The Philadelphia Orchestra Opens Carnegie Hall 2013-14 Season with October 2 Gala Concert

PROGRAM UPDATE: For Carnegie Hall’s October 2 Gala performance, Tchaikovsky’s Valse-scherzo will not be performed. Instead, Joshua Bell will perform Ravel’s Tzigane, for violin and orchestra. Bell is still slated to perform Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso as previously announced.

First of Four Carnegie Hall Performances in 2013-14 Season Led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Features Esperanza Spalding and Joshua Bell

(Philadelphia, January 31, 2013)—The Philadelphia Orchestra today announced it will open Carnegie Hall’s 2013-14 season with an October 2 Gala performance led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, which will be heard live across the globe as part of the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series. This highly-anticipated evening of music launching Carnegie Hall’s new season will feature vocalist and double-bassist Esperanza Spalding, as well as acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell. Works by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel will be performed, as well as three Carnegie Hall-commissioned arrangements by American jazz pianist Gil Goldstein of songs by Ms. Spalding, Leonardo Genovese, and Dimitri Tiomkin/Ned Washington, performed by Spalding. One of these works will feature violinist Joshua Bell, who will also perform Tchaikovsky’s Valse-scherzo and Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso during this same concert. 

Philadelphia Orchestra President and CEO Allison Vulgamore comments, “New Yorkers love Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestra, and the magic they have created on the Carnegie Hall stage this season is, in a word, phenomenal. We are thrilled to work once again with our good partners at Carnegie Hall and WQXR, and look forward to delivering many more memorable concert experiences for our Philadelphia audiences as well as those in New York who have embraced our Philadelphia Sound.”

The Orchestra and Mr. Nézet-Séguin return for three additional Carnegie Hall performances in the 2013-14 season, with repertoire to include Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Hélène Grimaud, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Truls Mørk, Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Lisa Batiashvili, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. (December 6, 2013; February 21 & May 2, 2014)

For a third year, Carnegie Hall and WQXR 105.9 FM in New York will partner with American Public Media to produce Carnegie Hall Live, an engaging nationwide live broadcast and digital series featuring 12 performances from throughout Carnegie Hall’s season. This 2013-14 season’s series launches on October 2 with Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala performance by The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In addition, WQXR, Carnegie Hall, and digital partner NPR Music will offer robust digital content surrounding each Carnegie Hall Live concert, including live web chats, Twitter commentary by the broadcast team from backstage and in the control room, live and on-demand audio, special videos, program notes, photo galleries, and more. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra 

Renowned for its distinctive sound, beloved for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for an unrivaled legacy of “firsts” in music-making, The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra has cultivated an extraordinary history of artistic leaders in its 112 seasons, including music directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Christoph Eschenbach, and Charles Dutoit, who served as chief conductor from 2008 to 2012. With the 2012-13 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Named music director designate in 2010, Nézet-Séguin brings a vision that extends beyond symphonic music into the vivid world of opera and choral music.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship not only with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts but also those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other venues. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association also continues to own the Academy of Music—a National Historic Landmark—as it has since 1957.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying a three-week residency in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and a strong partnership with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

The ensemble maintains an important Philadelphia tradition of presenting educational programs for students of all ages. Today the Orchestra executes myriad of education and community partnership programs serving over 45,000 annually, including its Neighborhood Concert Series, Sound All Around and Family Concerts, and eZseatU. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.    

Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala

October 2 at 7:00 PM – Wednesday evening – Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Joshua Bell Violin
Esperanza Spalding Vocalist

December 6 at 7:30 PM – Friday evening – Carnegie Hall, New York

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Hélène Grimaud Piano

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

February 21 at 8:00 PM – Friday evening – Carnegie Hall, New York

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Truls Mørk Cello

Strauss Metamorphosen
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1
Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)

May 2 at 8:00 PM – Friday evening – Carnegie Hall, New York

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor
Lisa Batiashvili Violin

Barber Adagio for Strings
Bartók Violin Concerto No. 1
Bruckner Symphony No. 9