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The
Philadelphia Orchestra
Academy of Music at Broad and Locust Streets
260 South Broad Street, 16th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19102
TEL: (215) 893-1900 Philacharge: (215) 893-1999 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
DATE: January 29, 2001
News
Release
Philadelphia Orchestra’s inaugural season in new home at Kimmel
Center announced for 2001- 02
102nd Season will witness Orchestra’s final subscription concerts in the
historic Academy of Music, followed by the opening of Philadelphia’s new state-of-the-art
concert facility; Music Director Sawallisch leads 13 weekends of concerts, including
mid-December opening of Kimmel Center; other highlights
include the return of Sir Simon Rattle to lead three-week Vienna Festival in
Verizon Hall, all five Beethoven Piano Concertos with Murray Perahia, and premiere
performances of six new commissions
(Philadelphia,
Monday, January 29, 2001) – Fulfilling the dream of generations of music lovers,
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2001-2002 Season announced today features
the grand opening of a brand-new state-of-the-art home for the world-renowned
ensemble. The 30-week subscription season features 7 programs in the historic
Academy of Music, where the Orchestra has performed since its founding
in 1900, followed in December by the grand opening of the $255 million Kimmel
Center for the Performing Arts. The season is the ninth under Music Director
Wolfgang Sawallisch, who announced the complete schedule of musical programs
at a news conference this morning hosted by Richard L. Smoot (Board Chairman)
with Joseph H. Kluger (Orchestra President) and Simon Woods (Director of Artistic
Planning and Operations). The season, entitled “A New Century, A New Home,”
begins with the traditional Opening Night Gala on September 19, 2001,
and continues through June 15, 2002. In addition to the Kimmel Center Inaugural
Weekend December 14-16, the season also includes seven presentations at
Carnegie Hall and, in the fall, a three-week cross-country tour during which
the Orchestra will perform 12 concerts in 9 states, from Ohio to California.
The
2001-02 Season features Music Director Sawallisch leading the Orchestra in 12
weeks of subscription concerts, including an in-concert presentation of Béla
Bartók’s dark and dramatic opera Bluebeard’s Castle in November (sung
in Hungarian with projected English supertitles), a two-week cycle of Beethoven’s
five Piano Concertos at the Kimmel Center in January (featuring guest soloist
Murray Perahia), and performances of Verdi’s Requiem in May.
In
February 2002, Christoph Eschenbach will lead his first concerts with The Philadelphia
Orchestra since becoming Music Director Designate. Following his appointment
at the beginning of 2001 as the next music director, Mr. Eschenbach and the
Orchestra have reviewed and adjusted their calendars to make possible his appearance
for one week during the 2001-02 season. He will become Music Director with the
2003-04 season, following a ten-year tenure by Mr. Sawallisch. For his program
next year, Eschenbach has chosen two “American” symphonies written a century
apart, coupling Christopher Rouse’s Second Symphony (premiered under Eschenbach’s
direction in Houston in 1995) with Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”).
Other
season highlights include the return of acclaimed guest conductor Sir Simon
Rattle to lead the Orchestra in a three-week Vienna Festival during March 2002
in a series of programs juxtaposing seminal masterworks from differing periods
and schools of Viennese musical creativity. The season also features the world
premieres of four brand-new works and the first performances of a much-anticipated
orchestral version of Steve Reich’s cult classic Different Trains (created
in 1988 for the Kronos String Quartet and featuring spoken text played from
recorded audio-tape).
Among
artist debuts, 2001-02 includes the inaugural appearances of the Philadelphia
Singers Chorale as the Resident Chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra, singing
in the Gala Inaugural Concert at the Kimmel Center on December 15, 2001, as
well as in performances of the Verdi Requiem and the United States premiere
of James MacMillan’s Quickening.
