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Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 01/21/2009 - 2009-2010 Carnegie Hall Season Announcement
CARNEGIE HALL ANNOUNCES 2009–2010 SEASON
ANCIENT PATHS, MODERN VOICES: CELEBRATING CHINESE CULTURE
Citywide Festival Exploring China’s Vibrant Culture Over 21 Days in Fall 2009
New Alliance with Segerstrom Center for the Arts,
Presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County,
Brings Ancient Paths, Modern Voices Festival to West Coast
PERSPECTIVES: KRONOS QUARTET
Trailblazing String Quartet Curates Adventurous Series of Eclectic Concerts
Collaborating with Artists from Around the Globe
LOUIS ANDRIESSEN APPOINTED CARNEGIE HALL
DEBS COMPOSER’S CHAIR WITH SPRING 2010 RESIDENCY
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Carnegie Hall’s 119th Season Launches with Opening Night Gala Concert
Featuring James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on October 1
“The Nativity Triptych” Features Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah
Performed by Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie
plus John Adams’ El Niño by Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Valery Gergiev and Mariinsky Orchestra Perform Berlioz Epics;
200th Anniversary of Chopin’s Birth Includes Recitals by Emanuel Ax and
Maurizio Pollini; Pierre Boulez Celebrates 85th Birthday;
Piotr Anderszewski Examines Szymanowski
“Haydn After Mozart” Includes Two Concerts with Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Conducting the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
and The Monteverdi Choir
Education Programs of The Weill Music Institute and The Academy Enrich
Concert Offerings, Providing Audiences with Opportunities to Explore Great Music
(NEW YORK)—Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall’s 2009–2010 season, consisting of 180 performances and numerous educational events, featuring many of the world’s finest musicians, presented on Carnegie Hall’s three stages and throughout New York City. A major highlight of Carnegie Hall’s new season will be Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, a citywide festival exploring China’s diverse and vibrant culture and its influence around the world with 21 days of events at Carnegie Hall and New York partner institutions from October 21 through November 10. An exciting new artistic alliance between Carnegie Hall and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County with the underwriting support from South Coast Plaza, will bring Ancient Paths, Modern Voices offerings to Southern California from October 15 through November 24, marking the first time that Carnegie Hall’s live festival programming will reach audiences outside New York City.
"With a major festival celebrating China’s fascinating culture, collaborations with many of the world's most extraordinary artists, and adventurous programs that offer concertgoers extensive journeys of discovery, Carnegie Hall's 2009–2010 season represents not only our commitment to artistic excellence, but also our belief in the power of partnership and teamwork," said Mr. Gillinson. "We continue to seek to build on the remarkable history and traditions of Carnegie Hall while defining the role the Hall can play in people's lives in the 21st century, work that is further extended and strengthened through our partnerships with leading institutions in New York City and beyond. Our goal is to create programming that engages and inspires—whether in the concert hall or through our extensive work in the area of education. In these difficult times, music and the arts are more important than ever, and we remain steadfastly committed to our mission, to ensure that great music can be a central and accessible part of everybody's lives."
Highlights Overview
Carnegie Hall opens its 119th season on October 1 with a festive gala performance featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director James Levine. Pianist Evgeny Kissin is soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Ann Hobson Pilot, the BSO’s principal harpist, is featured in the New York premiere of John Williams’ On Willows and Birches.
On October 21, Carnegie Hall launches Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, its citywide festival of over 30 events with performances by leading international musicians as well as artists and ensembles traveling outside China for the first time. The festival features programs created in collaboration with outstanding Chinese artists—Wu Man, Lang Lang, Tan Dun, and Long Yu—highlighting different musical aspects of Chinese culture. Festival programs include Western symphonic and chamber music influenced by Chinese culture, traditional Chinese folk music and contemporary music—including premieres by Chinese composers Chen Qigang, Angel Lam, and Tan Dun—and also feature traditional marionette theater, dance, film, visual art, and much more, offering audiences true insight into a world that mixes the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the cutting-edge. The reach of the festival will extend throughout New York City through partnerships with Asia Society, China Institute, The Joyce Theater, The Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Paley Center for Media, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim, as well as a number of community venues through a series of Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts presented by The Weill Music Institute.
A new alliance between Carnegie Hall and Segerstrom Center for the Arts will bring select Ancient Paths, Modern Voices programming to Costa Mesa, California in fall 2009. The California line-up for Ancient Paths, Modern Voices, presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange County from October 15 through November 24, with underwriting support from South Coast Plaza, will include performances by major artists and ensembles appearing at Carnegie Hall as well as new programming made possible through partnerships with Southern Californian cultural institutions.
Ancient Paths, Modern Voices is the fourth major festival to be presented by Carnegie Hall since 2007. This collection of concerts and special events follows extended multi-disciplinary celebrations of the city of Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, and African American culture. The China celebration reinforces the Hall’s commitment to presenting festivals that draw together its programmatic and educational resources, inviting audiences to explore compelling themes across the spectrum of the arts.
