FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 7, 2012 Contact: Katherine E. Johnson (212) 875-5718; johnsonk@nyphil.org ARTIST CHANGE Concertmaster GLENN DICTEROW and Cellist ALISA WEILERSTEIN To Perform BRAHMS S DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND CELLO Music Director Emeritus KURT MASUR To Conduct Program To Conclude with Brahms s Symphony No. 2 November 8 10 and 13 Cellist Alisa Weilerstein will perform Brahms s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, replacing Principal Cello Carter Brey, who has had to withdraw due to illness. Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur will conduct the concerts on Thursday, November 8, 2012, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, November 10 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. The program will conclude with Brahms s Symphony No. 2. The following week, Mr. Masur conducts a second all-brahms program, featuring the Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4, Thursday, November 15, 2012, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 16 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, November 17 at 8:00 p.m. Mr. Masur s two consecutive weeks of all- Brahms programs mark the beginning of the Philharmonic s survey this season of the composer s complete symphonic and concerto oeuvres. Related Events Pre-Concert Talks Joelle Wallach, composer and visiting professor at College of Music, University of North Texas, will introduce the program November 8 10 and 13. Harvey Sachs, The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, will introduce the program November 15 17. 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) 875-5656. National and International Radio Broadcast The November 8 10 and 13 program will be broadcast the week of November 28, 2012* and the November 15 17 program will be broadcast the week of December 5, 2012* 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.
Kurt Masur / Glenn Dicterow / Alisa Weilerstein / 2 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 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information. Artists In 2008 Kurt Masur celebrated 60 years as a professional conductor. He became music director of the Orchestre National de France in 2002 and was named the ensemble s honorary music director for life in 2008. From 2000 to 2007 he was principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He served as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991 to 2002, when he was named Music Director Emeritus, becoming the first New York Philharmonic music director to receive that title. After his departure the New York Philharmonic established the Kurt Masur Fund for the Orchestra to endow an annual conductor s debut week at the Philharmonic in perpetuity. From 1970 until 1996, Mr. Masur was Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a position of profound historic importance. Upon his retirement from that post, in 1996, the Gewandhaus named him its first-ever conductor laureate. Mr. Masur is a guest conductor with the world s leading orchestras and holds the lifetime title of honorary guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2007 he celebrated his 80th birthday in an extraordinary concert at the BBC Proms in London, at which he conducted the joint forces of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France. A professor at Leipzig Academy of Music since 1975, Kurt Masur has received numerous honors. These include the Cross of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany (1995), Gold Medal of Honor for Music from the National Arts Club (1996), the titles of Commander of the Legion of Honor from the French government and New York City Cultural Ambassador from the City of New York (1997), and the Commander Cross of Merit of the Polish Republic (1999). In March 2002 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Johannes Rau, bestowed upon Mr. Masur the Cross with Star of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in September 2007 the President of Germany, Horst Köhler, bestowed upon him the Great Cross of the Legion of Honor with Star and Ribbon. In September 2008 Mr. Masur received the Furtwängler Prize in Bonn, Germany. He is also an Honorary Citizen of his hometown of Brieg. Mr. Masur has made more than 100 recordings with numerous orchestras. Kurt Masur made his New York Philharmonic debut in June 1981 conducting works by Wagner and Strauss; his most recent appearances with the Orchestra were in April 2011, when he led Liszt s Les Préludes and Brahms s Symphony No. 1.