A
New Century – A New Home
“The
2001-02 Season represents an historic milestone for The Philadelphia Orchestra,”
commented Orchestra President Joseph H. Kluger. “Moving to our new home at the
Kimmel Center launches us into our second century as one of the world’s great
orchestras. Our thanks and gratitude go to everyone who has helped design, build,
and pay for this spectacular new landmark. The opening of the Kimmel Center
is something every Philadelphian can be proud of. And we look forward to welcoming
the entire community into our new home as we continue to provide Philadelphia
with great symphonic music – played movingly and expertly by one of the world’s
greatest symphony orchestras.”
The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2001-02 Season includes 30 weeks of subscription concerts,
7 in the Academy of Music, where it has played for the past one-hundred years,
and 23 in its new home at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
Programming
for the Orchestra’s 2001-02 Season has been chosen to highlight the ensemble’s
traditions of excellence and innovation, and to showcase the vibrant new acoustics
of Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center. A wide variety of works will be performed,
ranging from intimate musical settings for small chamber-like ensembles to compositions
written for massed forces of large orchestra, chorus, and soloists. The subscription
season includes 75 works by 46 composers, representing more than two centuries
of musical creativity. More than three dozen guest soloists and conductors will
appear onstage with the 106-members of The Philadelphia Orchestra, in addition
to the voices of the Philadelphia Singers Chorale and the American Boychoir.
Music
Director Wolfgang Sawallisch leads a dozen subscription weeks of The
Phildelphia Orchestra’s 2001-02 Season, plus a three-week cross-country tour
in October and Kimmel Center Inaugural Weekend performances on December
14 and 15, 2001. He will also conduct the Orchestra’s annual New Year’s Eve
Concert on December 31, as the ensemble takes up permanent residence in Kimmel
Center’s 2500-seat Verizon Hall.
Having
celebrated its first century in grand style through special concert presentations,
tours, publications, and broadcasts in the year 2000, The Philadelphia Orchestra
begins its second century with the opening of a state-of-the art concert hall
designed specifically for its unique musical artistry. The Kimmel Center
is the culmination of efforts in the closing decades of the 20th century
to build a suitable new home for The Philadelphia Orchestra. As planning and
fundraising for the project moved ahead, its scope was expanded through the
leadership of Edward G. Rendell (mayor of Philadelphia, 1992-99) and other community
leaders to create a larger facility that could best serve the Orchestra’s needs
while also providing new opportunities for a broad cross-section of the Philadelphia
region’s performing arts community. With economic development grants from the
state of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, a special zone was created
along Broad Street nicknamed the “Avenue of the Arts.” The Kimmel Center will
stand as one of the Avenue’s major anchors, with its barrel-vaulted glass roof
enclosing the new 2500-seat Verizon Hall for the Orchestra and the 650-seat
Perelman Theater (a multi-purpose performing space for the Orchestra’s chamber
music concerts and for dance and theatrical presentations). In addition, the
Center houses a smaller black-box theater, a restaurant and refreshment bars,
a performing arts gift shop, and a new education center. The block-long building
was named in June 2000 to honor Sidney Kimmel, the most generous individual
donor to the project. Kimmel has served on the Board of Directors of The Philadelphia
Orchestra since 1995.
Autumn
2001: The Spirit of the Academy
The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2001-02 Season begins on Wednesday, September 19, 2001,
with the traditional Opening Night Gala & Concert. Immediately afterward,
the Orchestra and Music Director Sawallisch depart on a three-week cross-country
tour, playing 12 concerts in 9 states and appearing from Kalamazoo, Michigan
to Seattle, Washington. (Complete details and itinerary for the tour will be
announced later this spring.)
Following
the tour, the subscription season begins at home with the Orchestra’s final
seven weeks in the Academy of Music. Programming for these concerts has been
chosen to celebrate the Academy – its rich musical history, its future as Philadelphia’s
premier opera house, and its leading role in the Orchestra’s first century of
innovation and excellence. Favorite guest artists such as violinist Pamela Frank
and conductor David Zinman are featured, along with programs that include the
debuts of new works or artists, as well as encore performances of compositions
by composers long associated with the Academy.