Major highlights of Carnegie Hall’s season include: Perspectives: Kronos Quartet, featuring the trailblazing string quartet curating an adventurous series of concerts, with a wide variety of programs offered in collaboration with artists from around the world; and the appointment of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen to the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall with a spring 2010 residency featuring premieres of a number of his recent works—including his 2008 opera La Commedia; performances by musicians who have been longtime champions of his music; and a series of intimate late-night concerts, “Three Naughty Boys and Three Crazy Girls,” curated by the composer and focusing on improvisation.
Other season highlights: the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Chopin with three recitals by pianist Maurizio Pollini as well as a trio of concerts by pianist Emanuel Ax—one solo recital, one with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and one with soprano Dawn Upshaw—with each program featuring the premiere of a new work by acclaimed composers John Adams, Peter Lieberson, and Osvaldo Golijov, respectively; “Haydn After Mozart”—three programs focusing on the late works of the great classical composer following the death of the younger Mozart, with concerts by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and The Monteverdi Choir led by conductor/founder Sir John Eliot Gardiner and a recital by fortepianist Andreas Staier; and “The Nativity Triptych,” a December weekend of three concerts, each featuring a choral masterwork depicting the Nativity story, with Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec led by conductor Bernard Labadie performing Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and composer/conductor John Adams leading his own oratorio, El Niño, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Also, pianist Piotr Anderszewski performs with The Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit and shares two concerts with the Belcea Quartet in programs placing a focus on the music of great Polish composer Karol Szymanowski; Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra perform Berlioz’s epic works Romeo et Juliet and Les Troyens over three concerts; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and The MET Orchestra celebrate the 85th birthday of Pierre Boulez with the eminent composer and conductor leading all three orchestras in concert.
The extensive activities of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and 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—continue to be integrated into Carnegie Hall’s programming, including dozens of free Neighborhood Concerts presented throughout the season; Professional Training Workshops with leading artists for young professional musicians, including one by the Kronos Quartet during this season’s Perspectives; and many adventurous concerts by Ensemble ACJW, the performing ensemble of The Academy.
Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture
Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, a citywide festival paying tribute to the diverse and vibrant culture of China and its influence around the world is presented at Carnegie Hall and partner venues throughout New York City from October 21 to November 10, 2009.
With 30 events over 21 days, Ancient Paths, Modern Voices features performances by renowned international musicians, including some artists and ensembles that are traveling outside China for the first time. The festival’s musical offerings include programs created in collaboration with leading Chinese musicians—pipa player Wu Man, pianist Lang Lang, composer/conductor Tan Dun, and conductor Long Yu—highlighting different musical aspects of Chinese culture. Programs include many genres of music, encompassing Western symphonic and chamber music influenced by Chinese culture, traditional folk music, and contemporary music including premieres by internationally-recognized Chinese composers Chen Qigang, Angel Lam, and Tan Dun. The festival also offers traditional marionette theater, dance, film screenings, calligraphy, art exhibitions, and much more, offering audiences insights into a world that mixes the ancient and the modern, the traditional and the cutting-edge.
The reach of Ancient Paths, Modern Voices will extend throughout New York City through partnerships with prestigious cultural institutions: Asia Society, China Institute, The Joyce Theater, The Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Paley Center for Media, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim as well as a number of community venues through a series of Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts presented by The Weill Music Institute.
Ancient Paths, Modern Voices launches at Carnegie Hall on October 21 with a Zankel Hall performance by the Quanzhou Marionette Theater. With song, musical accompaniment, and sophisticated storytelling from the Fujian Province in Southern China, the Marionette Theater is a regional form of Chinese opera. Carnegie Hall festival presentations also include two concerts of traditional Chinese music curated and hosted by renowned pipa player Wu Man; a chamber music program by Ensemble ACJW featuring works by composers from the Class of 1978, the first class admitted to Beijing’s Central Conservatory after the Cultural Revolution; a solo piano recital by Yundi Li; a concert by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra featuring the New York premiere of Angel Lam’s Awakening from a Disappearing Garden for Cello and Orchestra with soloist Yo-Yo Ma; and a performance by David Robertson and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra featuring Western works influenced by Chinese culture as well as Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson and Tan Dun’s Water Concerto with percussionist Colin Currie.
Pianist Lang Lang will make three appearances at Carnegie Hall as part of Ancient Paths, Modern Voices, performing chamber music with young emerging classical musicians from China; appearing as soloist in the world premiere of a new work by Chen Qigang with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the Juilliard Orchestra; and closing the festival in a concert with conductor Long Yu and the China Philharmonic, performing Tan Dun’s Piano Concerto, “The Fire.”
The Juilliard School will present a concert at Alice Tully Hall featuring the Juilliard Orchestra, led by Tan Dun, performing the world premiere of Tan Dun’s Violin Concerto with soloist Cho-Liang Lin as well as a program by the New Juilliard Ensemble to include works written by composers living and working in China today. Additional highlights at partner institutions include seven performances by the Taiwan-based Han Tang Yuefu Music and Dance Ensemble at The Joyce Theater, recreating traditional music and dance of the 10th-century Tang Dynasty with sumptuous costumes and sets by Oscar winner Tim Yip; a modern dance program by Shen Wei Dance Arts, part of the Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum; calligraphy and music demonstrations at the China Institute; film screenings exploring US and Chinese cultural exchange at The Paley Center for Media; and a Chinese teahouse demonstration at Asia Society. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China throughout the festival, drawing largely from its permanent collection; and, with China in Chelsea, select New York art galleries will join forces to celebrate Chinese contemporary visual arts, exhibiting work by some of today’s leading figures from the Chinese art world.
