Christoph Eschenbach and The Philadelphia Orchestra Announce
2005-2006 Season

Eschenbach conducts music of Beethoven in a season-long focus; the nine Beethoven symphonies will be paired with music of our time, including world premieres of commissions from Jennifer Higdon, Bright Sheng, and Daniel Kellogg (honoring Benjamin Franklin's Tercentenary); and works by Magnus Lindberg and Henri Dutilleux

Under the baton of Simon Rattle, Philadelphia Orchestra gives world premiere of work by noted Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina

Great works spanning the centuries include continuation of Mahler cycle with Symphony No. 6 and Das Lied von der Erde, and 19 Philadelphia Orchestra first performances

Orchestra inaugurates Kimmel Center Inc.'s new pipe organ,
the largest in a U.S. concert hall, with world premiere by Philadelphia composer Gerald Levinson and organ works by Saint-Saëns, Corrette, and Barber

Celebrated guest artists include pianists Emanuel Ax and Alfred Brendel, violinists Midori and Christian Tetzlaff, baritone Thomas Hampson, and solo appearances by three Orchestra principal players

Conductor Laureate Wolfgang Sawallisch leads five weeks; Simon Rattle returns for three-week residency; Yuri Temirkanov, Osmo Vänskä, Charles Dutoit, Peter Oundjian, and Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov conduct subscription concerts;
Bernard Labadie, Vladimir Jurowski, and Thomas Wilkins make subscription conducting debuts

Debut artists include percussionist Colin Currie, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and cellist Dimitri Maslennikov

Orchestra introduces new concert formats designed to help audience engage more deeply with the music, including Discovery, a new contemporary series, and redesigned "Access" series

(Philadelphia, January 16, 2005 )

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Christoph Eschenbach have announced their 2005-06 season, which features a season-long focus on Beethoven, juxtaposed with music of our time. These concerts, along with a full range of symphonic masterworks, will be presented in programs that showcase The Philadelphia Orchestra's unique virtuosity along with Christoph Eschenbach's creative flair. The Orchestra's 106th season, the third year of their artistic partnership, will include five commissioned world premieres and eight other works by living composers, sustaining the Philadelphia Orchestra tradition of furthering the art form by presenting music of our time.

The nine Beethoven symphonies will be spread across the season, all conducted by Maestro Eschenbach, and a range of innovative pre- and post-concert activities will highlight aspects of Beethoven's life and work. In announcing the season, Mr. Eschenbach explained why he chose to return to the familiar face of Beethoven. "The struggle for nobility, for liberty and human dignity embodied in Beethoven's music inspires us as strongly as ever, and the pure joy it expresses still goes straight to our hearts. But this season we want to take him out of the classical box and show him as the revolutionary and visionary he was."
A total of 19 works from the Baroque to the modern will be given their first Philadelphia Orchestra performances, including music by Handel, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, and Villa-Lobos. During this season the Orchestra will also present the first performances on the Kimmel Center Inc.'s new mechanical pipe organ, the largest in a U.S. concert hall.

Raising the Invisible Curtain
One way to enable the audience to experience Beethoven anew is through the lens of the music of today. Accordingly, Mr. Eschenbach has coupled the Beethoven symphonies with contemporary works, including three pieces commissioned specifically for this season. These programs, and the pre- and post-concert activities that accompany them, are designed to help "raise the invisible curtain" between the audience and the music. This phrase, coined by Christoph Eschenbach as he prepared to become music director, has come to signify the multi-year initiative through which Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and staff are creating opportunities for audiences to engage more directly, and intensely, with the music. Other aspects of this initiative to be launched this season include Discovery, a new series of five concerts, in which certain standard works from the season will be complemented primarily by new music. Innovative scheduling of repertoire on two series with distinct programs allows audiences to experience it differently if they choose to hear it twice. Additionally, the Orchestra's Access program, which in recent seasons has been integrated into selected subscription concerts, will be recreated as a distinct series of five hosted, interactive performances structured differently from regular subscription concerts. Designed to attract new adult audiences, they will be an hour and a fifteen minutes in length without intermission, and available at reduced ticket prices. The Orchestra also doubles the number of Family Concerts it presents in Verizon Hall, and adds a Sunday matinee series of four subscription concerts.

Christoph Eschenbach's season
Christoph Eschenbach and The Philadelphia Orchestra open the 2005-06 season, the Orchestra's 106th, with a Gala Opening Concert on September 21, 2005, an all-Beethoven program featuring soloist André Watts performing the Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor," along with the Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 1.