Debut
artists with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy include Swedish soprano
Camilla Tilling singing her first concerts in the United States, guest conductor
Sir Roger Norrington, and Curtis-trained pianist Lang Lang, who will be 19 years
old for his debut in early December 2001.
Two
premieres will be presented at the Academy. Guest conductor David Robertson
leads the world premiere performances October 25-27 of a new orchestral version
of Different Trains by Steve Reich (b. 1936), originally created for
string quartet. Different Trains is a unique musical format that features
recorded audiotape manipulated and scored by the composer against musicians
playing live onstage. The audiotape consists of spoken phrases relating to train
journeys from the 1930s and ’40s, telling about trips of Reich’s childhood in
this country and relating experiences of prisoners bound for concentration camps
in Nazi Germany. For the Philadelphia performances, Reich has re-scored the
entire work for string orchestra; plans also call for projected supertitles
of the spoken text.
On
November 15-20, guest conductor David Zinman leads the second premiere of the
fall, overseeing the world premiere of Philadelphia Stories by American
composer Michael Daugherty (b. 1954). This new work is one of four Philadelphia
Orchestra Centennial Commissions being presented during the 2001-02 season.
In Philadelphia Stories, Daugherty is creating a dynamic musical portrait
of the people and urban landscapes of the Orchestra’s hometown. Other recent
works by Daugherty have included MotorCity Triptych for the Detroit Symphony
and Metropolis Symphony, a depiction of the Superman story premiered
by the Baltimore Symphony.
Many
of the works during the Orchestra’s final weeks at the Academy of Music in the
fall of 2001 are by composers long associated with the Academy. Musical selections
include works by Bartók, Copland, Mahler, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns,
Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky – all of whom performed at the Academy as soloist
or conductor. In addition, other Academy-related works will be featured, such
as music from Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, which was given its United States
debut at the Academy in 1876. Seven of Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies were
given their United States premieres by The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy
of Music, and his Symphony No. 11 (“The Year 1905”) is featured November 8-13
with guest conductor Yakov Kreizberg.
In
a rare return to his operatic roots, Music Director Sawallisch will lead concert
performances November 29-December 1 of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, a
fantastical and grim opera exploring issues of human love and madness, curiosity
versus trust, salvation and damnation. The two-person opera, premiered in 1918,
is a richly layered tour de force of psychological intensity. Bass-baritone
Kolos Kovats, long famous as Bluebeard, brings his interpretive powers to Philadelphia,
while mezzo-soprano Petra Lang portrays his wife Judith. The opera will be encored
on Tuesday, December 4, in the Orchestra’s first of six concerts at Carnegie
Hall during the 2001-02 season.
December
2001: Kimmel Center Opens as Philadelphia Orchestra’s New Home
In
December, the eyes and ears of the musical world turn to Philadelphia to witness
grand opening festivities for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts as the
new home of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The center’s Inaugural Weekend features
two gala evenings, on Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15, followed by official
ribbon-cutting ceremonies and a Public Open House on Sunday, December 16. The
Friday night program opens with a Philadelphia Orchestra performance of Aaron
Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man in a concert presenting a gala potpourri
of musical genres and renowned artists.
The
Orchestra takes center stage for its Inaugural Concert on Saturday night, December
15, in a program that includes the world premiere of Color Wheel by Pulitzer
Prize-winning American composer Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960) and a superstar performance
of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto featuring pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Itzhak
Perlman, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The evening concludes with Ravel’s Suite No.
2 to Daphnis and Chloé, featuring the Philadelphia Singers Chorale (prepared
by music director David Hayes) in their first appearance as Resident Chorus
of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
The
gala concerts of Inaugural Weekend are special, non-subscription events designed
to highlight Kimmel’s opening and promote its future as the Orchestra’s new
home. Complete ticket and gala information will be announced later this year;
corporations or individuals wishing to be placed on the mailing list for invitations
can call 215.790.5810.