Four free Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, presented by The Weill Music Institute, feature performances by pianist Yundi Li, Ensemble ACJW, Zhang Family Old Tune Shadow Puppet Band, and the Ba Da Chui percussion quartet in community venues in Manhattan and Queens.
A new alliance between Carnegie Hall and Segerstrom Center for the Arts will bring select Ancient Paths, Modern Voices programming to Costa Mesa, California in fall 2009. The California line-up for Ancient Paths, Modern Voices, presented by the Philharmonic Society of Orange with underwriting support from South Coast Plaza, will include performances by major artists and ensembles appearing at Carnegie Hall as well as new programming made possible through partnerships with Southern Californian cultural institutions.
Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture is made possible by a leadership gift from Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife Marie-Josée.
Perspectives: Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet curates an adventurous six-event Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall next season, collaborating with numerous artists from around the world. The group presents five concerts at Carnegie Hall in March 2010. It celebrates 30 years of collaboration with composer Terry Riley—as well as the composer's 75th birthday—with the New York premiere of his work Transylvanian Horn Courtship. The following evening, in a concert focusing on toys and instruments/sounds created from unlikely sources, Kronos performs world premieres by Victor Gama and J.G. Thirlwell as well as the New York premiere of Ge Gan-Ru's Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! with toy piano virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan. Additional Perspectives: Kronos Quartet highlights include the New York premiere of Derek Charke’s Tundra Songs and Inuit throat-singing by Tanya Tagaq as part of an evening devoted to music from the Arctic Circle, and new music from around the world with Korean composer/vocalist Dohee Lee joining Kronos for the New York premiere of her Sinawi as well as music from Azerbaijan and Afghanistan with the Alim Qasimov Ensemble.
Kronos makes its first appearance of the 2009–2010 season in November 2009, joined by virtuoso pipa player Wu Man for the world premiere of Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home, a multimedia project involving video, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and directed/staged by Chen Shi-Zheng. This work takes its inspiration from a large home from the Anhui province of China that was meticulously dismantled and reconstructed in Massachusetts at the turn of the millennium, another major event for a house that witnessed the lives of eight generations of a single family. This program also includes Tan Dun’s epic Ghost Opera.
Committed to mentoring emerging professional performers, the Kronos Quartet leads a weeklong Professional Training Workshop presented by The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall in March 2010. Kronos, joined by guest faculty member pipa virtuoso Wu Man, will work with young musicians, sharing their insights on the quartet repertoire that they have championed for years as well as collaborative repertoire for string quartet and pipa.
Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall, 2009–2010 Season
Carnegie Hall has appointed Louis Andriessen to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for the 2009–2010 season. This highly regarded Dutch composer, celebrating his 70th birthday in 2009, will have works performed by musicians who have been his longtime champions, including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Asko | Schoenberg, Reinbert de Leeuw, and John Adams, as well as friends and recent muses such as Greetje Bijma and Cristina Zavalloni. Spring 2010 performances at Carnegie Hall will feature Andriessen works, including several New York premieres; works by composers he has mentored as well as a series of intimate late-night concerts devoted to improvisational music—a key influence on the composer himself.
A highlight of Mr. Andriessen’s Carnegie Hall residency will be two performances by Asko | Schoenberg led by conductor Reinbert de Leeuw, the first of which will be the New York premiere of his 2008 opera La Commedia presented in a concert version in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. A Carnegie Hall Making Music: Louis Andriessen program showcases both soprano Dawn Upshaw in the composer’s Dances and the Bang on a Can All-Stars in the New York premiere of a new work with films by Marijke van Warmerdam.
Also featured in April are piano duo Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams with the American Composers Orchestra presenting the New York premiere of Andriessen’s The Hague Hacking alongside three world premieres by young North American protégés of the composer, and a concert by Ensemble ACJW featuring the seminal 1974 work De Staat—a raucously intense piece, borrowing text from Plato’s The Republic, that first brought Andriessen wide acclaim—led at Carnegie Hall by John Adams, who conducted the work's American premiere in the 1980s.
As part of his residency, Mr. Andriessen also curates a series of three late-night improvisatory double-bill concerts in Weill Recital Hall entitled “Three Naughty Boys and Three Crazy Girls,” with tap dancer Savion Glover sharing a program with vocalist Greetje Bijma, accompanied by Andriessen himself on the piano; violinist/vocalist Iva Bittová paired with saxophonist Evan Parker, and cellist Ernst Reijseger with vocalist Cristina Zavalloni. Previous holders of the Carnegie Hall Composer’s Chair are Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1995–1999), Pierre Boulez (1999–2003), John Adams (2003–2007), Thomas Adès (2007–2008), and Elliott Carter (2008–2009).
The Nativity Triptych
A December weekend devoted to sacred holiday music features performances of three landmark choral works based on the Nativity story, told from the perspectives of three very different composers.