Mr. Eschenbach conducts 11 weeks of concerts in Philadelphia, including the Beethoven symphonies and accompanying new works. In addition, he leads performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 (November 10-12) and Das Lied von der Erde with soloists Paul Groves, tenor, and Thomas Hampson, baritone (April 19-20, 22), continuing the Orchestra's five-year Mahler cycle. Toward the end of the season he conducts a program of music with eminent French organ soloist Olivier Latry (May 11-13) on the new mechanical pipe organ in the Orchestra's home, Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Eschenbach also leads concerts in Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, a short tour to Florida with piano soloist Tzimon Barto (March 6-8) and to Puerto Rico with Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales as soloist (March 10-11), and the Orchestra's three-week tour of Europe's major summer music festivals in August 2006. Maestro Eschenbach also continues to participate in chamber music and special events with colleagues in the Orchestra and guest artists.

Rediscovering Beethoven
In 1927, on the centenary of Beethoven's death, the brilliant playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw described the composer as "a temple of the most turbulent spirit that ever found expression in pure sound." Shaw went on, "It was this turbulence, this deliberate disorder, this mockery, this reckless and triumphant disregard of conventional manners, that set Beethoven apart."

During the 2005-06 season Philadelphia Orchestra audiences have an opportunity to explore these and other aspects of this larger-than-life persona through a series of PreConcert Conversations, postlude performances, and other events to be announced, focused around the following themes: Explore the Surprise, Explore the Inventor, Explore the Heroic, Explore the Inspiration, Explore the Composer's Voice, Explore the Joy. Orchestra musicians, composers, guest artists, and other contributors will help guide audience members to do their own "artistic work," such as exploring how their own experiences and feelings can be translated into musical expression. These and similar activities can open listeners to deeper levels of musical experience.

Beethoven and Music of Our Time
To shed light on Beethoven's impact today, the symphonies are programmed with works of our time, including world premieres commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra Association from Daniel Kellogg (November 17-19, 22, 30), Jennifer Higdon (November 25-26, 28, 30, December 2-3), and Bright Sheng (February 23-26). Additional contemporary works included on Beethoven programs are Henri Dutilleux's The Shadows of Time (September 22-24, 27-28), and a new work by Magnus Lindberg (May 17). Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this piece will be given its world premiere by that orchestra earlier in the season. Lindberg's Chorale will also be included in a program with Beethoven (September 28-October 1).

Daniel Kellogg's work for The Philadelphia Orchestra will be focused on the life and legacy of Benjamin Franklin, as part of the international Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary celebration to be launched in Philadelphia in the fall of 2005. In conjunction with the Philadelphia chapter of the American Composers Forum, the Orchestra held a national competition to select a composer for this piece. Over 100 submissions were narrowed to a short list of five, from which Christoph Eschenbach chose 28-year-old Yale-based composer Daniel Kellogg. "We connect with Benjamin Franklin daily through his enormous imprint on America," observes Mr. Kellogg. "I hope the music will capture his curiosity in all things, his flirtatious fun, his wit, and the spirit of the amazing time in which America was born." Mr. Kellogg has written chamber music for eighth blackbird, Merkin Concert Hall, and Young Concert Artists, Inc. This is his first commission from a major orchestra.

Philadelphia-based composer Jennifer Higdon was recently nominated for three Grammy awards, including one for her Concerto for Orchestra, a Philadelphia Orchestra Association commission. Premiered by the Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch in 2002 at the American Symphony Orchestra League Conference in Philadelphia, that piece delighted audiences and critics and helped increase her national stature. Her new work will be a percussion concerto, to be performed by young Scottish percussionist Colin Currie. The piece will be performed five times in Philadelphia, and later by the Dallas and Indianapolis symphonies, which joined in its commission. The Philadelphia Orchestra performed Higdon's blue cathedral in 2003 under Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov.

Chinese composer Bright Sheng, whose work combines Western and Eastern techniques, is writing a piece based on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. Each year of the cycle is represented by a different animal. The connection to nature is carried through in the concert pairing with Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony. A protégé of Leonard Bernstein, Mr. Sheng has served as artistic advisor of Yo-Yo Ma's "Silk Road Project" since 1998. Mr. Sheng's opera Silver River was performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston as well as at Philadelphia's Prince Music Theater. The Philadelphia Orchestra performed Mr. Sheng's Prelude for Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach in 1995.

