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CARNEGIEHALL LAUNCHES ITS 2010–2011 SEASON WITH
FOUR PERFORMANCES BY THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA,
LED BY NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT AND GUSTAVO DUDAMEL,
FROM SEPTEMBER 29 THROUGH OCTOBER 3

Mr. Harnoncourt and the Orchestra Kick Off Carnegie Hall’s Season with
Festive All-Beethoven Opening Night Gala Performance
Featuring Pianist Lang Lang as Soloist on September 29

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Joins Mr. Dudamel and the VPO as Soloist on October 3 

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra returns to New YorkCity, kicking off Carnegie Hall’s 2010–2011 season with four highly-anticipatedperformances, led by conductors Nikolaus Harnoncourt and GustavoDudamel, in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage from September 29 throughOctober 3.

On Wednesday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m., Mr. Harnoncourt and the orchestralaunch Carnegie Hall’s season with a festive Opening Night Gala Performance,including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major and his Piano Concerto No. 1 inC Major, featuring soloist Lang Lang. The VPO and Mr. Harnoncourt returnthe following evening, Thursday, September 30 at 8:00 p.m., for a performanceof Smetana’s Má Vlast.

On Saturday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m. Gustavo Dudamel takes to the podium,leading the orchestra in Rossini’s overture to La gazza ladra, JuliánOrbón’s Tres versiones sinfónicas, Bernstein’s Divertimento forOrchestra and two works by Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte and Boléro.The following afternoon, Sunday, October 3 at 2:00 p.m., the VPO concludes itsweekend series of concerts with Mr. Dudamel conducting Brahms’s TragicOverture and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.”Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is the soloist on this fourth and final program,performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor.

Artist Information
Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt joined the Vienna SymphonyOrchestra as a cellist in 1952. A year later, he founded the Concentus MusicusWien ensemble together with his wife, Alice, to provide a forum for hisincreasingly intensive work with period instruments and Renaissance and baroquemusical performance traditions. From 1972, Mr. Harnoncourt taught performancepractice and the study of historical instruments at the Mozarteum University ofMusic and Dramatic Arts in Salzburg, while at the same time enjoying growingsuccess as an opera conductor. His career as a conductor of both orchestralworks and opera encompasses Viennese classicism, the Romantic repertoire andworks from the twentieth century. With the Concertgebouw Orchestra ofAmsterdam, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Vienna and Berlinphilharmonic orchestras, Mr. Harnoncourt constantly reinterprets andrediscovers the grand repertoire of orchestral works: the concertos andsymphonies of Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann,Brahms, Dvorák and Bruckner, but also the works of Bela Bartók and Alban Berg.Today, he is one of the few true stars among conductors worldwide. Performanceslike the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra enable him toreach an audience of millions, displaying the characteristic passion and fieryintensity that identify him, first and foremost, as a true servant of his art.

Pianist Lang Lang began playing piano at the age of three and gave hisfirst public recital at the age of five. Since then, he has become aninternational phenomenon, playing sold out recitals and concerts in citiesaround the world. He was the first Chinese pianist to perform with the Viennaand Berlin philharmonic orchestras as well as many top American orchestras. In2008, Lang Lang performed in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Hisinfluence and status in China has helped to inspire over 35 million Chinesechildren to learn to play piano—a phenomenon dubbed by NBC’s The Today Showas "the Lang Lang effect." Time magazine included Lang Lang inits 2009 list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." Lastseason, performances by Lang Lang were among the featured highlights ofCarnegie Hall’s Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating ChineseCulture, including the world premiere of Chinese composer Chen Qigang’spiano concerto, “Er Huang.” In February 2010, Lang Lang joined Sony MusicEntertainment as exclusive recording artist; his first album with Sony featuresa live recording of his 2010 recital at Vienna's legendary Musikverein.

