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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UPDATED December 1, 2015
November 5, 2015
Contact: Katherine E. Johnson
(212) 875-5718; [email protected]
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC 2015 HOLIDAY CONCERTS
20TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BRASS
CANADIAN BRASS To Join the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet
December 13, 2015
HANDEL’S MESSIAH
Presented by Gary W. Parr
Conducted by JANE GLOVER in Her Philharmonic Debut
December 15–19, 2015
FREE INSIGHTS AT THE ATRIUM Event: “Messiah: Then and Now,” December 14, 2015
OH, WHAT FUN! A PHILHARMONIC HOLIDAY
NEW YORK CITY GAY MEN’S CHORUS To Join Orchestra for
Holiday Songs, Classical Works, and an Audience Sing-Along
Artist-in-Residence ERIC OWENS To Perform “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Conducted by COURTNEY LEWIS
December 18–19, 2015
NEW YEAR’S EVE: LA VIE PARISIENNE
Featuring Mezzo-Soprano SUSAN GRAHAM,
Artist-in-Association INON BARNATAN, and Pianist MAKOTO OZONE
Conducted by ALAN GILBERT
Nationally Telecast on Live From Lincoln Center
December 31, 2015
The New York Philharmonic’s 2015 holiday season presents classic masterpieces and seasonal
favorites, the Philharmonic’s Artist-in-Residence and Artist-in-Association as well as debuts, and
continuing and new traditions. This schedule includes the 20th annual Holiday Brass concert,
featuring the return of the Canadian Brass, which helped launch the event in 1995, alongside the
New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet; Handel’s Messiah, led by Jane Glover in her
New York Philharmonic debut; Oh, What Fun! A Philharmonic Holiday, led by Philharmonic
Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis and featuring the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, The
Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Eric Owens performing “You’re a Mean One,
Mr. Grinch,” and a carol sing-along; and New Year’s Eve: La Vie Parisienne, led by Alan
Gilbert and featuring mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, Artist-in-Association Inon Barnatan, and
pianist Makoto Ozone. The New Year’s Eve concert will be telecast live nationally on Live From
Lincoln Center on PBS stations.
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 2
December 13, 2015, at 3:00 p.m. — Holiday Brass
The 20th annual Holiday Brass concert features the New York Philharmonic Principal
Brass Quintet joining forces with Canadian Brass, plus New York Philharmonic
percussionists, for seasonal favorites from the Baroque to contemporary.
December 14, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. — Insights at the Atrium: “Messiah: Then and Now”
The New York Philharmonic’s free Insights at the Atrium series will present “Messiah:
Then and Now,” featuring music historian Thomas Forrest Kelly. The event takes place
at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Columbus Avenue at 62nd Street) and
is co-presented with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
December 15–17, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; December 18, 2015, at 11:00 a.m.; and
December 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. — Handel’s Messiah Handel’s celebrated and celebratory oratorio returns, conducted by Jane Glover (in her
Philharmonic debut) and sung by soprano Heidi Stober (debut), countertenor Tim Mead,
tenor Paul Appleby, and baritone Roderick Williams, as well as the Westminster
Symphonic Choir, Joe Miller, director.
In the Pre-Concert Insights, which begin one hour before the start of each performance,
composer Joelle Wallach will introduce the program.
December 18, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. and December 19, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. —
Oh, What Fun! A Philharmonic Holiday
The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus joins the New York Philharmonic, led by
Assistant Conductor Courtney Lewis, for holiday music including Hague’s “You’re a
Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” performed by Artist-in-Residence Eric Owens; classical works
by Tchaikovsky and Humperdinck; popular favorites including a mash-up of Irving
Berlin’s “Happy Holiday” and Pharrell Williams’s “Happy”; and an audience sing-along
of traditional carols.
December 31, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. — New Year’s Eve: La Vie Parisienne Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s
Eve celebration, this year featuring a program of French music. Artist-in-Association
Inon Barnatan will perform alongside pianist Makoto Ozone in Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of
the Animals, featuring a new narration; mezzo-soprano Susan Graham will perform vocal
works including Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en rose”; and the Orchestra will perform Ravel’s
Pavane pour une Infante défunte and selections from Offenbach’s Gaîté parisienne. The
concert will be telecast live nationally on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS stations.