Kurt Masur / Glenn Dicterow / Alisa Weilerstein / 3 New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, The Charles E. Culpeper Chair, has established himself worldwide as one of the most prominent American concert artists of his generation. His extraordinary musical gifts became apparent when, at age 11, he made his solo debut in Tchaikovsky s Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (where his father, Harold Dicterow, served as principal of the second violin section for 52 years). In the following years, Mr. Dicterow became one of the most sought-after young artists, appearing as soloist from coast to coast. He has won numerous awards and competitions and is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Ivan Galamian. In 1967, at the age of 18, Mr. Dicterow made his New York Philharmonic debut under Andre Kostelanetz performing Tchaikovsky s Violin Concerto. In 1980 he joined the Orchestra as Concertmaster, having served as associate concertmaster and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has since performed as soloist every year, both on tour and in New York. Highlights of his appearances on tour with the Philharmonic include his performance of the Barber Violin Concerto during the Orchestra s 1998 Asian Tour, in Manila, Korea, and in Beijing, China, where he performed in The Great Hall of the People to an audience of more than 10,000 people. Most recently, he performed Bernstein s Serenade with the Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and Bach s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 at Avery Fisher Hall, both in November 2008. His most recent solo appearance was in May 2012 performing Bartók s Violin Concerto No.1, conducted by Alan Gilbert. Mr. Dicterow has made numerous recordings and can be heard in the violin solos of the film scores for The Turning Point, The Untouchables, Altered States, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Interview with the Vampire, among others. In May 2012 Glenn Dicterow announced that he would step down from his position at the New York Philharmonic at the end of the Orchestra s 2013 14 season to become the first Robert Mann Chair in String and Chamber Music, a faculty position at the University of Southern California s Thornton School of Music, one of the country s oldest and most prestigious music schools. American cellist Alisa Weilerstein has attracted widespread attention for playing that combines natural virtuosic command with impassioned musicianship. In September 2011 she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and in 2010 she became an exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics, the first cellist to be signed by the label in more than 30 years. Her debut album, released in North America on October 30, 2012, features the Carter and Elgar Cello Concertos with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle. Ms. Weilerstein s 2012 13 season includes engagements throughout North America and Europe. She will make her debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and then appear with the Atlanta Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In January Ms. Weilerstein will tour Europe with pianist Inon Barnatan and will join Mr. Barnatan and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for a 16-city United States tour in March. Ms. Weilerstein made her Cleveland Orchestra debut at age 13 playing the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations. Throughout her career she has performed with all of the major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. She has also appeared at major music festivals
Kurt Masur / Glenn Dicterow / Alisa Weilerstein / 4 throughout the world as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Ms. Weilerstein is a graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Weiss. In May 2004, she graduated from Columbia University in New York with a degree in Russian History. Repertoire Johannes Brahms composed his final orchestral work, the Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra, in part as a gesture of reconciliation to the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, with whom he had been close for many years until the two had a falling-out. I should like to send you some news of an artistic nature which I heartily hope might more or less interest you, wrote the composer to Joachim in 1887. The overture of friendship was eagerly accepted, and later that year Brahms led the work s premiere in Cologne, with Joachim and cellist Robert Hausman as the soloists. The New York Philharmonic first performed the concerto in January 1913 with violinist Henry Schmitt, cellist Leo Schulz, and conductor Josef Stransky. The Orchestra s most recent performance was in May 2007 in Luxembourg, during a European tour; Lorin Maazel conducted the piece with violinist Glenn Dicterow and cellist Carter Brey as soloists. After agonizing for nearly two decades over the composition of his First Symphony (1876), Brahms started right in on his Symphony No. 2, which he completed by the autumn of 1877. The symphony s sunny mien contrasted greatly with its stormy predecessor. The composer set to work on this symphony when he was staying in the lakeside country village of Pörtschach, near the Austrian-Italian border, surroundings that he found particularly inspiring. The Symphony No. 2 was premiered in Vienna at the end of 1877 with Hans Richter conducting, and early the next year Brahms himself led a second performance in Leipzig. The work first entered the New York Philharmonic s repertoire in 1878, conducted by Adolph Neuendorff; the Orchestra most recently performed it under the direction of Alan Gilbert in June 2010. Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New York Philharmonic. The New York Philharmonic recognizes Baker & McKenzie for its generous support. Programs of the New York Philharmonic are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Kurt Masur / Glenn Dicterow / Alisa Weilerstein / 5 Tickets Tickets for these concerts start at $35. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $18. Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts are available for multiple concerts, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). All other 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 Saturday, and 12:00 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 one-half 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) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.] For press tickets, call Lanore Carr in the New York Philharmonic Communications Department at (212) 875-5714, or e-mail her at carrl@nyphil.org.
Kurt Masur / Glenn Dicterow / Alisa Weilerstein / 6 New York Philharmonic Avery Fisher Hall Thursday, November 8, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Open Rehearsal 9:45 a.m. Friday, November 9, 2012, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, November 10, 2012, 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 13, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Pre-Concert Talk (one hour before each concert) with Joelle Wallach, composer and visiting professor at College of Music, University of North Texas Kurt Masur, conductor Glenn Dicterow, violin Alisa Weilerstein, cello BRAHMS Double Concerto for Violin and Cello BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 Tumblr Your Backstage Pass # # # Photography is available by contacting the Communications Department at (212) 875-5700; PR@nyphil.org.