THE BACH VARIATIONS: A PHILHARMONIC FESTIVAL MARCH 6 APRIL 6, 2013

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1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2013 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) ; THE BACH VARIATIONS: A PHILHARMONIC FESTIVAL MARCH 6 APRIL 6, 2013 PROGRAM II OF IV Alan Gilbert To Conduct Mass in B minor With Soprano Dorothea Röschmann, Mezzo-Soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, Tenor Steve Davislim, and Bass-Baritone Eric Owens with the New York Choral Artists March The New York Philharmonic will present The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival March 6 April 6, On the festival s second orchestral program, Alan Gilbert will conduct the Philharmonic in Bach s Mass in B minor, with soprano Dorothea Röschmann, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, tenor Steve Davislim, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, March 15 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, March 16 at 8:00 p.m. The Mass in B minor is a consummate masterpiece that makes me feel humble as a musician when I hear it, Alan Gilbert said. Bach took a liturgical, religious starting point and made it even more universal. No matter what you believe, no matter your religious credo, or whether or not you even have a religious credo, it is impossible not to be incredibly moved by this music because it speaks from one human being directly into the heart of another. I feel very privileged to be able to touch this music. The Bach Variations marks the first time the New York Philharmonic has presented a festival of the music of the Baroque master. Four orchestral programs will be led by different conductors Masaaki Suzuki, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Labadie, and András Schiff each bringing a different perspective to the composer s works. The festival continues March 20 23, 2013, with Bernard Labadie, who takes an early-music approach performed with modern instruments. Pianist András Schiff will conclude the festival in his Philharmonic conducting debut April 3 6, Principal Cello Carter Brey will perform Bach s Complete Cello Suites March 27 and April 1, 2013, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

2 The Bach Variations / Program II / 2 Related Events Pre-Concert Talks Violist/violinist and Philharmonic Senior Teaching Artist David Wallace will introduce the program. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. They take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) Insights Series Event The Bach Variations: Mass in B Minor Sir Nicholas Kenyon, speaker Monday, March 11, 2013, 6:30 p.m. New York Institute of Technology Auditorium on Broadway, 1871 Broadway at 61st Street Coinciding with the Philharmonic s month-long The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival, Sir Nicholas Kenyon managing director of London s Barbican Center and author of the Faber Pocket Guide to Bach examines Bach s changing reputation and explores his great Mass in B minor, which Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct, March 13 26, Tickets: $20; $15 for Philharmonic Friends (Affiliate level and above) and current Subscribers; and $10 for Patrons. National and International Radio Broadcast The program will be broadcast the week of April 3, 2013,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic s corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on FM WQXR on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information. Artists Music Director Alan Gilbert began his tenure at the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, launching what New York magazine called a fresh future for the Philharmonic. The first native New Yorker in the post, he has introduced the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, an annual multi-week festival, and CONTACT!, the new-music series, and he has sought to make the Orchestra a point of civic pride for the city and country. In , Alan Gilbert conducts world premieres; presides over a cycle of Brahms s complete symphonies and concertos; continues The Nielsen Project, the multi-year initiative to perform and record Nielsen s symphonies and concertos; and leads the EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. The season concludes with June Journey: Gilbert s Playlist, four programs showcasing themes he has introduced, including the season finale: a theatrical reimagining of Stravinsky ballets with director/designer

3 The Bach Variations / Program II / 3 Doug Fitch and New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Sara Mearns. Last season s highlights included tours of Europe and California, several world premieres, Mahler symphonies, and Philharmonic 360, the Philharmonic and Park Avenue Armory s acclaimed spatial-music program featuring Stockhausen s Gruppen, about which The New York Times said: Those who think classical music needs some shaking up routinely challenge music directors at major orchestras to think outside the box. That is precisely what Alan Gilbert did. Mr. Gilbert is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies and holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School. Conductor Laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of Hamburg s NDR Symphony Orchestra, he regularly conducts leading orchestras around the world. He made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams s Doctor Atomic in 2008, the DVD of which received a Grammy Award. His recordings have received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. In May 2010 Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and in December 2011, Columbia University s Ditson Conductor s Award for his exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music. Born in Flensburg, Germany, Dorothea Röschmann gained international recognition in 1995 when she sang the role of Susanna in Mozart s The Marriage of Figaro at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She has returned to Salzburg regularly to perform Mozart roles including Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Ilia in Idomeneo, Servilia and Vitellia in La clemenza de Tito, and Pamina in Mozart s The Magic Flute under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding, Charles Mackerras, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin as well as Nannetta in Verdi s Falstaff. Ms. Röschmann recently made her debut at Milan s Teatro alla Scala and is a regular guest at the Deutsche Staatsoper, Munich Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and The Metropolitan Opera. Her recent concert engagements have included the Berlin Philharmonic with Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink; Vienna Philharmonic with Christoph Harnoncourt, Daniel Barenboim, and Pierre Boulez; Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim; Munich Philharmonic with James Levine; Cleveland Orchestra with Franz Welser- Möst; Bavarian and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras with Harding; and Rotterdam Philharmonic with Nézet-Séguin. A prestigious recitalist, Dorothea Röschmann has given acclaimed concerts in venues such as Amsterdam s Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade, and the Edinburgh and Munich Festivals, and with Daniel Barenboim at the Deutche Staatsoper. Her recordings include The Marriage of Figaro with Nicholas Harnoncourt; Richard Strauss s Four Last Songs with Nézet-Séguin; Brahms s A German Requiem with Rattle (winner of a Grammy and a Gramophone Award); Mahler s Symphony No. 4 with Harding; and a CD of Schumann songs with Ian Bostridge and Graham Johnson. Dorothea Röschmann made her New York Philharmonic debut in December 2010 performing Mahler s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, conducted by Colin Davis. She most recently appeared with the Orchestra in Mahler s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, conducted by Alan Gilbert, as part of A Concert for New York, in remembrance and renewal on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