Artists
HOLIDAY BRASS (December 13, 2015)
With an international reputation as one of the most popular brass ensembles today, Canadian
Brass (Chuck Daellenbach, tuba; Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone; Bernhard Scully, horn;
and Caleb Hudson and Christopher Coletti, trumpets) has developed an engaging rapport with
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audiences. The ensemble’s varied repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque to Dixieland,
features brass standards; critically acclaimed new compositions from Michael Kamen, Luther
Henderson, Bramwell Tovey, Don Gillis, and others; and a wide-ranging library of more than
600 original arrangements. The group has a discography of more than 130 albums and continues
to appear on the Billboard chart. With an extensive worldwide touring schedule, Canadian Brass
was a pioneer in bringing brass music to mass audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan, and
Europe. The ensemble has also toured South America, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and
Australia; and was the first brass ensemble from the West to perform in the People’s Republic of
China as well as on the main stage at Carnegie Hall. Committed to education and training the
next generation of players, Canadian Brass is currently ensemble-in-residence at the University
of Toronto, after having served for many years as chamber quintet-in-residence at the Music
Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. The group also created an innovative brass
summer course at the Eastman School of Music, and it works with El Sistema, the acclaimed
global music education program in Venezuela. Canadian Brass has appeared on The Tonight
Show, TODAY, Sesame Street, and Entertainment Tonight and performed for more than half a
billion television viewers in China on Chinese New Year. They have appeared on Evening at
Pops with John Williams and the Boston Pops, Beverly Sills’s Music Around the World, and on
the sound track to the 1988 film The Couch Trip starring Dan Aykroyd and Walter Matthau.
The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet enjoys worldwide exposure and an
international reputation. The members of the group are Acting Associate Principal Trumpet
Ethan Bensdorf, Associate Principal Horn Richard Deane, Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi,
Principal Tuba Alan Baer, and, in these performances, guest trumpet Kevin Cobb. The
ensemble’s debut came at the invitation of the Canadian Brass, when the two quintets joined in a
1983 concert in Ottawa, Canada. The two groups have since collaborated at the summer festivals
of Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, Great Woods, and Mostly Mozart; with their brass colleagues from
the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra on five recordings and one
educational video; and for performances in cities throughout Canada and the United States. Since
1995 the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet has hosted an annual New York
Philharmonic Holiday Brass concert at Lincoln Center, with the Canadian Brass as its inaugural
guest. The Principal Brass Quintet also joined forces with the Salvation Army’s New York Staff
Band in two Gala Festivals at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. In addition, the ensemble
performed with the Empire Brass at the Carnegie Hall Centennial Gala in May 1991. The New
York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet has been a regular encore feature on the Orchestra’s
tours, with appearances in Europe, South America, Asia, and in the U.S., as well as at the
Orchestra’s residencies in Cagliari, Italy and Vail, Colorado; the group also represented the
Philharmonic for special occasions such as the opening of the Upper West Side Apple Store (in
2009), the opening of UNIQLO’s Fifth Avenue flagship store (2014), and a free performance at
Zurich’s Main Station as part of the Orchestra’s EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. The ensemble
has performed solo concerts throughout the U.S. and Japan, and in the cities of Luxembourg,
Monterrey (Mexico).
HANDEL’S MESSIAH (December 15–19, 2015)
Jane Glover, music director of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque and artistic director of Opera at
London’s Royal Academy of Music, made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in
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1975 conducting her own edition of Cavalli’s L’eritrea. She joined Glyndebourne in 1979 and
was music director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981 to 1985. She was artistic
director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991. Highlights in recent and upcoming
seasons in addition to her New York Philharmonic debut include concerts with the Philharmonia,
Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Mostly Mozart Festival orchestras; Academy of St. Martin in the
Fields; Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall; and the San Francisco, Toronto, Cincinnati, St.
