The Philadelphia Orchestra

July 2008

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The Philadelphia Orchestra travels to upstate New York for 40th season at Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Annual three-week residency features performances by Itzhak Perlman, Van Cliburn, Martha Argerich, and Yo-Yo Ma, among other world-renowned artists and rising young musicians

(Philadelphia, July 28, 2005)

The Philadelphia Orchestra makes its annual trip to upstate New York for a three-week residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center(SPAC) in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The 2005 season marks the 40th anniversary of SPAC and of the Orchestra’s residency there. The Orchestra’s SPAC series, which opens Wednesday, August 3, 2005, and runs through Saturday, August 20, 2005,features appearances by world-renowned artists and rising stars; the annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular with fireworks; and a nod to classical music’s lighter side with “An Evening with Richard Rodgers.”

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 conducts 11 concerts; Marvin Hamlisch conducts one concert. The twelve-concert series features pianists Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Van Cliburn, Alexander Melnikov, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and André Watts; violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Itzhak Perlman, and Gil Shaham; and cellists Daniel Müller-Schott and Yo-Yo Ma. The season also includes a world premiere by SPAC’s 2005 composer-in-residence, Iranian born Behzad Ranjbaran.

Highlights of this season’s programs include:

Week 1(August 3-6) – Opening Night of the Orchestra’s 40th season at SPAC features the incomparable Itzhak Perlman performing Beethoven’s hauntingly lyrical Violin Concerto on a program that also includes Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The Gina Bachauer Memorial Concert, which honors the great musician and teacher by sponsoring a young musician, features rising violinist Lisa Batiashvili performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Popular conductor-composer Marvin Hamlisch leads the Orchestra in “An Evening with Richard Rodgers,” and the week concludes with award-winning violinist Gil Shaham performing Brahms’s Violin Concerto.
Week 2 (August 10-13) – The Orchestra’s second week at SPAC opens with beloved pianist Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and the world premiere of Saratoga by Behzad Ranjbaran,SPAC’s 2005 composer-in-residence. The week continues with perennial audience favorite, the Tchaikovsky Spectacular, which this year features Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 performed by Alexander Melnikov, Variations on a Rococo Theme, with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, the colorful Waltz from Swan Lake, and the triumphant 1812 Overture, followed by a spectacular fireworks display. Frequent Dutoit collaborator Jean-Yves Thibaudet performs Grieg’s Piano Concerto on a concert that also includes Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, and the second week comes to a close with AndréWatts, a pianist with close ties to The Philadelphia Orchestra, performing Lizst’s virtuosic Second Piano Concerto.
Week 3(August 17-20) – American legend and pianist Van Cliburn opens the final week of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s residency in Saratoga. Mr. Cliburn, who made his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra immediately following his history-making win of the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1957, performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in this appearance with the Orchestra. A frequent guest of The Philadelphia Orchestra, internationally renowned pianist Martha Argerich again joins the Orchestra on the SPAC stage performing the Schumann Piano Concerto. Yo-Yo Ma performs Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major and Strauss’s Don Quixote, and the summer series comes to a close with a grand finale of Orff’s Carmina burana, featuring the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia (Alan Harler, music director).

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 continue a tradition launched last summer 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.

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 2005 Philadelphia Orchestra Saratoga Season

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 3 at 8:15 p.m. – Wednesday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Itzhak Perlman , violin

Beethoven Overture to Egmont
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra
Beethoven Violin Concerto

Sponsored by the Times Union

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

The Star from T’blisi – Gina Bachauer Memorial Concert

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 4 at 8:15 p.m. – Thursday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

Ravel Alborada del gracioso
Sibelius Violin Concerto
Dvorak Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World”)

Sponsored by Amtrak

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

An Evening with Richard Rodgers

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 5 at 8:15 p.m. – Friday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Marvin Hamlisch, conductor
Teri Hansen, soprano
J. Mark McVey, tenor

Mr. Hamlisch will announce selections from the stage.

Sponsored by Nigro Companies

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

Gil Shaham Returns

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 6 at 8:15 p.m. – Saturday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit,conductor
Gil Shaham , violin

Fauré Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande
Debussy La Mer
Brahms Violin Concerto

Sponsored by Chrysler

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

Emanuel Ax and Beethoven

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 10 at 8:15 p.m. – Wednesday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit,conductor
Emanuel Ax , piano

Ranjbaran Saratoga – World Premiere
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5

Sponsored by WMHT

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

Tchaikovsky Spectacular

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 11 at 8:15 p.m. – Thursday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
Alexander Melnikov, piano
Daniel Müller-Schott, cello

Tchaikovsky Waltz from Swan Lake
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme, for cello and orchestra
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture

Fireworks follow the performance.

Sponsored by Time Warner Cable

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

After the Third, the Fifth!

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 12 at 8:15 p.m. – Friday evening

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

Grieg Piano Concerto
Mahler Symphony No. 5

Sponsored by Westchester Magazine

For ticket information, please call the SPAC box office at 518.587.3330 or visit www.spac.org.

André Watts and Bolero

Saratoga Performing Arts Center

August 13 at 8:15 p.m. – Saturday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, conductor
André Watts, piano

Strauss Don Juan
Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2
Franck Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra
Ravel Bolero