Kimmel
Center 2002: Sound Promise of the New
Nearly
six months of concerts, from January to June 2002, follow the Inaugural Opening
of the Kimmel Center as the Home of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Programming
throughout this period has been created to give both the Orchestra and its audience
a wide-ranging introduction to the acoustics of the Center’s main concert hall.
Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly and acoustician Russell Johnson, Verizon
Hall in the Kimmel Center represents both the completion of a long held dream
(of building a suitable concert hall for The Philadelphia Orchestra) and the
culmination of advancing knowledge and success with acoustics throughout the
past century. The hall’s 2500-seat size is augmented with adjustable reverberation
chambers along its sides; its interior intimacy is thus coupled with both the
desired acoustical warmth of a larger hall and the built-in capability of fine-tuning
the hall’s final sound. Johnson’s unparalleled record of excellent acoustics
in new concert halls over the past twenty years assures Philadelphia of a world-class
concert hall worthy of the Orchestra for which it was created.
After
the Inaugural Weekend December 14-16, The Philadelphia Orchestra takes up permanent
residence in the Kimmel Center on New Year’s Eve, Monday, December 31. Wolfgang
Sawallisch leads this special annual event concert dedicated to the rebirth
and renewal of the yearly calendar. The first subscription concerts begin later
that week, with a program January 3-8 featuring encore performances of Kernis’s
Color Wheel, written especially for the Orchestra’s new home.
From
January 11- 19, Sawallisch and guest pianist Murray Perahia present a complete
cycle of Beethoven’s Five Piano Concertos. The two-week festival marks
only the third time The Philadelphia Orchestra has presented all five concertos
in a single season; both previous occasions were with Eugene Ormandy and pianist
Rudolf Serkin, who presented the cycle over several months during the 1964-65
season (including performances at Carnegie Hall) and again in 1976-77. Beethoven’s
concertos hold a special place in classical music’s evolution and development.
Written between 1790 and 1810, they range from the perfected 18th-century youthfulness
of the First and Second Concertos to the expansive and groundbreaking 19th-century
musical landscapes of the Fourth and Fifth. As such, the complete cycle will
afford a unique opportunity to experience this music and its effect within the
new acoustics of Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall.
Other
highlights of programming during the first months in the Orchestra’s new home
include a solo concert appearance by principal violist Roberto Díaz, the return
of Glière’s epic Symphony No. 3 (a favorite large-orchestra work of Leopold
Stokowski’s, depicting the life and exploits of Russian folk-hero Ilya Murometz),
and performances of such Philadelphia Orchestra signature pieces as Sibelius’s
Second Symphony, Dvorák’s Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9, and Brahms’s First Symphony.
Sir
Simon Rattle returns to Philadelphia in March for a three-week Vienna Festival.
This special series of programs offers works from across nearly three centuries.
The selections and their composers represent a complex unity of musical lineage
within an extraordinary range of creative diversity. Rattle has been a frequent
and welcome guest with The Philadelphia Orchestra over the past decade, and
this concentrated look at Viennese music will further acquaint both the audience
and the musicians onstage with the acoustics of Philadelphia’s new hall. The
concerts include works from Vienna’s Classic period as Europe’s musical capital
(when Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert all worked in the city), pieces
from the later “Second Viennese School” of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, as
well as the most traditional representation of musical Vienna (a waltz by Johann
Strauss Jr.) and a post-modern work by H. K. Gruber entitled Frankenstein!!
Gruber (b. 1943) will appear in his own work, premiered in 1978, reading the
texts of a group of ironic and somewhat outrageous German poems by H. C. Artmann.
Also
leading the Orchestra in three weeks of concerts will be guest conductor Roberto
Abbado, appearing for two weeks in February and returning for a single week
in April. Charles Dutoit, who is the Artistic Director of the Orchestra’s annual
summer residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, performs a concert
program with guest pianist Martha Argerich April 4-6.