Louis, and Houston symphony orchestras. She collaborates closely with the Mark Morris Dance
Group, for whom she has conducted major productions of Purcell (King Arthur), Handel
(L’allegro), and Mozart. She has led operatic productions that include Mozart’s The Magic Flute
at The Metropolitan Opera; Mozart’s Così fan tutte in Berlin; Mozart’s The Abduction from the
Seraglio at the Royal Opera; Gluck’s Armide and Iphigenie en Aulide (The Juilliard School/Met
Lindemann program); Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute at Chicago Opera
Theater; Mozart’s Lucio Silla, Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Handel’s Jeptha (Bordeaux);
Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Goteborg, Sweden); Royal Academy of Music productions
including the World Premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies’s Kommilitonen (directed by its librettist
David Pountney), productions of Così fan tutte, Cavalli’s Giasone, Berlioz’s Béatrice et
Bénédict, and The Magic Flute; Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Aspen); Mozart’s Don Giovanni (directed by
James Robinson in St. Louis), and The Magic Flute (directed by Isaac Mizrahi in St. Louis). Ms.
Glover’s many recordings feature a series of Mozart and Haydn symphonies (ASV) and arias
with Felicity Lott, both with the London Mozart Players; works by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert,
Mendelssohn, Britten, and Walton with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, and BBC
Singers; and Haydn Masses for Naxos and Handel’s Messiah for Signum. Her extensive
broadcasting career includes the television series Orchestra and Mozart, and the radio series
Opera House and Musical Dynasties, all for the BBC. Her book, Mozart’s Women, was
published in September 2005 and nominated for both the Samuel Johnson Prize and the
Whitbread Prize for Non-Fiction. She was created a CBE in the 2003 New Year’s Honors.
Soprano Heidi Stober’s 2015–16 season includes a role debut of Johanna in Stephen
Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at San Francisco Opera, followed by a role and house debut with the
Lyric Opera of Chicago as Valencienne in Léhar’s The Merry Widow, and a return to Houston
Grand Opera as Susanna in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. She makes her Dresden
Semperoper company and role debut in the title role of Handel’s Alcina and sings Micaëla in
Bizet’s Carmen. She continues her relationship with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, performing
Pamina (in Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Adina (in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore), and Micäela. In
addition to her New York Philharmonic debut in these performances of Handel’s Messiah, her
concert appearances include a joint recital with her husband, baritone Simon Pauly, in Berlin.
Ms. Stober’s operatic highlights include leading roles with The Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe
Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Opera Philadelphia, and Il Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile.
Notable concert engagements include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Milwaukee Symphony, St. Paul Chamber, The Philadelphia, Baltimore Symphony, Houston
Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Berlin Radio Symphony
orchestras, and a solo recital in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Heidi Stober’s professional
training took place at the Houston Grand Opera Studio, and she holds degrees from Lawrence
University and the New England Conservatory.
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Countertenor Tim Mead’s 2015–16 season highlights include Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream at Glyndebourne; Arsamene in Cavalli’s Xerse with Le Concert d’Astrée at Opéra
de Lille, Theater an der Wien, and Theatre de Caen; the leading role in Theater Basel’s
Melancholia program; and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Les Arts Florissants. Past concert
highlights include Angel 1/Boy in the U.S. Premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at
Lincoln Center and on tour with Mahler Chamber Orchestra and appearances with the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment, Le Concert d’Astrée, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Les Arts
Florissants, Le Concert d’Astree, De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, English Concert, and
Akademie für Alte Musik. He has worked with such leading conductors as Alan Gilbert, Ivor
Bolton, William Christie, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone,
Emmanuelle Haïm, Vladimir Jurowski, Nicholas McGegan, Marc Minkowski, and Masaaki
Suzuki. Mr. Mead’s operatic highlights include Theo Loevendie’s Spinoza at Amsterdam’s Royal
Concertgebouw, the title role in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten at Opera Vlaanderen, the title role in
Handel’s Riccardo Primo at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Endimione in Cavalli’s La calisto at
Bavarian Staatsoper, Apollo in Britten’s Death in Venice at English National Opera and De
Nederlandse Opera, the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne, and Harrison
Birtwistle’s The Minotaur for the Royal Opera House. Tim Mead’s discography includes Bach’s
St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor, Handel’s Messiah, Saul, Solomon, Israel in Egypt, The
Triumph of Time and Truth, Admeto, Flavio, Riccardo Primo, and Rinaldo and Monteverdi’s
L’incoronazione di Poppea. Mr. Mead previously appeared in the Philharmonic’s December 2012
performances of Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Gary Thor Wedow.