Internationally acclaimed conductor Gustavo Dudamel continues to sharehis magnetic enthusiasm for music with audiences of all ages around the world.As he begins his twelfth year as Music Director of the Simón Bolívar YouthOrchestra, in fall 2010, he enters his second season as Music Director of theLos Angeles Philharmonic and his fourth season with the Gothenburg Symphony.Armed with unparalleled passion, energy and artistic excellence, Mr. Dudamel isdedicated to leading these orchestras, as well as to increasing his commitmentto opera. Coming from a background where being involved in music from a youngage was a life changing experience, Gustavo Dudamel is devoted to investing inclassical music as an engine of social change. The message of his ongoing workin Venezuela through El Sistema, which influences hundreds of thousands ofchildren each year, is being carried now into the United States through YouthOrchestra Los Angeles (YOLA). This program for children targets underserved LosAngeles communities and continues to grow and expand under Mr. Dudamel’sleadership and that of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is also involved inadvising on pilot programs in Gothenburg, Sweden and Raploch, Scotland. In May2007, Mr. Dudamel was awarded the Premio de la Latindad, an honor givenfor outstanding contributions to Latin cultural life. In 2008, the SimónBolívar Youth Orchestra was granted Spain’s prestigious annual Prince ofAsturias Award for the Arts, and in 2007, Mr. Dudamel received the RoyalPhilharmonic Society Music Award for Young Artists. Along with his mentor, Dr.Abreu, he was granted the 2008 “Q Prize” from Harvard University forextraordinary service to children. In June 2009, he received an honorarydoctorate from the Universidad Centro-Occidental Lisandro Alvarado in hishometown of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Most recently, in 2009, he was awarded theChevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in Paris. Gustavo Dudamel wasrecently named one of the 100 most influential people of 2009 by Timemagazine and has been featured three times on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search fornew ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artisticgrowth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cellorepertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, or exploringcultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Mastrives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. Yo-Yo Ma maintainsa balance between his engagements as soloist with orchestras throughout theworld and his recital and chamber music activities. One of his goals is theexploration of music as a means of communication, and as a vehicle for themigration of ideas, across a range of cultures throughout the world. Expandingupon this interest, in 1998, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project topromote the study of the cultural, artistic, and intellectual traditions alongthe ancient trade route that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to thePacific Ocean. He is strongly committed to educational programs that not onlybring young audiences into contact with music but also allow them toparticipate in its creation. While touring, he takes time whenever possible toconduct master classes as well as more informal programs for students—musiciansand non-musicians alike. At the same time he continues to develop new concertprograms for family audiences (helping, for instance, to inaugurate the familyseries at Carnegie Hall).

There is perhaps no other musical ensemble more consistently and closelyassociated with the history and tradition of European classical music than the ViennaPhilharmonic Orchestra. In the course of its over 160-year history, themusicians of this most prominent orchestra of the capital city of music havebeen an integral part of a musical epoch that must certainly be regarded asunique. Since its inception through Otto Nicolai in 1842, the fascination that theorchestra has exercised upon prominent composers and conductors, as well as onaudiences all over the world, is based not only on a homogenous musical stylecarefully bequeathed from one generation to the next, but also on its uniquestructure and history. The desire to provide artistically worthy performancesof the symphonic works of Mozart and Beethoven in their own city led to thedecision on the part of the court opera musicians to present a “Philharmonic”concert series independent of their work at the opera, and upon their ownresponsibility and risk.

With concerts at home and on tour around the world, today’s Vienna PhilharmonicOrchestra is much more than Austria’s most coveted “cultural export.” Theorchestra’s members are considered ambassadors, expressing through theirperformances the ideals of peace, humanity, and reconciliation with which musicis so inseparably bound, and regularly donating services to create events thatpromote peace through music. Examples of this include the orchestra’s historicperformance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Sir Simon Rattle in 2000 atMauthausen, the former site of Austria’s largest concentration camp duringWorld War II; the 2002 concert in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral inremembrance of victims of terrorism; annual benefits in New York Citybenefitting the American Austrian Foundation/Salzburg Cornell (MedicalSeminars); and, beginning in 1999, the annual donation of partial proceeds fromthe VPO’s New Years Concerts to a variety of humanitarian organizations. TheVienna Philharmonic, since 2005, has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the WorldHealth Organization, and, in 2006, became a supporter of the "Hear theWorld" initiative, a hearing awareness campaign. As of November 2008, Rolexis the worldwide presenting sponsor of the Vienna Philharmonic.


Program Information
Wednesday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
OPENING NIGHT GALA
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor
Lang Lang, Piano

CARNEGIE HALL’S OPENING NIGHT GALA

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

Opening Night Gala Sponsor: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for the seventhconsecutive season

Tickets: $62, $77, $102, $143, $198, $220 (limited availability)
Gala Tickets: $5000, $2500, $1500, $800
____________________________________

Thursday, September 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor

BEDRICH SMETANA Má Vlast

Sponsored by Continental Airlines, the Official Airline of Carnegie Hall

Tickets: $68, $82, $106, $146, $199, $220
____________________________________

Saturday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor

GIOACHINO ROSSINI Overture to La gazza ladra
JULIÁN ORBÓN Tres versiones sinfónicas
LEONARD BERNSTEIN Divertimento for Orchestra
MAURICE RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte
MAURICE RAVEL Boléro

Rolex is the Presenting Sponsor of the Concert at Carnegie Hall.

Additional support is provided by the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.

Tickets: $68, $82, $106, $146, $199, $220
____________________________________

Sunday, October 3 at 2:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello

JOHANNES BRAHMS Tragic Overture, Op. 81
ROBERT SCHUMANN Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129
ANTONÍN DVORÁK Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, "From the NewWorld"

This concert is made possible, in part, by the Audrey Love CharitableFoundation.

Tickets: $68, $82, $106, $146, $199, $220.


Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.