The
season’s third Philadelphia Orchestra Centennial Commission makes its North
American debut in April, when Sir Andrew Davis conducts Quickening by
James MacMillan (b. 1959). This new work was jointly commissioned with the BBC
Proms and given its world premiere at the 1999 London Proms under Davis’s direction.
Quickening is a large-scale choral work in four movements. Its composition
includes texts from poems by Michael Symmons-Roberts (b. 1963), who took inspiration
from the biblical verb “to quicken” (the raising of a spirit to life). Among
special features of Quickening is utilization of the early music vocal
group The Hilliard Ensemble, who sang in the premiere in 1999 and who make their
Philadelphia debuts with its United States premiere in April 2002. (As part
of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 100th Anniversary celebrations surrounding the
year 2000, eight composers were engaged to write Centennial Commissions; two
of the resulting works were featured during the Orchestra’s 1999-2000 season,
two more during 2000-01, and the final four in 2001-02. Funding for this series
of new works has been generously underwritten by several foundations and individuals,
including the Philadelphia Music Project, Koussevitzky Foundation, and the National
Endowment for the Arts.)
Wolfgang
Sawallisch returns to the podium for the final six weeks of the 2001-02 Season,
presenting a range of programs featuring music both familiar and new. The concerts
include solo appearances by guest pianists Emanuel Ax and Maurizio Pollini,
and by the Orchestra’s principal flutist, Jeffrey Khaner. Other highlights include
Verdi’s Requiem Mass. The Requiem, musically cast by the composer
somewhere between one of his operas and a more traditional sacred service, remains
among classical music’s most moving and dramatic settings of the Latin text
for the Mass for the Dead. Verdi’s Requiem was first performed
by The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1920 and has appeared on programs at regular
intervals since that time – including a performance in 1964 at the New York
World’s Fair that coincided with a commercial recording of the work that is
today considered a classic of the LP era and still widely-praised.
The
2001-02 season culminates the weekend of June 12-15 with two special events.
The Philadelphia Orchestra hosts the annual conference of the American Symphony
Orchestra League (ASOL) that week, showcasing the Orchestra’s new home
at the Kimmel Center. ASOL is the national service and advocacy organization
for symphony orchestras in the United States, serving more than 1,500 professional,
semi-professional, and amateur symphonic ensembles nationally. The annual conference
brings nearly 3,000 administrators, volunteers, and musicians together from
throughout the country to discuss current news and future trends in the classical
music industry.
As
part of the 2002 ASOL Conference, a special concert will feature the world premiere
of the season’s fourth and final Philadelphia Orchestra Centennial Commission.
This new Concerto for Orchestra, written by Philadelphia composer Jennifer
Higdon (b. 1962) will be played for the Conference on June 12, with encore performances
at subscription concerts to close the season June 13-15. Higdon, whose work
Blue Cathedral was featured at the 75th Anniversary concert of the Curtis
Institute of Music last year, intends her new orchestral concerto to
be “a music portrait of the
musicians of The Philadelphia
Orchestra.” The final program of the 2001-02 Season also includes Richard Strauss’s
grand tone poem A Hero’s Life (Ein Heldenleben), in which concertmaster
David Kim portrays the work’s hero through musical artistry.
Subscriptions and Tickets
Complete
season details and renewal reservation forms are being mailed to all Philadelphia
Orchestra subscribers during the month of February. The Orchestra’s Patron Services
department has pre-assigned seating in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for
every subscriber based on a complex variety of criteria, including current seat
location in the Academy of Music, subscription tenure, and history of contribution
and support. Subscribers have the option of accepting these personalized seating
recommendations, or requesting a change in their Kimmel location.
“We
know that seat assignments in the Kimmel Center are very important to each and
every one of our subscribers,” explains Edward Cambron, Director of Marketing
and Patron Services. “Our Patron Service representatives have spent hundreds
of hours in the past two months carefully selecting seat recommendations for
all 13,000 of the Orchestra’s subscribers. The seating challenges of the Academy
have been eliminated with the new hall – there’s plenty of legroom, there are
no columns obstructing views, everyone is closer to the stage, the seats themselves
are bigger and more comfortable, the hall is created on a more intimate scale.