Following a summer season that introduced Paul Appleby to Glyndebourne in a new production
by Barrie Kosky of Handel’s Saul, the tenor’s 2015–16 season includes his return to The
Metropolitan Opera as Belmonte in Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, San Francisco
Opera debut as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and return next summer to Glyndebourne
in the title role in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict. Concert performances feature collaborations
with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony in Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s
Coronation Mass, and with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the Mozart
Requiem. Profoundly committed to the art of song, the tenor makes his Wigmore Hall recital
debut, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau, and tours North America with pianist Ken Noda in
performances presented by Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Friends of Chamber Music
of Miami, and the University of Notre Dame. With Steven Blier, Mr. Appleby performs in a
unique program at the New York Festival of Song offering the exquisite lyricism of Franz
Schubert and The Beatles. Paul Appleby is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann
Young Artist Development Program and received the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in
the Performing and Visual Arts. Other awards include the 2012 Top Prize by the Gerda Lissner
Foundation, 2012 Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, 2011 Richard Tucker Career
Grant and George London Foundation Award, and being the National Winner of the 2009
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. A recipient of an artist diploma in Opera
Studies at The Juilliard School, he has also received a master’s degree from Juilliard and a
bachelor’s degree in English Literature and in Music from the University of Notre Dame. Mr.
Appleby made his Philharmonic debut in June 2012 in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, conducted by
Alan Gilbert, and he joined the Orchestra that July for the same piece as part of the annual
Bravo! Vail residency.
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Baritone Roderick Williams’s work encompasses a wide repertoire, which ranges from Baroque
to contemporary music, performed in the opera house, on the concert platform, and in recital. He
enjoys relationships with all the major U.K. opera houses and is particularly associated with the
baritone roles of Mozart. He has also sung World Premieres of operas by, among others, David
Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa, Robert Saxton, and Alexander Knaifel. Mr. Williams
sings concert repertoire with all the BBC orchestras and many other ensembles including the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Bournemouth Symphony, Scottish
Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. He has worked with the
Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra,
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestra della
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bach Collegium Japan, Tonkünstler Orchester, Music of
the Baroque Chicago, Virginia Arts Festival, and the San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Utah
symphony orchestras, among others. His many festival appearances include the BBC Proms
(including the Last Night in 2014), Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, and Melbourne festivals.
Future concerts include recitals at Park Avenue Armory in New York. He is an accomplished
recital artist who can be heard at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place,
LSO St Luke’s, Perth Concert Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, and the
Vienna Musikverein. Also a composer, Mr. Williams has had works premiered at Wigmore and
Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room, and live on national radio. He will be artistic director of Leeds
Lieder + in April 2016.
Recognized as one of the world’s leading choral ensembles, the Westminster Symphonic Choir
has recorded and performed with major orchestras under many internationally acclaimed
conductors for the past 81 years. Its members are students at Westminster Choir College of Rider
University in Princeton, New Jersey. In addition to these performances, the ensemble’s 2015–16
season includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New Jersey Symphony, conducted by
Jacques Lacombe, and the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Simon Rattle, as well as Mahler’s
Symphony No. 8 with The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Recent
seasons have included performances of Berg’s Wozzeck with the London Philharmonia and Esa-
Pekka Salonen; Villa-Lobos’s Choros No. 10 with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of
Venezuela and Gustavo Dudamel; and former Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence
Christopher Rouse’s Requiem with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert at Carnegie
Hall. Westminster Choir College is a division of Rider University’s Westminster College of the
Arts, which has campuses in Princeton and Lawrenceville, New Jersey. A professional college of
music with a unique choral emphasis, Westminster prepares students for careers in teaching,
sacred music, and performance. Choirs from Westminster have appeared with the Philharmonic
since 1939, when the Westminster Choir performed Rossini’s Messa solenne conducted by John
Barbirolli; the Westminster Symphonic Choir most recently participated in the December 2014
presentation of Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Gary Thor Wedow. Joe Miller is conductor of
the Westminster Choir and the Westminster Symphonic Choir, as well as director of choral
activities at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and artistic director for choral
activities at the Spoleto Festival USA. His 2015–16 Westminster Choir season includes a concert
tour of the eastern United States, a residency with Carnegie Hall, several national radio
broadcasts, and their annual residency at Spoleto Festival USA. As conductor of the Westminster
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Symphonic Choir, Dr. Miller has collaborated with some of the world’s leading orchestras and
conductors. He is also founder and conductor of the Westminster Summer Choral Festival
Chamber Choir, a program that offers professional-level choral and vocal artists the opportunity
to explore challenging works for one week each summer on the Westminster campus in
Princeton.
