SpectiCast Takes the Magic of The Philadelphia Orchestra Beyond the Concert Hall

Hear the Sound, Feel the Electricity, Experience the Thrill of the Orchestra Live, No Matter Your Location

(Philadelphia, December 6, 2012)—The Philadelphia Orchestra today announced it will once again partner with SpectiCast—a leading distributor of film, cultural events, and other audio-visual content—to bring the Philadelphia Sound to music lovers everywhere in the Orchestra’s 2012-13 season. Harnessing the power of simulcast technology, SpectiCast takes the Orchestra far beyond the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall with three live Philadelphia Orchestra performances available in venues across the U.S. and around the world. Enjoy a front row seat to select performances by the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra and get up close and personal with behind-the-scenes interviews exclusively produced for SpectiCast subscribers.

This series of three select concerts boasts two of the most electric and engaging conductors of our time, featuring rarely performed works, world premieres, and cutting-edge collaborations. While no stranger to the simulcast experience, the first two concerts will mark Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first simulcasts as music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Sir Simon Rattle, a close musical friend and partner of the Orchestra, will lead the third performance.

Philadelphia Orchestra President and CEO Allison Vulgamore said, “Our partnership with SpectiCast provides a wonderful opportunity for us to reach new audiences who may not have the time or the means to travel to Philadelphia, but who want to hear our world-renowned sound. We are particularly excited that two of the scheduled performances will showcase our new music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and the third will feature our close partner Sir Simon Rattle. We look forward to taking our Philadelphia Sound beyond the concert hall, and into the ears of new listeners—in venues as close as Bryn Mawr, and as far away as Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

Derek Pew, SpectiCast CEO, commented, “The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the cornerstones of this city’s cultural arts. To be able to share these concerts with music lovers around the world is a privilege and gets to the heart of what SpectiCast, as a company, is all about.”  

The Philadelphia Orchestra SpectiCast Concert Series includes the following 2013 concerts:

• Sunday, February 24, at 2 PM: World premieres and groundbreaking performances meet in this first of three SpectiCast events. New Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Orchestra in a dramatic, 21st-century treatment of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. This first-of-its-kind partnership with Philadelphia Live Arts and innovative collaboration with the New York-based Ridge Theater Company delivers a visually powerful performance featuring dancers, video projection, dramatic staging, and theatrical lighting. The concert opens with the world premiere of Oliver Knussen’s new composition, and also features pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.

• Sunday, May 5, at 2 PM: Experience Nézet-Séguin’s dramatic interpretation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and the rarely-performed Love Scene from Richard Strauss’s opera Feuersnot. Hilary Hahn is also the featured soloist in Korngold’s Violin Concerto.

• Sunday, May 19, at 2 PM: Guest conductor Simon Rattle delivers an electrifying performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”). Featured in Disney’s Fantasia, the work conjures up visions of spring with vivid depictions of gathering thunder clouds, babbling brooks, and wind-swept country sides. Soprano Barbara Hannigan also stuns audiences with her dramatic portrayal (and provocative costuming) in scenes from Ligeti's thrilling Mysteries of the Macabre. 

All three performances will be directed by Grammy and Emmy Award-winners Pierre and François Lamoureux and encore performances are available for all three dates. For more information on each concert, and for locations in your area, visit http://www.specticast.com/PhilOrch_ticketing.html. To learn more about this program, including pricing and availability, call SpectiCast at 866.996.2842, or visit www.specticast.com. 

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.

SpectiCast

SpectiCast is the fastest growing all-digital private network company in North America, distributing film, cultural arts events, and alternative content to both theatrical and non-theatrical venues. SpectiCast distributes 3D and 2D content over several digital media platforms including DCP, Blu-ray, and its proprietary Digital Theatre Network™ to deliver the highest quality digital audiovisual experience using the industry’s most advanced technologies. SpectiCast provides exhibitors with a low cost and high quality digital delivery system to exhibit the world’s best independent film and alternative content. For distributors, producers, and content rights holders, SpectiCast provides access to hundreds of arthouse, independent, and chain theaters as well as performing arts centers, museums, schools, and other non-traditional exhibition venues over a network that has world-wide reach. SpectiCast is a privately owned and operated firm based in Philadelphia, PA. 

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