At age 88, Henri Dutilleux is the elder statesman of French composers. A contemporary of Poulenc and Milhaud, he has remained independent of any musical school, and his music often explores novel combinations of sound in the tradition of Ravel and Debussy. Premiered in 1997 by Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Shadows of Time is a five-episode meditation on questions of loss and eternity. One section, which briefly includes children's voices, refers to the tragedy of Anne Frank in World War II. The Philadelphia Orchestra has played several of Mr. Dutilleux's works including the cello concerto Tout un monde lointain…and Timbres, espace, mouvement, ou La Nuit étoilée, and gave the U.S. premiere of the Suite from his ballet Le Loup in 1965 under Eugene Ormandy.

Magnus Lindberg, 46, is one of Finland's best known younger composers, along with Esa-Pekka Salonen, with whom he founded the ensemble Toimii in the early 1980s, a group dedicated to experimentation in composition. Mr. Lindberg's style has progressed from post-Modernism to one that was described by one writer as "an ecstasy in color and tone." His first major orchestral work, Aura (In Memoriam Witold Lutoslawski), had its premiere in 1994. Recent works include Engine (1996) for the London Sinfonietta and Related Rocks (1997), commissioned by IRCAM in Paris. Lindberg's Chorale was written from 2001 to 2002 and was premiered by the Philharmonia Orchestra and Mr. Salonen in February 2002. In May 2006 The Philadelphia Orchestra will also perform a new work Mr. Lindberg is writing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Mr. Salonen, who will premiere it early in the 2005-06 season.

Orchestral Masterpieces in the 2005-2006 Season
The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2005-06 season includes orchestral masterpieces and repertoire beloved by Philadelphia audiences. Throughout the season a number of Brahms works will be performed including the Violin Concerto with Midori (September 29-October 1); Symphony No. 2 with Yuri Temirkanov (October 6-8, 11); Symphony No. 4 under Simon Rattle (February 16-18); Piano Concerto No. 1 with Rudolf Buchbinder (March 23-26, 28); and Symphony No. 1 under Wolfgang Sawallisch (March 30-April 1, 4). The season also includes Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with Hélène Grimaud (October 6-8, 11); Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15 under the baton of Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov (December 8-10, January 5-7); Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27, K. 595, with Alfred Brendel (February 9-11); and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances with Peter Oundjian (May 4-6, 9).

Other Philadelphia Orchestra Commissions and Works by Living Composers
The Philadelphia Orchestra is also commissioning two other works in the 2005-06 season in addition to performing works by five other living composers.

A Philadelphia Orchestra Association commission from Sofia Gubaidulina will be premiered by Simon Rattle (February 15-18) and Gerald Levinson's short fanfare for organ and orchestra, commissioned for the dedication of the Verizon Hall pipe organ, will be premiered by organ soloist Olivier Latry and conducted by Christoph Eschenbach (May 11-13).

Now in her 70s and living in Germany, Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina is considered her country's most important composer since Shostakovich. A believer in the mystical properties of music, she began her career writing music for films and chamber music. Her Concerto for Two Violas was premiered and widely performed by the New York Philharmonic. Her new piece for orchestra is a co-commission with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and receives its world premiere by The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Simon Rattle in February 2006. These are the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of a work by Ms. Gubaidulina.

Gerald Levinson, 53, a student of the late Olivier Messiaen, is on the faculty at Swarthmore College. Mr. Levinson's Avatar was commissioned for Christoph Eschenbach's inaugural concerts as music director in 2003. Mr. Eschenbach conducts The Philadelphia Orchestra for the world premiere of Mr. Levinson's fanfare for organ and orchestra in May 2006.

Compositions by other living composers in The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2005-06 season include George Walker's Lyric for Strings conducted by Peter Oundjian (November 3-5); the Violin Concerto by John Adams, with soloist Leila Josefowicz under the baton of Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov (December 8-10, January 6-7); Michael Daugherty's Flamingo, part of a program conducted by Thomas Wilkins (January 19-21); the Flute Concerto by Christopher Rouse, performed by the Orchestra's principal flute, Jeffrey Khaner, and conducted by Christoph Eschenbach (March 2-3, 14); and Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra), part of a program conducted by Osmo Vänskä (April 27-30, May 2).

