The Philadelphia Orchestra begins annual three-week residency at Saratoga Performing Arts Center

(Philadelphia, April 26, 2004)

The Philadelphia Orchestra begins its annual three-week residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Wednesday, August 4, 2004. The Orchestra's SPAC series runs through Saturday, August 21, 2004. The Orchestra's twelve-concert series at SPAC encompasses a weeklong tribute to the musical heritage of Vienna; two concerts, entitled "Those Fabulous Philadelphians," focusing on the Orchestra's own musicians and their distinctive "Philadelphia Sound"; a tribute to Dvorak, marking the 100th anniversary of the composer's death; and a nod to classical music's lighter side in concerts with conductors Erich Kunzel and Marvin Hamlisch.

Charles Dutoit, artistic director and principal conductor of the Orchestra's Saratoga season since 1990, returns this year to lead the Orchestra in three weeks of performances. Mr. Dutoit will be joined by some of classical music's most sought-after artists, including pianists Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Stephen Hough, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and André Watts; violinists Rachel Barton and Leonidas Kavakos; cellist Truls Mørk; and mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby.

Pre-Performance Talks continue this year, featuring musicians, critics, and music historians associated with The Philadelphia Orchestra. These distinguished authorities and professionals in their fields will discuss the history, people, ideas, and techniques that offer insights and a fresh perspective on each evening's program. In addition, the Orchestra will begin a new tradition this season as Orchestra musicians address the audience from the stage at the opening of each concert. Each musician will introduce the evening's concert program and speak briefly about their own role in the Orchestra and their personal connection with the music.

Highlights of this season's programs include:

• A Week in Vienna (August 4-7) - The Orchestra's first week of concerts at SPAC explore the rich musical traditions of Vienna, Austria through beloved orchestral works by some of classical music's most esteemed composers - including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, and Berg - all of whom have ties to the Austrian music capital. Pianist Emanuel Ax joins the Orchestra for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25 (K. 503) and violinist Leonidas Kavakos plays Berg's emotionally fraught Violin Concerto. "An Evening in Old Vienna," with conductor Erich Kunzel and soprano Jami Rogers, transports audiences through the music of the Strausses, Lehár, Haydn, Stolz, and Kálmán. The week closes with an all-Beethoven concert, featuring the moving Fourth Piano Concerto played by Yefim Bronfman, and the soaring Ninth Symphony.
  
  
• Tchaikovsky Spectacular (August 11) - An annual favorite that this year features Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, performed by the dazzling young violinist Rachel Barton. The program includes the brooding suite from Swan Lake and closes with the triumphant 1812 Overture, complete with firing cannons.
  
  
• Dvorak: 100th Anniversary of His Death (August 12) - As we approach a centennial season of Dvorak, the Orchestra pays tribute to the great Czech composer with a performance of his Cello Concerto, one of the most beautiful works in the cello repertoire, with soloist Truls Mørk. Sibelius's much loved Second Symphony closes the program.
  
  
• Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Symphony No. 3 (August 13) - The Orchestra performs the Third Symphony of SPAC Composer in Residence Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman composer ever to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in music. The program includes Brahms's First Piano Concerto with André Watts, a pianist with close ties to this Orchestra, and Strauss's frolicking tone poem Til eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.
  
  
• Those Fabulous Philadelphians (August 14 and 18) - Two concerts on this theme bridge the Orchestra's second and third weeks at SPAC, with solo performances by Orchestra principals Ricardo Morales, clarinet, and Roberto Díaz, viola, and programs designed to highlight the legendary "Philadelphia Sound." Guest pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the Orchestra for Liszt's Totentanz; and Stephen Hough plays Saint-Saëns's Fourth Piano Concerto. The two concerts also include two moving works by Ravel: Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé and the Valses nobles et sentimentales.
  
  
• Martha Argerich (August 19) - A pianist of international fame and a frequent guest of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Martha Argerich again joins the Orchestra on the SPAC stage, this time for a performance of the Schumann Piano Concerto. A short work by Stravinsky, entitled Fireworks, makes for a delightful overture, and the program closes with the exotic strains of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade.
  
  
• From the Movies to Mahler (August 20-21) - The Orchestra's final weekend at SPAC offers something for everyone. On Friday night, popular conductor-composer Marvin Hamlisch leads the Orchestra in an evening of "Music from the Movies." On Saturday night, the Orchestra closes it's Saratoga season with a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony, a profound and moving work. Mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby joins the Orchestra for this final concert, alongside the Boy Choir of Harlem and the Women's Choir of the Saratoga Choral Festival.

Brochures and program details are available by calling 518.584.9330 or online at www.spac.org. The SPAC Box Office is open for counter and telephone sales at 518.587.3330, or at www.ticketmaster.com.

Since opening in 1966, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center has established a reputation as one of America's most prestigious summer festivals. Its tranquil setting among the woods of Saratoga State Park north of Albany, New York, draws vacation crowds and arts connoisseurs each year to its summer programming. From its inception, Saratoga was created to present a cross-section of classical arts. The Philadelphia Orchestra has shared the Saratoga season with the New York City Ballet every year, with each taking up residency for two to four weeks. In addition to the Orchestra's own concerts each August, many Philadelphia musicians are featured in Saratoga Chamber Music Festival performances during the same weeks. For tickets or additional information, call the SPAC Ticket Office at 518.587.3330 or visit the center's website at www.spac.org.