Insights at the Atrium Speaker
Thomas Forrest Kelly has been professor of music at Harvard University since 1994 and was
chair of the department of music from 1999 to 2005. His research interest is in medieval music,
and in the performance practices of past musical eras. He was artistic director of the Castle Hill
Festival (Massachusetts), and directed the early-music program at the five colleges in
Massachusetts and the historical performance program at the Oberlin Conservatory. His most
recent book is Capturing Music: The Story of Notation (Norton, 2014). His book The Beneventan
Chant (Cambridge University Press) was awarded the Otto Kinkeldey award of the American
Musicological Society for 1989, and has been translated into Korean and Chinese. He is also the
author of, among other books and articles, First Nights: Five Musical Premieres (Yale, 2000,
named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year); First Nights at the Opera (Yale, 2004); and
Early Music: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2011, which was translated into German and
Hungarian). He is a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic and a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
OH, WHAT FUN! A PHILHARMONIC HOLIDAY (December 18–19, 2015)
Courtney Lewis began his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic in
September 2014. The 2015–16 season marks Mr. Lewis’s first as music director of the
Jacksonville Symphony. His previous posts include associate conductor of the Minnesota
Orchestra, where he made his subscription debut in the 2011–12 season, and Dudamel Fellow
with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he made his debut in the fall of 2011. From 2008 to
2014 Mr. Lewis was the music director of Boston’s Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra
dedicated both to giving concerts of contemporary and established repertoire at the highest level
of musical and technical excellence, and to bringing live music into the least privileged parts of
Boston through workshops in local schools. He made his major American orchestral debut in
November 2008 with the St. Louis Symphony, and has since appeared with the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota
Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony,
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Lausanne
Chamber Orchestra, and Ulster Orchestra, among others. In the 2015–16 season he will make his
subscription debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Royal
Flemish Philharmonic, and Colorado Symphony; return to the RTÉ National Symphony
Orchestra of Ireland; and assist Thomas Adès at the Salzburg Festival for the World Premiere of
Adès’s opera The Exterminating Angel. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Courtney Lewis
graduated from the University of Cambridge, where he studied composition with Robin
Holloway and clarinet with Dame Thea King. After completing a master’s degree with a focus
on the late music of Ligeti, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music, where his teachers
included Mark Elder and Clark Rundell. Courtney Lewis made his made his New York
Philharmonic debut leading a Young People’s Concert in November 2014; most recently he
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shared a program with Music Director Alan Gilbert leading Philharmonic musicians in the
March 2015 CONTACT! “New Music from Nordic Countries” performance at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
As the 2015–16 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic,
bass-baritone Eric Owens appears as soloist throughout the season, and is expanding the role of
the Philharmonic’s Artist-in-Residence by curating programs and participating in educational
activities. Mr. Owens’s 2015–16 season features orchestral engagements including performances
of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the St. Louis Symphony, led by Markus Stenz, and with
the Minnesota Orchestra, led by Osmo Vänskä; Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortileges with the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Esa-Pekka Salonen; Brahms’s A German Requiem
with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, led by Mr. Stenz; and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with The
Cleveland Orchestra, led by Franz Welser-Möst. He will also join Music of the Baroque as
Simon in concert performances of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus conducted by Jane Glover.