Philadelphia Orchestra First Performances
Despite the breadth of the Orchestra's 105-year tradition, it is always surprising to find works, in some cases by well-known composers, which remain to be discovered by Philadelphia Orchestra audiences. The 19 such works presented this season include vocal arias by Handel and Vivaldi's Stabat Mater (January 10, 12-14), Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1 (October 14-16, 18), and Dvorak's The Wood Dove (March 23-26, 28).

Dedicating the Verizon Hall Pipe Organ
Another highlight of the 2005-06 season is the dedication of the Verizon Hall pipe organ in May 2006. Manufactured by the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa, the Verizon Hall pipe organ will be the largest of the new generation of mechanical action organs in a U.S. concert hall. To mark this special occasion, Maestro Eschenbach and the Orchestra have invited Olivier Latry, organist of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, to make his first Philadelphia Orchestra appearances, performing Barber's Toccata festiva and a concerto by Corrette. Mr. Latry and the Orchestra also give the world premiere of a short fanfare for organ and orchestra commissioned for the occasion from Philadelphia-based composer Gerald Levinson (May 11-13). Mr. Levinson was a student of the late Olivier Messiaen, a virtuosic organist who wrote monumental works for solo organ. The program also contains Saint-Saëns's "Organ" Symphony. Additional details about the Verizon Hall pipe organ will be announced by Kimmel Center, Inc.,
in March 2005.

Residencies:
Conductor Laureate Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Orchestra's music director from 1993 to 2003, returns for five weeks during the 2005-06 season, conducting repertoire for which he is especially admired. In the fall, Mr. Sawallisch leads a program featuring the Orchestra's first performances of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 1 and the Bartók Viola Concerto with Principal Viola Roberto Díaz, along with excerpts from Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus (October 14-16, 18). The following week Mr. Sawallisch conducts Mozart's Overture to The Impresario, Hindemith's Symphony in E-flat major, and the Dvorak Cello Concerto with soloist Alban Gerhardt, in his Philadelphia Orchestra debut (October 21-22, 25). Mr. Sawallisch returns for three weeks in the spring, during which time he leads Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem and Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 (March 23-26, 28), with soloist Rudolf Buchbinder, who appeared with Mr. Sawallisch and the Orchestra in 2003 as part of the Schumann Festival. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff gives the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of the Violin Concerto by the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim (March 30-April 1, 4). Piano soloist Garrick Ohlsson joins the Orchestra for Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2, along with Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("Drumroll") and the Symphony No. 1 of Schubert (April 6-8).

Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle's three-week presence in Philadelphia every other season continues the special relationship between the esteemed English conductor and The Philadelphia Orchestra. The Orchestra is the only American ensemble conducted by Mr. Rattle, who is music director of the Berlin Philharmonic. This residency has produced such exciting musical events as Schoenberg's Gurrelieder (2000), Messiaen's Éclairs sur l'Au-delá (2004), and fresh interpretations of major symphonic works.

This season Mr. Rattle begins his three-week residency with The Philadelphia Orchestra, joined by mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená in her Philadelphia Orchestra debut, with performances of Szymanowski's Love Songs of Hafiz and Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 (February 2-4). Guest soloist Alfred Brendel joins the Orchestra and Mr. Rattle for performances of Mozart's Piano Concert No. 27, K. 595, paired with Walton's Symphony No. 1 (February 9-11). In the final week of Mr. Rattle's residency, Walton's Symphony No. 1 is repeated on a program featuring the world premiere of a new piece by Sofia Gubaidulina (February 15), and the Gubaidulina work is then paired with Brahms's Symphony No. 4 for three performances (February 16-18).

Guest Conductors
Three conductors - Vladimir Jurowski, Bernard Labadie, and Thomas Wilkins - make their Philadelphia Orchestra subscription debuts during the 2005-06 season. Mr. Jurowski conducts a program of Musorgsky's Khovanshchina Prelude, Tchaikovsky's epic Manfred Symphony, and Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Nikolaj Znaider (October 27-29). Mr. Labadie makes his debut with an all-Baroque program featuring countertenor David Daniels performing Handel arias (January 10, 12-14). Thomas Wilkins makes his subscription debut joined by saxophone soloist Branford Marsalis, who is also making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, on a program of works by Villa-Lobos, Fauré, Daugherty, Ellington, Ibert, Antheil, and Gould (January 19-21). Mr. Wilkins made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut at the 2003 Marian Anderson Award Gala.