Acclaimed chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy, choir La Chapelle de Québec, and Music Director Bernard Labadie, together with soprano Rosemary Joshua, countertenor David Daniels, tenor Jan Kobow, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams, are featured in two programs: Bach’s 1735 Christmas Oratorio—comprising six cantatas, each with beautiful chorales, that depict the birth of Jesus; and Handel’s Messiah, written six years later, which positions the nativity within the larger context of Jesus’ life.
Audiences will then flash forward 250 years for the final concert of the series featuring the first Carnegie Hall performance of John Adams’ decidedly modern nativity oratorio El Niño, which draws on English, Spanish, and Latin sources ranging from pre-Christian prophets, Martin Luther’s Christmas Sermon, passages from the Gospel of Luke, several gnostic gospels from the Apocrypha, and mid-20th century Hispanic women writers including Rosario Castellanos. El Niño is performed in a concert version by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; conductor John Adams; soprano Dawn Upshaw; mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung; bass-baritone Eric Owens; countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards; and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.
Celebrating Chopin and Schumann at 200
2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the births of both Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, two towering innovators in Romantic-era piano composition. The Chopin year is celebrated throughout Carnegie Hall’s season, with three solo piano recitals by Maurizio Pollini, Evgeny Kissin’s performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 with James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night, and Nelson Freire’s solo turn in the Piano Concerto No. 1 with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Pianist Emanuel Ax performs a trio of concerts—including a solo recital and performances with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Dawn Upshaw—in tribute to both Chopin and Schumann. In addition to music by both of these composers, each concert by Mr. Ax also features a new work co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall from three acclaimed composers: John Adams, Peter Lieberson, and Osvaldo Golijov, respectively. Adams’ new work is given its world premiere by Mr. Ax in a solo recital program that also includes Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 and Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17, and Chopin’s Four Mazurkas, Op. 41, and Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise, Op. 22. Mr. Ax and Mr. Ma perform Lieberson’s commission in its New York premiere together with Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65, and Polonaise brillante in C Major, Op. 3, along with Schumann’s Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102; Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70; and Fantasiestücke, Op. 73. Golijov’s new work for Ms. Upshaw and Mr. Ax also features hyper-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman and is given its US premiere on a program that also features songs by Chopin and Schumann to be announced.
Pierre Boulez at 85
Renowned composer and conductor Pierre Boulez turns 85 in 2010 and is feted at Carnegie Hall in four January concerts by two orchestras with which he has been closely associated throughout much of his life. In two of its three programs at Carnegie Hall, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra features Mr. Boulez—first as conductor, leading Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6, Mahler’s Adagio from Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp Minor, as well as Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38, and Piano Concerto, Op. 42, with soloist Daniel Barenboim; then, as composer, with Mr. Barenboim leading the orchestra in Boulez’s Notations I-IV and VII, along with Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67.
Two weeks later, Mr. Boulez, Conductor Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, leads the CSO in two concerts that include Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4; Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Op. 11, with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and baritone Falk Struckmann; Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra with pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich; Ravel’s Pavane pour une infant défunte and Rapsodie espagnole; and Boulez’s own work Livre pour cordes.
Mr. Boulez returns to Carnegie Hall in May to conduct The MET Orchestra in Bartók’s The Wooden Prince and Schoenberg’s Erwartung with soprano Deborah Polaski.
Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliet and Les Troyens—Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra
On two occasions, in 1847 and 1867, Hector Berlioz conducted performances of his own works at the Mariinsky Theater, including La Damnation de Faust, Romeo et Juliet, Symphonie fantastique, and Harold en Italie. Berlioz wrote in his memoirs, "Such an orchestra! Such precision! Such an ensemble!" And in a letter dated December 1867, he stated, "I don’t think Beethoven ever had a better performance of his compositions!"
In the 2009–2010 season, two epic theatrical works by Berlioz—who composed on a large scale mostly for orchestra and the opera house—are performed at Carnegie Hall over three concerts by the Mariinsky Orchestra and Music Director Valery Gergiev. Berlioz’s 1839 dramatic symphony Romeo et Juliet and his monumental 1865 opera Les Troyens, performed over two concerts, will all feature soloists and the chorus from the Mariinsky Theater. The performance of Les Troyens marks only the second time that the complete work has been performed at Carnegie Hall.
Szymanowski Project with Piotr Anderszewski
The early 20th-century Polish composer Karol Szymanowski and his rapturous, impressionistic music are long overdue for rediscovery by audiences who already enjoy Debussy, Scriabin, and Bartók. One of the great composer’s most dedicated interpreters, pianist Piotr Anderszewski, presents some of Szymanowski’s works in three concerts of orchestral music, chamber music, songs, and piano pieces.
With The Philadelphia Orchestra and its Chief Conductor and Artistic Adviser Charles Dutoit, Mr. Anderszewski performs the Symphony No. 4, Op. 60, “Symphonie concertante,” for piano and orchestra, one of Szymanowski’s late works after the composer had begun to utilize the musical materials and intense rhythms of his native country’s folk music. Then, with the Belcea Quartet, soprano Iwona Sobotka, and violinist/violist Henning Kraggerud, Mr. Anderszewski offers two programs featuring a variety of works, including both string quartets; Metopes, Op. 29; Slopiewnie, Op. 46b; Mythes for Violin and Piano, Op. 30; and Songs of a Fairytale Princess, Op. 31; along with works by Bartók and Janácek, fellow composers inspired by folk music, and music by Schumann, a composer whose sense of fantasy and ambiguity blend beautifully with Szymanowski.