Operatic highlights of Mr. Owens’s season include his return to The Metropolitan Opera as Orest
in a new production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra, directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by
Esa-Pekka Salonen, which will be broadcast on the Emmy and Peabody Award–winning Live in
HD series to movie theaters around the world, and he will host The Met’s Live in HD broadcast
of Verdi’s Otello. He returns to Santa Fe Opera for his role debut as La Roche in a new
production of Richard Strauss’s Capriccio directed by Tim Albery, and to Washington National
Opera as Stephen Kumalo in Weill’s Lost in the Stars. At the Kennedy Center in Washington,
D.C., he will perform an evening of jazz standards featuring the music of Billy Eckstine and
Johnny Hartman, and he will also appear in recital under the auspices of the McCarter Theatre,
Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, Oberlin College and Conservatory, Troy
Chromatic Concerts, and Curtis Institute of Music.
For 36 seasons the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus (NYCGMC), one of the oldest and most
well-known choruses in the LGBTQ choral movement, has been committed to equality for
LGBTQ citizens and to fabulous singing. Its musicianship and professionalism has connected
with audiences throughout the world. NYCGMC performs a range of vocal styles — including
classical, pop, jazz, gospel, and Broadway — and has worked with talents in every genre,
including Marilyn Horne, Roberta Peters, Stephen Sondheim, Judy Collins, Kelli O’Hara,
Martha Wash, and Sia. Over the last year the chorus has appeared in HBO’s The Normal Heart,
NBC’s The Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, and the Drama League’s tribute to
Bernadette Peters. During its June 2014 tour of London and Ireland, NYCGMC donated a
concert in Dublin that raised more than €35,000 for Marriage Equality Ireland. Through
NYCGMC’s Connect program, the chorus hosts a series of smaller concerts and sing-alongs that
engage all populations of New York City, including youth, LGBT elders, and Caribbean and
Latina women living with HIV.
NEW YEAR’S EVE: LA VIE PARISIENNE (December 31, 2015)
Grammy Award–winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham achieved international stardom within
a few years of her professional debut. Her operatic roles span four centuries, from Monteverdi’s
Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea) to Jake Heggie’s Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man
Walking), written especially for her, and her recital repertoire is equally wide-ranging. As one of
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today’s foremost interpreters of French vocal music, the Texas native was awarded the French
government’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Ms. Graham enjoyed early success in “trouser”
roles before mastering more virtuosic parts and title roles. She created the female leads in The
Metropolitan Opera’s premiere productions of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Tobias
Picker’s An American Tragedy. Her discography features oratorios and song cycles by Berlioz,
Ravel, and Chausson, as well as solo albums including her Grammy-winning recording of Ives
songs. Among her additional honors are being named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year
and receiving an Opera News Award. She also collaborates frequently with pianist Malcolm
Martineau. Susan Graham kicked off the 2015–16 season with a solo recital in Washington,
D.C., and a concert with Mercury Baroque in Houston. She then returns to the Met as Countess
Geschwitz in a new production of Berg’s Lulu by artist-director William Kentridge, and for a
revival of Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus as Prince Orlovsky. European concert dates
include Britten at Teatro Real Madrid and recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall, Glasgow’s Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland, and the Vienna Konzerthaus. In the United States, Susan Graham
appears with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, with Michael Tilson Thomas
and the San Francisco Symphony, at the Celebrity Series of Boston, and with Orchestra of St.
Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the New York Philharmonic. The mezzo-soprano later
returns to Carnegie Hall to headline the program Susan Graham & Friends.
