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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2001

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC NAMES MAESTRO LORIN MAAZEL MUSIC DIRECTOR
Contract with Initial Term of Four Years to Begin with 2002-2003 Season

New York, NY - Paul B. Guenther, Chairman of the Board, today announced that internationally acclaimed American conductor Lorin Maazel has agreed to accept the music directorship of the New York Philharmonic. Maestro Maazel, currently the Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich, has agreed initially to a four-year contract with the Philharmonic beginning with the Orchestra's 161st season, 2002-2003. He will conduct the Philharmonic in 10 subscription weeks the first year, and 14 subscription weeks each year thereafter. Additionally, he will lead the Orchestra on national and international tours. Details of the agreement will be finalized at a later date.

As the Philharmonic's 24th Music Director, Mr. Maazel will succeed Kurt Masur, whose tenure began in 1991 and culminates with the 2001-2002 season. At the pinnacle of his career, Maestro Maazel will bring his versatile artistry and vast musical knowledge to the Orchestra and to the repertoire. His commitment to enhancing and nurturing music in America will continue the Philharmonic's long tradition as a leader on both the American and international scenes.

In making today's announcement, Paul Guenther stated, "We at the New York Philharmonic-the Board, Orchestra, and Staff-are delighted that Maestro Maazel will become our next Music Director. Under his artistic leadership, we look forward to a vibrant and adventurous collaboration, linking the future to our Orchestra's long and majestic history. We are very grateful to the search committee, headed by Board member William McDonough, for its guidance."

Welcoming Maestro Maazel to the New York Philharmonic, Executive Director Zarin Mehta said, "The New York Philharmonic is America's first orchestra, so I consider it a coup that we were able to convince this great American conductor to accept the music directorship. Lorin Maazel has played an integral role in the musical life of America and has been a part of the Philharmonic family since the beginning of his career. His singular combination of history, experience, and talent is the ideal equation for a great musical adventure."

Maestro Maazel, speaking from Europe, said, "The challenge to the music director of a major orchestra today is to help nurture the tradition of classical music, old and new, through high standards of performance and innovative approaches to its presentation. I am honored that my colleagues of the New York Philharmonic, the Board of Directors, and Executive Director Zarin Mehta have asked me to meet this challenge. The Orchestra is superb, second to none, and New York is truly the World's capital. I shall joyfully devote my energies to this music directorship, which allows me to be part of the Philharmonic's future in a city that I love. Thank you esteemed Colleagues, thank you Messrs. Guenther, McDonough, and Mehta, and the Board of Directors."

Lorin Maazel has conducted most of the world's major orchestras during the course of a prolific career that spans more than six decades to date. He made his subscription debut with the Philharmonic in December 1962, and has subsequently led the New York Philharmonic more than 100 times. Mr. Maazel most recently appeared with the Orchestra for a two-week residency in November 2000, part of a worldwide celebration of his 70th birthday. He first conducted the Orchestra as a child prodigy in the 1940s at a summertime concert at New York's Lewisohn Stadium.

Mr. Maazel has released more than 250 recordings, including complete symphonic cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky, as well as extensive operatic repertoire, but he is also an ardent champion of new works by major contemporary composers, and he holds two ASCAP awards for his programming of American music. During his tenure as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988-1996), Mr. Maazel regularly promoted the music of American composers, including the programming of one American work on each program during a year-long American music festival. Recently, Mr. Maazel joined with philanthropist Alberto Vilar to create the Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition Foundation, an international competition and training program to help develop a new generation of outstanding young conductors.

Philharmonic violinist Fiona Simon, Chairperson of the Orchestra Committee, commented, "In Lorin Maazel we have found a leader who has achieved outstanding musicianship and international acclaim in the great tradition of Music Directors of the New York Philharmonic. The Orchestra is most enthusiastic about working with Maestro Maazel, and we look forward to continuing the exciting musical partnership that began with his recent appearances with the Orchestra in November."

* * *

Lorin Maazel, one of the world's most distinguished conductors, has conducted more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances in the last half-century, appearing regularly at prestigious concert halls and opera houses around the world. He has held the following positions: Artistic Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965-1971), Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra (1972-1982), General Manager of the Vienna State Opera (1982-1984), and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony (1988-1996). He is currently Music Director of the elite Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (through 2002).