Founded in 1900, The Philadelphia Orchestra has distinguished itself as one of the leading orchestras in the world through a century of acclaimed performances, historic international tours, best-selling recordings, and its unprecedented record of innovation in recording technologies and outreach. With only six music directors piloting The Philadelphia Orchestra through its first century, the ensemble has maintained an unparalleled cohesiveness and unity in artistic leadership.

This rich tradition is carried on by Christoph Eschenbach, who began his tenure as the Orchestra's seventh music director in September 2003. As Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra inaugurate a new era in the ensemble's esteemed history, the Orchestra has announced the launch of the public phase of a five-year, $125-million endowment campaign, entitled A Sound, A City, A Civilization. Commitments to the campaign include a lead gift of $50 million from the Annenberg Foundation, along with other major leadership gifts that have allowed the Orchestra to raise the original campaign goal from $75 million to $125 million.

In addition to Mr. Eschenbach's appointment as music director, the Orchestra has observed several important milestones in recent years. The Orchestra's 2002-2003 season celebrated Wolfgang Sawallisch's ten highly acclaimed years at the Orchestra's helm and paid tribute to his artistic achievements with the release of a Grammy-nominated three-disc set of Schumann recordings, the first recordings made in Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The Orchestra moved to its new home at the Kimmel Center in December 2001, after celebrating its 100th Anniversary through a series of activities surrounding the year 2000, including the internationally televised gala Birthday Concert on November 16, 2000, a tour of Europe in 2000, and tours of Asia and the United States in 2001. A tour in the spring of 2003 took the Orchestra to nine cities in the United States, Mexico, and South America. Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestra will cap their first full season together with a tour of the music capitals of Europe in the spring of 2004.

The Philadelphia Orchestra annually touches the lives of more than 1 million music lovers worldwide through its performances (more than 300 concerts and other presentations each year), publications, recordings, and broadcasts. A major winter subscription season is presented in Philadelphia each year from September to May, in addition to education and community partnership programs. The Orchestra presents a series of concerts each year at New York's Carnegie Hall, performing encores of some of its acclaimed concerts from Philadelphia. Its summer schedule includes a month-long outdoor season in Philadelphia at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, free concerts in local neighborhoods, and a three-week residency each August at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate New York.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts hosts the Orchestra's home subscription concerts. The Center includes two performance spaces, the 2500-seat Verizon Hall, designed and built especially for the Orchestra, and the 650-seat Perelman Theater for chamber music concerts. Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly along with acoustician Russell Johnson of Artec Consultants Inc., the Kimmel Center provides the Orchestra with a state-of-the-art facility for concerts, recordings, and education activities. The landmark building is named in honor of Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel, who gave the largest individual gift toward its construction. Mr. Kimmel has served on the Board of Directors of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995.
The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (KCPA) and the historic Academy of Music (where the Orchestra performed for 101 seasons) are operated together as a single cultural facility by Kimmel Center, Inc. (KCI). A variety of Philadelphia's other performing arts groups serve as resident companies for the two buildings. KCI owns, manages, supports, and maintains the KCPA. Kimmel Center, Inc., also manages the Academy of Music, owned by The Philadelphia Orchestra Association since 1957, and where the Orchestra continues to present the highly anticipated annual Academy Anniversary Concert and Ball.

OPENING NIGHT OF THE 2004 PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA SARATOGA SEASON - WEEK I: A WEEK IN VIENNA

August 4 at 8:15 p.m. - Wednesday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano

Sponsored by Times Union

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK I: A WEEK IN VIENNA

August 5 at 8:15 p.m. - Thursday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

AN EVENING IN OLD VIENNA - WEEK I: A WEEK IN VIENNA

August 6 at 8:15 p.m. - Friday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Erich Kunzel, conductor
Jami Rogers, soprano

Sponsored by News Channel 13

Tickets: $15-$62
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK I: A WEEK IN VIENNA

August 7 at 8:15 p.m. - Saturday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
Pamela Coburn, soprano
Sonia Racine, mezzo-soprano
Stanford Olsen, tenor
Stephen Powell, baritone
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (Alan Harler, music director)

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 2: TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR WITH FIREWORKS

August 11 at 8:15 p.m. - Wednesday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Rachel Barton Pine, violin

Sponsored by Bank of America

Tickets: $15-$62
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 2: DVORÁK: 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH

August 12 at 8:15 p.m. - Thursday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Truls Mørk, cello

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 2
August 13 at 8:15 p.m. - Friday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
André Watts, piano

Sponsored by Hudson Valley Magazine

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 2: THOSE FABULOUS PHILADELPHIANS: PART ONE

August 14 at 8:15 p.m. - Saturday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Ricardo Morales, clarinet

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 3: THOSE FABULOUS PHILADELPHIANS: PART TWO

August 18 at 8:15 p.m. - Wednesday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano
Roberto Díaz, viola

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 3
August 19 at 8:15 p.m. - Thursday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Martha Argerich, piano

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 3: MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES

August 20 at 8:15 p.m. - Friday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Marvin Hamlisch, conductor

Program TBA

Sponsored by JP Morgan Chase

Tickets: $15-$62
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

WEEK 3
August 21 at 8:15 p.m. - Saturday evening - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Nancy Maultsby, mezzo-soprano
Women's Choir of the Saratoga Choral Festival (Andrea Goodman, director)
The Boys Choir of Harlem (Dr. Walter J. Turnbull, music director)

Sponsored by NYSUT

Tickets: $15-$57.50
For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.