Equally commanding in solo and chamber performances, Inon Barnatan, an Avery Fisher
Career Grant recipient, has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland and
Philadelphia Orchestras, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-
Orchester, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the San Francisco, Jerusalem, and Shanghai
symphony orchestras. He has worked with such conductors as Roberto Abbado, James Gaffigan,
Matthias Pintscher, David Robertson, Edo de Waart, and Pinchas Zukerman. Passionate about
contemporary music, last season Mr. Barnatan premiered new pieces composed for him by
Pintscher and Sebastian Currier. In his second season as the New York Philharmonic’s Artist-in-
Association, in 2015–16 he performs concertos by Mozart and Beethoven, including as part of
the Philharmonic’s residency partnership with the University Musical Society at the University
of Michigan; appears on the annual New Year’s Eve concert; and performs Messiaen’s Quartet
for the End of Time alongside Alan Gilbert on violin and Philharmonic principal musicians at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur. Other season highlights include his
Disney Hall debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, led by Gustavo Dudamel, and a U.S. tour
with the San Francisco Symphony, led by Michael Tilson Thomas, featuring appearances at the
Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Barnatan’s discography includes Avie and Bridge
recordings of Schubert’s solo piano works, as well as Darknesse Visible, which was included on
The New York Times’s “Best of 2012” list. His Chopin and Rachmaninoff duo sonatas album,
recorded with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, will be released by Decca Classics next season. Born in
Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started piano at the age of three and made his orchestral debut
at eleven. His studies have connected him to past distinguished pianists and teachers: he studied
with Professor Victor Derevianko (a student of Heinrich Neuhaus); continued studies with Maria
Curcio (a student of Artur Schnabel) and Christopher Elton at London’s Royal Academy of
Music; and has since studied with and been mentored by Leon Fleisher. Inon Barnatan made his
Philharmonic subscription debut in March 2015 performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major,
led by Music Director Alan Gilbert; he most recently appeared with the Orchestra in October
2015 performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, led by Jaap van Zweden.
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 10
Pianist Makoto Ozone taught himself to play the organ while very young, made his first
television appearance at six, began performing regularly on Osaka Mainichi Broadcasting, and,
after attending an Oscar Peterson concert at 12, turned his attention toward jazz piano. He moved
to the United States in 1980 to study at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and graduated at the
top of his class in 1983 — the same year he gave a solo recital at Carnegie Hall and became the
first Japanese musician to sign an exclusive contract with CBS. He has recently explored
classical repertoire with conductors including Alan Gilbert, Charles Dutoit, Thomas Zehetmair,
Joseph Swensen, Alexandre Rabinovitch, Arie van Beek, Francois-Xavier Roth, Tadaaki Otaka,
Eiji Oue, and Michiyoshi Inoue. He has played Gershwin, Bernstein, Mozart, Beethoven,
Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich with the NDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de
Paris, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has
worked with numerous other jazz artists including Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera,
Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Christian McBride, Dave Weckl, and
Mike Stern. He is a regular guest of classical music festivals including the Festival de la Roque
d’Anthéron in France and La Folle Journée in Nantes and Japan. Makoto Ozone made his New
York Philharmonic debut in February 2014 on the ASIA / WINTER 2014 tour performing
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, in Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, and
Yokohama, and was immediately engaged to reprise the work with them in New York that April.
The same year he made a jazz arrangement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, Jeunehomme, for
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, with which he performed the World Premiere. He also
appeared with NDR Radiophilharmonie, San Francisco Symphony, and São Paulo Symphony
Orchestra. He also toured Japan with his big band, No Name Horses, and celebrated its tenth
anniversary with a new recording.
* * *
Major support for Holiday Brass is provided by the Gurnee and Marjorie Hart Endowment Fund.
* * *
Handel’s Messiah is presented by Gary W. Parr.
* * *
Jane Glover’s appearance is made possible through the Claudette Sorel Performance
Endowment Fund.
* * *
Eric Owens is The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence.
* * *
Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the
New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the
New York State Legislature.
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 11
Tickets
Single tickets for the Holiday Brass concert start at $49. Single tickets for Messiah start at $30.
Single tickets for Oh, What Fun! A Philharmonic Holiday start at $35. Single tickets for New
Year’s Eve: La Vie Parisienne start at $89. Pre-Concert Insights for Handel’s Messiah are $7
(visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org
or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00
p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the David
Geffen Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at
noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after
performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $16 tickets for select
concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or
in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the
Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. (Ticket prices subject to
change.)
Insights at the Atrium events are free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come,
first-served basis. Subscribers, Friends at the Affiliate level and above, and Patrons may secure
guaranteed admission by emailing [email protected]. Space is limited.
