum, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Lucerne Festival, The Marilyn Horne Foundation, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Center, New York City Department of Education, New York Philharmonic, The Paley Center for Media, WFUV, and the World Music Institute.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
For complete concert information for the 2008–2009 season, please visit carnegiehall.org.
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