Haydn After Mozart
While Haydn is often considered to be a precursor of Mozart, he continued to compose for 11 years after Mozart’s death. Haydn’s late masterworks are presented this season as part of three performances: two choral concerts by the period instrument ensemble Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and The Monteverdi Choir led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and in a recital by fortepianist Andreas Staier.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the orchestra and choir, both founded by him, in Haydn’s bold and engaging oratorios The Creation and The Seasons, works that demonstrate just how much Haydn’s music evolved from his days composing on-demand for the nobility, developing a more deeply dramatic style of music. Mr. Staier, one of the most prominent harpsichord and fortepiano performers in the world, will bring a variety of Haydn’s works, demonstrating the evolution of his keyboard writing from his earlier life to his later years, for his concert at Carnegie Hall.
The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall
Throughout the season, the extensive programs of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall (WMI) offer opportunities for audiences to explore music in their communities, in their schools, and with fellow music lovers around the world, with events for concertgoers, children and families, students, educators, and professional musicians. The Weill Music Institute continues to expand its community programs in the new season with its popular Neighborhood Concert Series, a Community Partnership Program, and an additional 50 performances at locations such as shelters, senior citizen centers, prisons, and hospitals that will bring great music to audiences who have no access to concert venues. Through these programs, WMI brings free, high-quality performances by a wide variety of artists to audiences in all five boroughs of New York City. Presented in addition to 45 Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts will be free Community Sings, which provide singers of all ages and levels with opportunities to join with major artists to make music together. Other highlights include several Neighborhood Concerts presented as part of the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, which will feature Chinese artists and music including appearances by Yundi Li, Ba Da Chui, Ensemble ACJW, and the Zhang Family Old Tune Shadow Puppet Band.
Among The Weill Music Institute’s series of sequential programs for school students, the Carnegie Hall Cultural Exchange continues to offer New York City high school teachers opportunities to connect their classrooms with others around the world. Next season, WMI has selected a new area of study for the program: the Music of Mexico, which is presented alongside the Music of India, returning for its second season. In this program, New York City students, together with peers in the chosen country, explore the music and culture of both the US and the chosen region through sequential lessons while also exchanging ideas with each other via an online community. For each country being studied, the program also offers interactive concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall—featuring jazz from the US and traditional music from the selected country—that allow students, teachers, and musicians to connect in real time via Zankel Hall’s distance-learning technology. These simultaneous trans-continental concerts, broadcast live to and from each country’s venue, also provide opportunities for the students to ask questions of the musicians as well as their peers in another country.
WMI’s Professional Training Workshops are designed for professional musicians between the ages of 18 to 35, offering special opportunities for young artists to explore performance and rehearsal practices and specialized repertoire with some of today’s leading artists. During the season, the Kronos Quartet will work with virtuoso pipa player Wu Man, leading a workshop focusing on music for quartets and collaborative works with pipa as part of its Carnegie Hall Perspectives series; pianist Leon Fleisher and guest artists will focus on collaborative chamber music by Brahms; and jazz composer/trumpeter Dave Douglas with special guests will lead sessions exploring creative composition and collaboration. In addition, the annual event led by celebrated mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, The Song Continues…2010, will be presented in partnership with the Marilyn Horne Foundation. WMI also offers a Teaching Artist Collaborative, a professional development program that supports practicing and emerging teaching artists by providing opportunities to collaborate, gain tools in workshop settings, and use strategies in real classroom settings. An additional highlight for professional musicians will be presented by The Juilliard School in partnership with Carnegie Hall when legendary pianist Alfred Brendel shares his viewpoints on music as a lecturer and musical coach at The Juilliard School in his first New York residency since retiring from the concert stage.
The Weill Music Institute creates wide-reaching music education programs that play a central role in Carnegie Hall’s commitment to making great music accessible to as many people as possible. With its access to the world’s greatest artists and the latest technologies, WMI is uniquely positioned to inspire the next generation of music lovers, nurture tomorrow’s musical talent, and contribute to the evolution of music education itself. Its educational programs are woven into the fabric of the Carnegie Hall concert season, annually serving over 115,000 children, students, teachers, parents, young music professionals, and adults in the New York City metropolitan area, across the US, and around the world.
The Academy
Throughout the 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 integrated into Carnegie Hall’s regular concert programming. Concerts by Ensemble ACJW include Class of 1978, featuring music by some of today’s leading Chinese composers, presented as part of Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture. Ensemble ACJW’s 16 concerts at Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School also include programs led by conductors Thomas Adès and John Adams, the latter with guest pianist Jeremy Denk and part of Louis Andriessen’s Carnegie Hall residency as holder of the Debs Composer’s Chair. Through its continuing residency at Skidmore College, Ensemble ACJW will work with composers Daniel Bernard Roumain and David Bruce to present encore performances of each composer’s latest Carnegie Hall commission. The ensemble will continue to be featured in its own subscription series, Chamber Sessions IV, and will be presented on other subscription series at Carnegie Hall, as well as perform in a Family Concert and Neighborhood Concerts presented by The Weill Music Institute.