4 The Bach Variations / Program II / 4 Internationally acclaimed Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter has a lengthy and exclusive relationship with Deutsche Grammophon, with which she has produced a wealth of recordings and garnered numerous awards, including Recording Artist of the Year and a Grammy Award for best classical vocal performance. Her most recent recording, Sogno Barocco (Naïve), is a collection of Italian baroque arias, scenes, and duets that has been nominated for a Grammy. Anne Sofie von Otter earned international acclaim as Octavian in Richard Strauss s Der Rosenkavalier with performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bavarian Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, and Vienna Staatsoper. She also performed the role as part of a series of engagements with The Metropolitan Opera. Recent opera highlights have included her role debut in Charpentier s Médeé for Oper Frankfurt, Countess Geschwitz in Berg s Lulu at The Metropolitan Opera conducted by Fabio Luisi, Clytemnestre in Gluck s Iphigenie en Aulide at De Nederlandse Opera conducted by Marc Minkowski, and Geneviève in Debussy s Pelléas et Mélisande under Philippe Jordan for Opéra national de Paris. She appeared in Handel s Giulio Cesare at the 2012 Salzburg Festival with an all-star cast including Cecilia Bartoli and Andreas Scholl. Her ever-evolving repertoire has led to her adding the roles of Brangäne in Wagner s Tristan und Isolde, Baba the Turk in Stravinsky s The Rake s Progress, Didon in Berlioz s Les Troyens, and Waltraute in Wagner s Götterdämmerung. This season Ms. von Otter appears in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Gothenburg, Boston, and National symphony orchestras. Anne Sofie von Otter was born in Stockholm, graduated from the Stockholm College of Music, and studied further at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in September 1987 performing Berlioz s The Damnation of Faust, conducted by Colin Davis. Her most recent appearance was in December 2011 singing Schubert songs, conducted by Alan Gilbert. Australian tenor Steve Davislim has appeared with many of the leading opera companies of the world, including the Berlin Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, Hamburg Opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Australian Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. In 2005 he made his debut with Milan s Teatro alla Scala singing the title role in the season-opening performance of Mozart s Idomeneo, conducted by Daniel Harding, and has been reengaged there several times, most recently as Tamino in Mozart s The Magic Flute. Mr. Davislim has performed with prestigious orchestras throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and the Melbourne, Chicago, London, and National symphony orchestras, as well as in major international festivals, including the BBC Proms and the Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart, Lucerne, and Salzburg festivals. He has worked with conductors Claudio Abbado, Valery Gergiev, Christian Thielemann, Colin Davis, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Mackerras, and David Zinman. Mr. Davislim s numerous recordings include Brahms s Rinaldo, Holliger s Schneewittchen, Beethoven s Ninth Symphony (with David Zinman), Szymanowski s Lied der Nacht (with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic), Beethoven s Christ on the Mount of Olives, Tippett s A Child of Our Time (with Sir Colin Davis), Rossini s Petite Messe solennelle, Martin s Le Vin herbé, Haydn s Creation, and Martinu s Julietta (with Charles Mackerras). His numerous recordings on Australia s Melba and Deutsche Grammophon labels include Bach cantatas with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and