A second generation American born in 1930 in Paris, France, Mr. Maazel took his first violin and conducting lessons at the age of five. He studied with Vladimir Bakaleinikoff and appeared publicly for the first time at age eight, conducting a university orchestra. Between ages nine and 15, he conducted most of the major American orchestras. At age 23, he re-appeared on the musical scene as a young Fulbright scholar, stepping in for an ailing conductor at the Massimo Bellini Theatre in Catania, Italy. He quickly established himself as a major artist, appearing at Bayreuth in 1960 (the first American to do so), with the Boston Symphony in 1961, and in Salzburg in 1963.

Mr. Maazel is familiar to general audiences from his appearances as conductor of 10 of the last 18 New Year's concerts from Vienna (his most recent, on January 1, 1999, was seen by more than a billion television viewers). He has appeared regularly at the Salzburg Summer Festival, leading a new opera production each year, and in 2001, he will celebrate his 100th appearance at the festival. Mr. Maazel is also an accomplished composer. A symphony commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic was given its world premiere on February 27, 2000. The world premiere of his next work, an opera based on George Orwell's 1984, is scheduled for 2005. A recording devoted entirely to his compositions and featuring James Galway, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Maestro, both as violinist and conductor, was released in 1998.

Mr. Maazel has given over 30 concerts, mostly televised, for the benefit of various humanitarian organizations including the World Wide Fund for Nature, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNHCR, Red Cross, the Beethoven Fund for Deaf Children, the Rostropovich-Vishevakaja-Foundation, the Itzhak Perlman Music School, and the José-Carreras-Leukemia Foundation. The governments of France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Sweden have all awarded Mr. Maazel their highest honors.

During the year 2000, "Maazel at Seventy," a worldwide tour, was organized in celebration of the Maestro's 70th birthday, with special concerts, events, first performances, and gala benefits in many major capitals of the world.

* * * NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC HISTORY

On February 18, 1999, the New York Philharmonic, by far the oldest orchestra in America and one of the oldest in the world, performed its 13,000th concert-a milestone unmatched by any other orchestra. Under the influence of its celebrated music directors-among them Damrosch, Thomas, Mahler, Toscanini, Walter, Bernstein, Boulez, Mehta, and Masur-the Philharmonic has played a leading role in American musical life and has maintained a tradition of musical excellence since its founding in 1842. In the 20th century, the New York Philharmonic's remarkable achievements in radio, television, and other media have helped shape communications history. In 1922 it became one of the first orchestras to broadcast a live radio concert, and the live coast-to-coast broadcast of 1930 was the first of its kind. Today, the Philharmonic is the only American symphony orchestra to be broadcast live on a national and regular basis. In 1997, on the diamond jubilee of the first Philharmonic radio broadcast, the Orchestra unveiled a set of expertly remastered historic recordings spanning six decades of its live broadcasts. Since then, the Philharmonic has released additional CDs documenting its recordings of Mahler, American music, never-before-released Bernstein performances, and the Orchestra's May 2000 concert performances of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd-all to critical acclaim. Each year, the Philharmonic performs approximately 170 concerts for live audiences of nearly one million and appears on the Live From Lincoln Center television broadcasts, which are seen by combined audiences of more than 15 million.

* * * TENURES OF PREVIOUS MUSIC DIRECTORS OF THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC* Ureli Corelli Hill Theodore Eisfeld Carl Bergmann Leopold Damrosch Theodore Thomas Anton Seidl Emil Paur Walter Damrosch Wassily Safonoff Gustav Mahler Josef Stransky Willem Mengelberg Arturo Toscanini John Barbirolli Artur Rodzinski Bruno Walter Leopold Stokowski Dimitri Mitropoulos Leonard Bernstein Laureate Conductor George Szell Pierre Boulez Zubin Mehta Kurt Masur *In some years there was no designee for this position 1842-1847 1848-1865 1855-1876 1876-1877 1877-1891 1891-1898 1898-1902 1902-1903 1906-1909 1909-1911 1911-1923 1922-1930 1928-1936 1936-1941 1943-1947 1947-1949 1949-1950 1949-1958 1958-1969 1943-1990 1969-1970 1971-1977 1978-1991 1991-present

Source: New York Philharmonic

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