The Academy is a two-year fellowship that provides the finest post-graduate musicians embarking on their careers with performance opportunities at both Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School, advanced musical training including coaching sessions with top musicians, and intensive instruction in the area of education, equipping these young professionals with the skills necessary for careers that combine musical excellence with education, community engagement, and advocacy. Fellows work in partnership with a specific New York City public school music teacher in a variety of grade levels in areas such as interactive performance, instrumental teaching, creative learning projects, and general music knowledge, depending on the specific needs of each school. A partnership with Skidmore College that began in the 2007–2008 season also brings performances and educational events to the Saratoga Springs community.
Additional 2009–2010 Season Highlights
Commissions and Contemporary Music
Carnegie Hall audiences this season will hear 15 world premieres, 5 US premieres, and 20 New York premieres of new works, with eleven first performances of major works commissioned by Carnegie Hall.
Among the Carnegie Hall commissions, Michael Tilson Thomas leads The Julliard Orchestra and pianist Lang Lang in the world premiere of Chen Qigang’s new work for piano and orchestra, part of the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture. Also included in the festival is the New York premiere of Angel Lam’s Awakening from a Disappearing Garden for Cello and Orchestra, performed by conductor Robert Spano, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Other notable Carnegie Hall commissions and co-commissions include new works by John Adams, Peter Lieberson, and Osvaldo Golijov for pianist Emanuel Ax, to be performed as part of three separate concerts—a solo piano recital as well as collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Dawn Upshaw—celebrating the 200th anniversary of the births of Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann. In addition, Carnegie Hall has commissioned a new work from Magnus Lindberg for pianist Yefim Bronfman and co-commissioned Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem for the Hilliard Ensemble and Arditti Quartet as well as a new work from Steven Mackey for So Percussion. Additional Carnegie Hall co-commissions include Thomas Adès’ Lieux retrouvés for cellist Steven Isserlis, to be premiered with the composer himself at the piano; and Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer for the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Trio Mediaeval.
Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home for the Kronos Quartet and pipa player Wu Man has been co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall as a major highlight of Kronos’ Perspectives series. Also part of Kronos’ Perspectives series are world premieres of new works by Victor Gama and J.G. Thirlwell, and local premieres of music by Terry Riley, Ge Gan-Ru, the duo of Hurdy-Gurdy (Stefan Brisland-Ferner and Totte Mattsson), Derek Charke, and Dohee Lee.
In its annual “Orchestra Underground” series of three concerts, the American Composers Orchestra performs 11 premieres from a wide variety of composers. In Transmigrations, new works from Erin Gee, Curt Cacioppo, Huang Ruo, and Donal Fox, are performed along with Charles Ives’ Tone Roads Nos. 1 and 3. A program titled Conversations features premieres by Roger Zare, Sebastian Currier, and Paquito D’Rivera. In its final program, Louis and the New Generation—part of Louis Andriessen’s residency as holder of Carnegie Hall’s Debs Composer’s Chair—ACO performs the New York premiere of Andriessen’s The Hague Hacking with the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo alongside world premieres from three young American composers influenced by Andriessen: Missy Mazzoli, Michael Fiday, and John Korsud.
Also during Mr. Andriessen’s residency, the renowned ensemble Asko | Schoenberg and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw perform two programs focusing on the composer’s works: the first is the New York premiere of his 2008 opera La Commedia, based on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, performed in a concert version with vocalists Claron McFadden, Jeroen Willems, Cristina Zavalloni, Synergy Vocals, and The Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The following evening, the ensemble and conductor return to perform Andriessen’s Zilver, Martijn Padding’s First Harmonium Concerto, and Reinbert de Leeuw’s Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (In the Lovely Month of May) with Barbara Sukowa.
Other new works performed at Carnegie Hall this season include John Williams’ On Willows and Birches, performed by harpist Ann Hobson Pilot and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Levine on Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala program; James MacMillan’s String Quartet No. 3, John Psathas’ A Cool Wind, and Wolfgang Rihm’s String Quartet No. 11, all performed by Takács Quartet; a new work by Victor Kissine performed by the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas; and a work by Dan Trueman performed by So Percussion.
Orchestras
Carnegie Hall presents performances by 16 American orchestras and eight international orchestras during the 2009–2010 season.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director James Levine open the Carnegie Hall season with a gala concert featuring Evgeny Kissin as soloist in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The Opening Night program also features the New York premiere of John Williams’ On Willows and Birches, for harp and orchestra, written for longtime BSO Principal Harp Ann Hobson Pilot; Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture; and Debussy’s La Mer. The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Mr. Levine return to Carnegie Hall three additional times next season, including a program of Elliott Carter and Maurice Ravel with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, baritone Michael Volle, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
James Levine also leads The MET Orchestra in two concerts at Carnegie Hall, one featuring mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and the other featuring soprano Diana Damrau. For The MET Orchestra’s third concert of the season, Pierre Boulez—in his 85th birthday year—conducts a program of Bartók’s The Wooden Prince and Schoenberg’s Erwartung with soprano Deborah Polaski. Mr. Boulez’s 85th birthday is also celebrated by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when he—the orchestra’s Conductor Emeritus—leads the CSO in two evenings of music by Schoenberg, Bartók, Ravel, and Boulez.
In Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, two renowned chamber orchestras perform a quartet of choral masterworks during the new season. The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique with The Monteverdi Choir and the ensemble’s and choir’s founder, conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, will make their Carnegie Hall debut with Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation as part of Carnegie Hall’s “Haydn After Mozart” focus on the great composer’s late works. And Les Violons du Roy with Music Director Bernard Labadie and La Chapelle de Québec perform Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in the first two parts of Carnegie Hall’s “Nativity Triptych” holiday weekend, featuring three landmark choral works depicting the Nativity story.
The Orchestra of St. Luke’s closes Carnegie Hall’s “Nativity Triptych” with composer John Adams conducting a concert performance of his work El Niño with soprano Dawn Upshaw, mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and countertenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Steven Rickards with the Westminster Symphonic Choir. Other concerts by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s this season are conducted by Sir Roger Norrington and Christian Zacharias.
American orchestras making their first Carnegie Hall appearances with new music directors this season are the New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert performing the US premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto with clarinetist Kari Kriikku; and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Manfred Honeck in a program featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter in Brahms’ Violin Concerto as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, “Titan.”
Appearing during the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture are the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Music Director David Robertson performing Tan Dun’s Water Concerto with percussionist Colin Currie and Bright Sheng’s Colors of Crimson along with China-influenced works by Stravinsky and Bartók; the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Robert Spano performing a new work by Angel Lam with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol; and the China Philharmonic with Music Director Long Yu, who close the festival with Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben and Tan Dun’s Piano Concerto, “The Fire,” featuring Lang Lang as soloist.
The Berliner Philharmoniker and Music Director Sir Simon Rattle return to Carnegie Hall to perform the complete cycle of Brahms symphonies over the course of three evenings, juxtaposed with works by Schoenberg. The Mariinsky Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev performs Berlioz’s epic works Romeo et Juliet and Les Troyens over three concerts. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra also performs three concerts—two conducted by Daniel Barenboim and one by Pierre Boulez with Mr. Barenboim featured as soloist in Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto. Other international orchestras making appearances at Carnegie Hall this season are the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in two concerts under Music Director Riccardo Chailly, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons in two performances.
The Philadelphia Orchestra performs three times during the season, twice under Chief Conductor and Artistic Adviser Charles Dutoit—including a concert featuring Piotr Anderszewski in Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 4, “Symphonie concertante,” as part of the pianist’s focus on the composer—and once under Christoph Eschenbach. Among other highlights are the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas in two programs including a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in Henry Brant’s orchestration of Ives’ “Concord” Sonata, the Concord Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”; the Houston Symphony and Music Director Hans Graf in a special program entitled The Planets: An HD Odyssey which features Holst’s The Planets performed with a newly created high-definition film from NASA; the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Paavo Järvi returning to Carnegie Hall with music by Ravel, Bach, Bartók, and Lutoslawski and a collaboration with pianist Radu Lupu; the Minnesota Orchestra and Music Director Osmo Vänskä in Sibelius’ epic symphony Kullervo along with Beethoven’s Große Fuge; and the New York String Orchestra celebrating its 40th anniversary in its two annual concerts led by conductor Jaime Laredo.
Chamber Music
A number of outstanding chamber music collaborations take place at Carnegie Hall during the new season. As part of his three concerts at Carnegie Hall this season focusing on the works of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, pianist Piotr Anderszewski shares two concerts with the Belcea Quartet, in programs also featuring soprano Iwona Sobotka and violinist and violist Henning Kraggerud. As part of the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, pianist Lang Lang performs chamber music with young, emerging classical musicians from China.
Cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist/composer Thomas Adès perform the US premiere of Adès’ Lieux retrouvés, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, on a program that also includes violinist Anthony Marwood and works by Janácek, Poulenc, and Ravel. Additional chamber music highlights include violinist Christian Tetzlaff collaborating with cellist Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Lars Vogt on both of Schubert’s piano trios as well as trios by Dvorák and Shostakovich; the ATOS Trio, recipient of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award, performing as part of Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debuts series; and the Takács Quartet performing three times over the course of the season, with each concert juxtaposing the New York premiere of a new work (by Wolfgang Rihm, James MacMillan, and John Psathas) with quartets by Schumann and Beethoven. Other quartets appearing at Carnegie Hall this season include Artemis Quartet in Zankel Hall as well as the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Leipzig String Quartet, London Haydn Quartet, and the Kuss Quartet in Weill Recital Hall.
The MET Chamber Ensemble under the direction of James Levine performs at Carnegie Hall twice this season. The first program pairs works by Boulez with Mozart, and the second includes Sessions’ Concertino for Chamber Orchestra, Babbitt’s The Head of the Bed, Carter’s Syringa, and Richard Strauss’s Der Bürger als Edelmann Suite.
In addition to the performances by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Les Violons du Roy (see above), other season highlights by early music and Baroque chamber ensembles are Zankel Hall concerts by Europa Galante and Director Fabio Biondi, performing works by Telemann, Sammartini, Nardini, Corelli, and Locatelli; and the Venice Baroque Orchestra and Director Andrea Marcon, performing concertos by Albinoni, Vivaldi, Geminani, and Tartini.