We can’t know every one of our subscribers perfectly, but we believe that almost
everyone will be pleased with their suggested new seating. The renewal process
can be as simple as checking a box and returning the reservation form to us.
Re-seating subscribers into a new hall has been completed very successfully
in other cities, and I am confident that we are doing it in the best possible
way here to satisfy all our loyal patrons.”
The
configuration of seating at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center is noticeably
different from the operahouse-style at the Academy of Music. Although a similar
number of tiers or levels surrounds the main floor seating, each balcony contains
fewer rows of seats, keeping every seat closer to the stage. In addition, each
tier extends partially around behind the stage, affording Philadelphia audiences
new vantage points to observe the Orchestra’s musicians and conductor in concert.
Coupled with unobstructed views and modern-style legroom, the seating plan offers
more options than are currently available at the Academy. The pricing of seats
for The Philadelphia Orchestra’s concerts at the Kimmel Center reflect these
expanded options, with more categories throughout the pricing range. Individual
ticket prices for Orchestra concerts at the Academy this year range from $17
to $94; prices at Verizon Hall a year from now will range from $10 to $110,
increasing the highest price for the very best seats while also making individual
tickets available at prices lower than are currently on-sale. Overall, more
seats have been moved toward mid-price levels in an effort to more closely balance
audience preference and demand with the Orchestra’s twin objectives of community
accessibility and fiscal responsibility.
For
ticketing questions, subscribers can call the Patron Services office at 215.893-1955.
Kimmel Center: Amenities and Architecture
When
it opens as The Philadelphia Orchestra’s new home, the Kimmel Center for the
Performing Arts will offer modern amenities both backstage and for Orchestra
patrons. Two performing halls and an expansive public lobby are dramatically
enclosed beneath the building’s soaring 150-foot high block-long glass-arch
roof.
The
building’s ticket office will be located on street level inside the grand lobby,
providing ticketing services for performances at both of Kimmel’s halls and
the Academy of Music. In addition to an array of refreshment bars for concert-time
food and beverages, the Kimmel Center will feature a new restaurant operated
by Restaurant Associates of New York, with indoor and outdoor seating on a veranda
three stories above Broad Street. A new gift shop will offer an array of Philadelphia
Orchestra and arts-related items.
The
Kimmel Center’s public spaces include vastly expanded restroom facilities compared
with what Orchestra patrons have had to contend with at the Academy of Music.
Despite additional facilities squeezed into the Academy over the years, the
Kimmel Center will feature a 100% increase in restrooms. A large and convenient
coatcheck area is also located underneath the main lobby space, providing additional
comfort and ease for the audience.
New
state-of-the-art backstage facilities at the Kimmel Center will ease a variety
of daily operational procedures and routines, with a large and easily accessible
loading dock along the building’s south side, conveniently located warm-up and
dressing rooms for The Philadelphia Orchestra and guest artists, and a brightly
lit modern space for the Orchestra’s Music Library (containing scores and parts
for over 5,500 musical works).
Visiting
Artists and Orchestras Come to Kimmel
Following
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s move to its new home at the Kimmel Center for the
Performing Arts, both Kimmel and the historic Academy of Music will be managed
as a single cultural facility. The Orchestra owns the Academy building, where
it has performed throughout its first 100 years. Day-to-day operations of the
two buildings (located just a block apart along South Broad Street) will be
managed for The Philadelphia Orchestra and other local arts groups by the recently
created non-profit Regional Performing Arts Center. In addition, RPAC will present
some visiting guest artists and ensembles each year.