5 The Bach Variations / Program II / 5 Mozart s Requiem under Christian Thielemann. Steve Davislim made his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2011 in a performance of Handel s Messiah conducted by Peter Schreier. American bass-baritone Eric Owens received acclaim for portraying the title role in the World Premiere of Elliot Goldenthal s Grendel with the Los Angeles Opera, and again at Lincoln Center Festival in a production directed and designed by Julie Taymor. A champion of new music, Mr. Owens enjoys a close association with John Adams, for whom he performed the role of General Leslie Groves in the World Premiere of Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera, and of the Storyteller in the World Premiere of A Flowering Tree at Peter Sellars s New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Owens later recorded Doctor Atomic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, which received the 2012 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. His portrayal of Alberich in The Metropolitan Opera s current Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, has garnered rave reviews. During the season Mr. Owens performs Bellini s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the San Francisco Opera and Puccini s Madama Butterfly at the Los Angeles Opera; Beethoven s Symphony No. 9 with the Seattle Symphony; and concerts with the Baltimore and Detroit symphony orchestras. Last season Mr. Owens performed engagements in Washington, D.C., Berkeley, Portland, Philadelphia, and Carnegie Hall s Zankel Hall. He sang Bach cantatas with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Beethoven s Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared at Carnegie Hall as Jochanaan in Strauss s Salome with The Cleveland Orchestra. He spent last summer at Glimmerglass Festival as the Artist-in-Residence, appearing in Verdi s Aida and Weill s Lost in the Stars, and performing a jazz concert. Mr. Owens first appeared with the New York Philharmonic during the Orchestra s June 2003 residency at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in Sardinia, singing excerpts from Gershwin s Porgy and Bess, conducted by Lorin Maazel. He made his subscription debut in Ligeti s Le Grand Macabre, conducted by Alan Gilbert, in May Most recently he performed with the Philharmonic in Beethoven s Missa solemnis, conducted by Alan Gilbert, in June 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. New York Choral Artists, a professional chorus founded and directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, has been heard with the New York Philharmonic in recent seasons performing repertoire ranging from Michael Tippett s A Child of Our Time to Mozart s Requiem. Among the memorable collaborations with the New York Philharmonic was the concert on September 20, 2001, of Brahms s A German Requiem, commemorating the events of September 11, which was broadcast nationally. The chorus opened the Philharmonic s subscription season performing the World Premiere of John Adams s On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic with Lincoln Center s Great Performers. Other highlights of the group s history include participation in the 1995 New York Philharmonic concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, and a televised performance of the 1986 Statue of Liberty Concert in Central Park. The chorus performed Britten s War Requiem and Mahler s Symphony No. 8 in June 2009 during Lorin Maazel s final weeks as the New York Philharmonic s Music Director; in May 2010 in the Philharmonic s staged presentation of Ligeti s Le Grand Macabre; in June 2010 for Beethoven s Missa solemnis; and in June 2012 for Mozart s Mass in C minor, Great, on the final program of the season.

6 The Bach Variations / Program II / 6 Repertoire Curiously, for such a religious and practical man, J.S. Bach s Mass in B minor was never intended for use in either Roman Catholic (for which it would qualify as a full Mass) or Lutheran services. It was Bach s composite of what an ideal Mass might be. He compiled it over 16 years starting in 1733, when he composed a 12-part Kyrie and Gloria in hopes of being appointed Hofcompositeur at the Dresden court. Some years later he began repurposing some of his best cantata movements as a kind of legacy in the service of God. Thus he created the Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, now believed to have been written from Not surprisingly, given the long composition period and Bach s encyclopedic assimilation of musical styles, the piece ranges from sections evoking Renaissance counterpoint and Gregorian chant to Baroque dance movements. Other countries styles can be heard as well. It is scored for five vocal soloists (expanded to six and eight in two movements), chorus, and orchestra, with the major sections of the liturgical texts divided into smaller segments and treated like self-contained arias, duets, or choruses. Bach never heard the Mass in B minor in his lifetime and the entire work was not performed until 1859, more than a century after his death. The New York Philharmonic first performed it in May 1965, led by William Steinberg, and most recently performed it in January 1996, conducted by Kurt Masur. * * * Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic. * * * Programs of the New York Philharmonic are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. * * * Tickets Tickets for the March performances start at $32. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts are available for multiple concerts, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets for Insights Series events are $20; $15 for Philharmonic Friends (Affiliate level and above) and current Subscribers; and $10 for Patrons. All tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) , 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher 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 onehalf hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $13.50 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) [Ticket prices subject to change.] For press tickets, call Lanore Carr in the New York Philharmonic Marketing and Communications Department at (212) , or her at carrl@nyphil.org.

7 The Bach Variations / Program II / 7 THE BACH VARIATIONS: A PHILHARMONIC FESTIVAL INSIGHTS SERIES EVENT New York Institute of Technology Auditorium on Broadway, 1871 Broadway at 61st Street Monday, March 11, 2013, 6:30 p.m. The Bach Variations: Mass in B Minor Sir Nicholas Kenyon, speaker MASS IN B MINOR WITH ALAN GILBERT Avery Fisher Hall Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, 2013, 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 15, 2013, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, March 16, 2013, 8:00 p.m. Pre-Concert Talk (one hour before each concert) with violist/violinist and Senior New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist David Wallace Alan Gilbert, conductor Dorothea Röschmann, soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano Steve Davislim, tenor Eric Owens, bass-baritone New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director J.S. BACH Mass in B minor # # # Tumblr Your Backstage Pass Photography is available in the New York Philharmonic s online newsroom, nyphil.org/newsroom, or by contacting the Communications Department at (212) ; PR@nyphil.org.