Charles Dutoit returns to conduct, continuing the important role he holds in the Philadelphia Orchestra family as music director of the Orchestra's summer season in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. During his week of subscription concerts in Philadelphia, Mr. Dutoit is joined by soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing Strauss's Burleske on a program that also includes Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony, Debussy's Images, and Ravel's La Valse (January 25-27). Mr. Dutoit also conducts the 149th Academy of Music Anniversary Concert (January 28). This is the third time Mr. Dutoit has conducted the Anniversary Concert, most recently in 1996.

Other guest conductors in The Philadelphia Orchestra's 2005-06 season include Yuri Temirkanov (Oct. 6-8, 11); Peter Oundjian (November 3-5 and May 4-6, 9); Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Rossen Milanov (December 8-10 and January 5-7); and Osmo Vänskä (April 27-30, May 2).

Guest Soloists
The Philadelphia Orchestra continues a long tradition of engaging the most highly acclaimed soloists. Among those making return appearances are pianists Emanuel Ax, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder, and Hélène Grimaud; violinists Leila Josefowicz, Midori, and Christian Tetzlaff; and baritone Thomas Hampson. Also returning to Philadelphia in the 2005-06 season are pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Stephen Hough, and Tzimon Barto; violinist Nikolaj Znaider; and tenors Vinson Cole and Paul Groves.

Making their debuts with The Philadelphia Orchestra in the 2005-06 season are Colin Currie, percussion; David Daniels, countertenor; Alban Gerhardt, cello; Jill Grove, mezzo-soprano; Alan Held, bass-baritone; Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano; Olivier Latry, organ; Branford Marsalis, saxophone; Dimitri Maslennikov, cello; and Marina Mescheriakova, soprano.

The Philadelphia Orchestra also showcases its own members in the 2005-06 season. Principal Viola Roberto Díaz, Principal Flute Jeffrey Khaner, and Principal Bassoon Daniel Matsukawa all make solo appearances this season.

Additional Concert Series and Programs
While the season's subscription concerts in Philadelphia, as well as at New York's Carnegie Hall, represent a major focus of The Philadelphia Orchestra's time and talent, a variety of additional concerts and musical presentations round out the ensemble's offerings for Philadelphia and the region. These offerings at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts or Academy of Music include a regular series of chamber concerts, special concerts to commemorate community events and holidays, and family and education concerts and programs. Details for these series and concerts will be announced at a later date.

Season Sponsorship
For the second consecutive year, The Philadelphia Orchestra is proud to partner with global financial services firm UBS. UBS will sponsor the 2005-06 season with its focus on Beethoven as well as the 2006-07 season.

Christoph Eschenbach

Following a dynamic inaugural season as music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach, one of today's leading international conductors, continues his creative artistic partnership with the venerable ensemble. Held in highest esteem by the world's foremost orchestras and opera houses for his commanding presence, versatility, and consummate musicianship, Maestro Eschenbach is also a sought-after figure on the guest conducting circuit, regularly conducting major American and European orchestras. His creative insight and dynamic energy as a conductor, a collaborator, and ardent champion of young musicians, have led to his being acclaimed as "one of the best musicians of our day."

Christoph Eschenbach's second season with The Philadelphia Orchestra opens with the September 21 Opening Night Concert featuring Strauss's Four Last Songs with soprano Renée Fleming, and Dvorak's Symphony No. 8, which opens the Orchestra's season long focus on Dvorak and other Czech composers, honoring the centennial of Dvorak's death. Mr. Eschenbach, the Orchestra, and Ms. Fleming come together again, joined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, for the season opening gala at Carnegie Hall on October 6 (which will be taped for a nationwide PBS telecast). In January, Mr. Eschenbach conducts The Philadelphia Orchestra in a four-week festival entitled Late Great Works, a major focus of his 2004-05 subscription season with the Orchestra. The festival focuses on the late works of Mozart, Strauss, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Berio, and explores the moving creativity these composers found late in life, as they looked back reflectively on their own lives and works. Mr. Eschenbach leads the Philadelphians in three additional performances at Carnegie Hall during the 2004-05 season: Mahler's Symphony No. 5 on November 23, Mahler's Symphony No. 9 on January 11 (both part of the Orchestra's on-going, five-season long, first-ever Mahler cycle), and on January 18, Berio's Stanze coupled with Act III of Wagner's Parsifal. Mr. Eschenbach also leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on November 29, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J., on March 11; and is featured as pianist in chamber music concerts with members of the Orchestra on November 28 and March 20. Concluding their second season together, Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra embark on a three-week tour of Asia in late May.