The
opening of the Kimmel Center in particular provides the region with an attractive
and technologically up-to-date setting in which to present a regular series
of visiting orchestras in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s home concert hall. RPAC’s
inaugural Great Orchestras On Tour series for 2001-02 includes four presentations:
the Israel Philharmonic on Wednesday, January 16; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
of Amsterdam on Thursday, February 7; Boston Symphony Orchestra on Friday, April
12; and the New York Philharmonic on Friday, May 17.
Each
of the four orchestras is appearing in Philadelphia with its music director.
Zubin Mehta leads the Israel Philharmonic in its first concert hall appearance
in the region since 1991. Riccardo Chailly leads the Royal Concertgebouw in
a performance of Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”) with soprano
Janice Watson, mezzo-soprano Petra Lang, and the Westminster Choir. The appearances
of both Boston and New York feature valedictory performances with celebrated
conductors in their final months as music director of each ensemble. Seiji Ozawa
will lead Boston in a program featuring Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
Kurt Masur brings the New York Philharmonic to Philadelphia for the first time
since 1984, in a program that includes Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.
Tickets
to the Great Orchestras On Tour series are available now only by subscription,
and are being made available to Philadelphia Orchestra subscribers by special
arrangement with the Regional Performing Arts Center during the Orchestra’s
subscription renewal period. RPAC’s other offerings of visiting jazz, chamber,
dance, and vocal presentations will be announced later this spring.
Carnegie
Hall: Philadelphia Renown
The
Philadelphia Orchestra first appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall in November
1902. Within a short time, the Orchestra had begun a series of annual appearances
at America’s most celebrated concert hall, presenting a variety of its concerts
each year just two hours from home. Today, The Philadelphia Orchestra performs
more concerts each year at Carnegie Hall than any other major American orchestra.
For
the 2001-02 season, the Orchestra will present seven concerts at Carnegie Hall,
with four under the direction of Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch (December
4, January 22, May 9 and 21) and one each with guest conductors Roberto Abbado
(February 26), Sir Simon Rattle (March 19), and Charles Dutoit (April 8). Sawallisch’s
programs include the opera-in-concert presentation of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s
Castle in November and performances of Beethoven’s First and Third Piano
Concertos with Murray Perahia in January.
Also
featured in the Orchestra’s 2001-02 season at Carnegie Hall is the world premiere
on May 9, 2002, of a new piano concerto commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Emanuel
Ax. The new concerto by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) will
be premiered in New York, with encore performances that same weekend at the
Kimmel Center in Philadelphia May 10-14. The creation of this work is made possible
through a generous grant to the Carnegie Hall Corporation by Henry R. Kravis
in honor of Marie-Josée Kravis (in celebration of her birthday).
The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s appearances at Carnegie Hall are sold as a subscription
package. Complete information and ticket pricing is available by calling CarnegieCharge
at 212.247.7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website at www.carnegiehall.org.
Serving the Philadelphia Community through Music
While
the season’s 103 subscription concerts (96 in Philadelphia and 7 at Carnegie
Hall) represent a major focus of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s time and talent,
a variety of additional concerts, musical presentations, and appearances round
out the ensemble’s offerings for Philadelphia and the region. These include
more than four dozen additional events between September 2001 and June 2002,
ranging from educational presentations for pre-schoolers to weekday concerts
for schoolchildren and special concerts to commemorate community events and
holidays.
The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s Chamber Music Concert Series celebrates its
17th season in 2001-02. On Sunday, January 13, 2002, the series moves to the
Kimmel Center, taking up residence in the new 650-seat Perelman Theater. The
series features Philadelphia Orchestra musicians performing well-known and rare
chamber music – with one another and with celebrated guest artists. Seven concerts
are scheduled for the 2001-02 season, with full details of programming to be
announced later this spring: November 4, December 2, January 13, February 17,
March 17, April 21, and May 26.