Recitals
Vocal recital highlights of Carnegie Hall’s 2009–2010 season include the New York recital debuts of acclaimed tenor Rolando Villazón in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage as well as Austrian soprano Genia Kühmeier, bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni, and French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, all in Weill Recital Hall. Legendary American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade performs her New York farewell recital in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Among other highlights, Dame Emma Kirkby performs a program entitled Music at Twilight: Songs and Solos from Early 17th-Century Europe with lute player Jakob Lindberg; Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená performs in recital with pianist Yefim Bronfman; soprano Sumi Jo and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky perform together in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with an orchestra to be announced; and renowned bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff performs in recital with pianist Helmut Deutsch. Additional recitalists include sopranos Christine Brewer, Dorothea Röschmann, and Christine Schäfer; mezzo-sopranos Jamie Barton and Alice Coote; and bass-baritone Gerald Finley.
Pianist Emanuel Ax performs in three recitals at Carnegie Hall this season, celebrating the 200th birthday year of both Chopin and Schumann—one solo recital, one with soprano Dawn Upshaw, and one with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. For each of Mr. Ax’s three performances, a contemporary work—from composers John Adams, Peter Lieberson, and Osvaldo Golijov—has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall.
Among other instrumental recitals this season, pianist Thomas Adès makes his Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage recital debut in a program of Prokofiev, Beethoven, and Brahms; pianist Mitsuko Uchida performs Beethoven’s last three sonatas; Chinese pianist Yundi Li performs a solo recital as part of the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture; violinist Julia Fischer performs Bach’s complete Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin over two recitals; fortepianist Andreas Staier performs Haydn works as part of Carnegie Hall’s “Haydn After Mozart” focus; 16-year-old virtuoso pianist and Alfred Brendel protégé Kit Armstrong performs in recital; and pianist Maurizio Pollini celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Frederic Chopin in three solo recitals. Other recitals are given by violinists Joshua Bell with pianist Jeremy Denk, Christian Svarfvar (New York recital debut), Monica Huggett, and Fabio Biondi; cellist Andreas Brantelid with pianist Bengt Forsberg; and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Nicolas Hodges, Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Peter Serkin, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Pop, Jazz, and World Music
Among the pop music highlights for the new season are six performances by The New York Pops in programs led by the ensemble’s new Music Director Steven Reineke. These concerts include a season opening tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr., and Sam Cooke with television star Wayne Brady, whose version of Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” recently earned him a Grammy Award nomination; a musical tribute to the legendary singer/songwriter Johnny Mercer; and The Best of Lerner and Loewe featuring Kelli O’Hara and Paulo Szot, stars of the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific.
Michael Feinstein, interpreter of the “Great American Songbook,” performs his annual three-concert series in Zankel Hall next season; Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester return to Carnegie Hall, following their acclaimed performance that launched Carnegie Hall’s November 2007 Berlin in Lights festival; and bluegrass band Punch Brothers, led by acclaimed mandolin player Chris Thile, perform in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The WFUV Live at Zankel series, curated by WFUV Music Director Rita Houston and Carnegie Hall, will also return for its fifth season dedicated to celebrating distinctive singer-songwriters and the eclectic nature of modern folk music through a series of acoustic events in Zankel Hall (artists and dates for this season are to be announced).
Carnegie Hall will present the seventh season of its Shape of Jazz series this season. In partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment, the series features three events, including a star-studded musical celebration commemorating the 85th birthday of NEA Jazz Master and saxophonist James Moody, an evening with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, and a concert featuring Brazilian pianist and singer Eliane Elias. For its second season, Carnegie Hall’s Just Jazz: The Joyce Wein Series—three concerts curated by legendary jazz impresario George Wein in remembrance of his late wife—features performances by trumpeter Jon Faddis; the George Wein Newport All-Stars in a special reunion to include Howard Alden, Randy Brecker, Anat Cohen, and others to be announced; and pianists Hiromi, Kenny Barron, and Roger Kellaway, who perform a concert in remembrance of legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson.
Carnegie Hall continues its tradition of presenting a diverse array of artists from countries around the world. In addition to programs as part of the citywide festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture, world music highlights include performances by Brazilian pop singer Milton Nascimento and legendary sitarist/composer Ravi Shankar in concert with his daughter, sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar. Carnegie Hall also continues its World Views series in partnership with the World Music Institute, with artists including Portuguese singer/guitarist/composer Sara Tavares; West African lute player Bassekou Kouyata; and the Mexican folk music ensemble Sones De Mexico. The series also includes a concert entitled Ancient Spirits—also part of the China festival—which is curated by Wu Man and features traditional Chinese music which is performed at village rituals.
Carnegie Hall Partnerships
The following organizations are artistic partners during the 2009–2010 season: Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC, Asia Society, China Institute, George Wein, Guggenheim Museum, The Joyce Theater, The Juilliard School, Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award, The Marilyn Horne Foundation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Department of Education, The Paley Center for Media, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, WFUV, and the World Music Institute.
For complete concert information for the 2009–2010 season, please visit carnegiehall.org.
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