Mr. Eschenbach's other performances of note this season include conducting the Lyric Opera of Chicago's 50th anniversary season opening production of Don Giovanni on September 18 (additional performances in September/October) as well as subscription series performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November. Special performances with the Orchestre de Paris, where Mr. Eschenbach has served as music director since September 2000, include tours of China (October 2004) and of Germany (February 2005), and a Brahms Festival in February and April. During summer 2005, Maestro Eschenbach leads the Orchestre de Paris in performances at the Festival de Saint-Denis and the Festival de Musique de Strasbourg, and conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia.

A prolific recording artist, Christoph Eschenbach has made numerous recordings, as conductor, pianist, or both. His artistry has been featured in compact discs on the Ariola, BMG, CBS/Sony, Claves, Decca, DGG, EMI, Koch International Classics, Pickwick International, RCA Red Seal, Telarc, Teldec, and Virgin Classics labels. His recordings include works of Bach, Brahms, Berlioz, Grieg, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Strauss, and Tchaikovsky, among others. A champion of 20th-century music, he has also recorded works by such composers as Adams, Berg, Glass, Lourié, Picker, Pintscher, Rouse, Schnittke, Schoenberg, and Webern.

Mr. Eschenbach's most recent recordings include a Naïve disc of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique with the Orchestre de Paris; a Teldec disc of Matthias Pintscher's Hérodiade Fragments, Sur départ, and Music from Thomas Chatterton with the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra; and for Sony with the NDR, a recording of Mozart's Sinfonia concertante (Midori, Nobuku Imai) and Double Concerto (Midori, Eschenbach) in which he conducts and plays. He has also recorded a two CD-set of Robert Schumann's four symphonies with the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra for BMG; Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 6 along with Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with the Houston Symphony for Koch International Classics; and a disc entitled Strauss Heroines for Decca featuring soprano Renée Fleming and the Vienna Philharmonic. A CD with Ms. Fleming singing Strauss's Four Last Songs with the Houston Symphony is available on BMG Classics, as is a disc entitled Schoenberg Orchestrations featuring works by Bach and Brahms, also with the Houston Symphony. Mr. Eschenbach's recordings for RCA Red Seal include the Schumann Cello Concerto with Steven Isserlis as soloist with the German Chamber Philharmonic, and a CD of the Brahms Double Concerto and the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. Two CDs with the Houston Symphony, containing works of the Second Viennese School (Koch International Classics), were praised by the Los Angeles Times as "models of clarity and expression." For Virgin Classics/EMI and Pickwick International, Christoph Eschenbach has recorded repertoire from Mozart to Brahms with the Houston Symphony. In 1997 Telarc released the first recording of Christopher Rouse's Symphony No. 2 and Flute Concerto with the Houston Symphony under Mr. Eschenbach. Starting in 1994, Christoph Eschenbach began recording many Schnittke works for Teldec, including all the violin concertos with Gidon Kremer.

Before turning to conducting, Maestro Eschenbach had already earned a distinguished international reputation as a concert pianist. He began winning major competitions at the age of 11, and by 1965 was established as the foremost pianist to emerge from post-war Germany, making his United States concert debut in 1969 with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. In testimony to his prowess at the piano, Philips chose Eschenbach as one of 100 pianists to be featured in their "Great Pianists of the Twentieth Century" Edition. Following his conducting debut in Hamburg in 1972, Christoph Eschenbach made his United States conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in 1975, and his opera conducting debut with a 1978 production of Verdi's La traviata. In 1981 Eschenbach was named principal guest conductor of the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zürich, becoming chief conductor from 1982-1986. Additional posts include music director of the Houston Symphony (1988-1999); chief conductor of the Hamburg NDR Symphony Orchestra (1998-2004); and music director of the Ravinia Festival, summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1994-2003).

Among Christoph Eschenbach's most recent awards are the Légion d'Honneur of France presented by President Jacques Chirac (October 2002) and the Officer's Cross with Star and Ribbon of the German Order of Merit (August 2002), along with the Commander's Cross of the German Order of Merit in 1993 for outstanding achievements as pianist and conductor, and the 1993 Leonard Bernstein Award, presented to him by the Pacific Music Festival, where he served as co-artistic director from 1992 to 1998.

Additional information about Mr. Eschenbach can be found at his website,
www.christoph-eschenbach.com.

The Philadelphia Orchestra

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 launched 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 capped 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. Additional information about The Philadelphia Orchestra can be found at www.philorch.org.