The
Orchestra’s much-acclaimed Access Concerts will continue into its second
season with 2001-02. This new series of one-hour presentations is designed to
help bridge the gap between audience and performers through a more informative,
more casual, yet inexpensive concert experience. Three Access Concerts will
be featured next season: on November 19 with guest conductor David Zinman, February
18 with Robert Kapilow, and April 23 with William Eddins. Commenting on the
series’ first presentations, music critic Peter Dobrin wrote in the Philadelphia
Inquirer: “The format is unlike anything we’ve seen at the Academy. It’s
more about talking than playing. . . . The audience sang, clapped in rhythm,
and otherwise participated in making a determination about why Mozart was Mozart.
You could practically see the light-bulbs going on above people’s heads.”
The
Philadelphia Orchestra’s annual Community Holiday Concerts will continue
for 2001-02; complete details will be announced at a later time. This series
of popular presentations helps commemorate special and important cultural days
each year. Next season’s programs include a Halloween Concert on October, Handel’s
Messiah on December 9 and 10, New Year’s Eve, Martin Luther King Tribute
Concert on January 9, and Valentine’s Day on February 14. Because of scheduling
conflicts surrounding the opening of the Orchestra’s new home at the Kimmel
Center in December, the Orchestra will not present its traditional concerts
of seasonal music in December 2001; those concerts will return in 2002 at the
Kimmel Center.
In
service to its community, The Philadelphia Orchestra has a long history of presenting
concerts and other events for “children of all ages.” Through a variety of such
programs, the Orchestra has introduced classical music to over 3 million young
people in the past 100 years. This commitment to future generations continues
today with offerings for citizens of every age and interest, including the award-winning
Sound All Around series of programs for pre-school children, weekday
Education Concerts presented each year for schoolchildren in a specially-focussed
format, and weekend Family Concerts to introduce children ages 6-12 to
symphonic music through themed, multi-arts programming. In addition, the Orchestra’s
series of Pre-Concert Insights, presented prior to regular subscription
concerts, provides ticket-holders with interesting and insightful information
about the Orchestra and its music-making.
Founded in 1900, The
Philadelphia Orchestra has distinguished itself as one of the leading orchestras
in the world through a century of acclaimed performances, historic international
tours, and best-selling recordings. Led by Music Director Wolfgang Sawallisch
since 1993, the Orchestra recently marked its 100th Anniversary through a year-long
series of concerts, publications, and broadcasts – culminating in the internationally
televised gala Birthday Concert on November 16, 2000. Six music directors have
piloted The Philadelphia Orchestra through its first century, giving the ensemble
an unparalleled cohesiveness and unity in artistic leadership. Its ongoing acclaim
around the world is recognized through frequent overseas tours (to Asia in 1999,
Europe in 2000, and to Asia again in the spring of 2001), the scope of its recording
discography, and its unprecedented record of innovation in recording technologies
and outreach.
Wolfgang
Sawallisch will mark his ninth year as Music Director of The Philadelphia
Orchestra with the Kimmel Center’s inaugural season in 2001-02. He has been
an outspoken advocate of a new concert hall for the Orchestra throughout his
tenure and took an active role in developing the design and plans for the Kimmel
Center’s construction. His tours with the Orchestra have included performances
on four continents, generating critical praise and public applause in concert
halls from Beijing to Birmingham and from Buenos Aires to Boston. Acclaimed
as one of the greatest living exponents of the Germanic musical tradition, Sawallisch
has enriched and expanded upon the Orchestra’s century-old reputation for excellence
in this repertoire, while also promoting new and lesser known compositions.
At his suggestion, the Orchestra’s Centennial Season in 1999-2000 was devoted
entirely to works written during the Orchestra’s first century. The Centennial
Season’s critical acclaim and box office success featured encore performances
of many important and popular 20th-century pieces introduced by the Orchestra
as world or American premieres. Prior to his tenure in Philadelphia, Sawallisch
headed the Bavarian State Opera in Munich for two decades. Following ten highly-acclaimed
years at the helm here, Sawallisch will become Conductor Laureate in the fall
of 2003 when Christoph Eschenbach becomes The Philadelphia Orchestra’s seventh
Music Director.
Source: The
Philadephia Orchestra
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