For press tickets, call Lanore Carr at the New York Philharmonic at (212) 875-5714, or email her
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 12
HOLIDAY BRASS
David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center
Sunday, December 13, 2015, 3:00 p.m.
New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet
Canadian Brass
HANDEL-L. MASON/Arr. K. Snell “Joy to the World”
HANDEL Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, from Solomon
SCHEIDT Echo for two brass choirs
G. GABRIELI Canzona per suonare IV
GUARALDI/Arr. B. Ridenour Charlie Brown Christmas
LENNON & MCCARTNEY/Arr. C. Dedrick “Penny Lane”
TRADITIONAL/Arr. L. Henderson “I Saw Three Ships”
VARIOUS/Arr. C. Dedrick Glenn Miller Medley
Christopher COLETTI Bach’s Bells
Caleb HUDSON White Rose Elegy
TRADITIONAL/Arr. R. Elkjer Chanukah Medley
VARIOUS/Arr. R. Elkjer Christmas Medley for two trombones and brass choir
VARIOUS/Arr. R. Carmichael & C. Dedrick Stan Kenton Christmas
INSIGHTS AT THE ATRIUM: “MESSIAH: THEN AND NOW”
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Columbus Avenue at 62nd Street)
Monday, December 14, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Music historian Thomas Forrest Kelly, speaker
In advance of the Philharmonic’s performances of Handel’s Messiah, December 15–19, 2015,
music historian Thomas Forrest Kelly revisits the premiere of Handel’s Messiah, shedding light
on what that audience would have expected, what surprised them, and what may have gone
unnoticed then that we find surprising today.
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 13
HANDEL’S MESSIAH
Presented by Gary W. Parr
David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center
Tuesday, December 15, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, December 17, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, December 18, 2015, 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, December 19, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Pre-Concert Insights (one hour before each concert) with composer Joelle Wallach
Jane Glover*, conductor
Heidi Stober*, soprano
Tim Mead, countertenor
Paul Appleby, tenor
Roderick Williams*, baritone
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, director
HANDEL Messiah
* denotes New York Philharmonic debut
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 14
OH, WHAT FUN! A PHILHARMONIC HOLIDAY
David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center
Friday, December 18, 2015, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 19, 2015, 2:00 p.m.
Courtney Lewis, conductor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
New York City Gay Men’s Chorus*
Program to include:
TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from The Nutcracker
Traditional/Arr. M. Gould “Good King Wenceslas”
TRADITIONAL/Arr. R. Wendel Christmas a la Valse
VARIOUS/Arr. M. Riese Christmas Trilogy
KENT & GANNON/Arr. M. Hayes “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
Mariah CAREY & Walter AFANASIEFF/ “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
Orch. O. Eldor
BERLIN/Pharrell WILLIAMS/ “Happy (Holiday)”
Orch. O. Eldor
ANDERSON Sleigh Ride
HUMPERDINCK Selections from Hansel and Gretel
Traditional/Arr. M. Gould “Adeste Fideles”
HERBERT/Arr. C. Dragon “Toyland” from Babes in Toyland
HAGUE & DR. SEUSS/Arr. E. Podanny “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
TRADITIONAL/Arr. C. Kitsopoulos Christmas Carol Sing-Along
* denotes New York Philharmonic debut
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2015 Holiday Concerts / 15
NEW YEAR’S EVE: LA VIE PARISIENNE
David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center
Thursday, December 31, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Live From Lincoln Center
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano
Inon Barnatan, piano
Makoto Ozone, piano
Program to include:
OFFENBACH Orpheus in the Underworld Overture
OFFENBACH “Ah! que j’aime les militaires” from The Grand
Duchess of Gerolstein
OFFENBACH “Ah! quel dîner” from La Périchole
SAINT-SAËNS Carnival of the Animals
RAVEL Pavane pour une Infante défunte
SIMONS “C’est ça la vie, c’est ça l’amour” from Toi c’est moi
PIAF & LOUIGUY “La Vie en rose”
OFFENBACH/Orch. Rosenthal Selections from Gaîté Parisienne
# # #
ALL PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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