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118th Gala Opening Night Launches Citywide Leonard Bernstein Festival, 9/24
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Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 09/25/2008 - 118th Gala Opening Night Launches Citywide Leonard Bernstein Festival, 9/24
Most current program information 
CARNEGIE HALL AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC PRESENT
BERNSTEIN: THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS
SEPTEMBER 24–DECEMBER 13, 2008
www.BernsteinFestival.org
CARNEGIE HALL OPENS ITS 118TH SEASON WITH
MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND
THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 AT 7:00 PM
GALA BENEFIT CONCERT LAUNCHES
CITYWIDE FESTIVAL CELEBRATING LEONARD BERNSTEIN
All-Bernstein Opening Night Program Features Soprano Dawn Upshaw,
Vocalist Christine Ebersole, Baritone Thomas Hampson, and Cellist Yo-Yo Ma
Concert Recorded by Thirteen/WNET New York for October 29
National Broadcast on Great Performances on PBS
Bernstein Festival Offers 50 Events This Fall, Including Concerts, Film Screenings, Musical Theater, Exhibits, and Panel Discussions, Celebrating 90th Anniversary of Bernstein’s Birth and 50th Anniversary of Bernstein’s Appointment as New York Philharmonic Music Director
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Perform
Two Additional Programs at Carnegie Hall on September 25 and 26
Carnegie Hall opens its 118th season on Wednesday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leading the San Francisco Symphony in an all-Leonard Bernstein program in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage that launches Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, a citywide festival celebrating the 90th anniversary of Bernstein’s birth and the 50th anniversary of his appointment as New York Philharmonic Music Director. Soprano Dawn Upshaw, baritone Thomas Hampson, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Michael Tilson Thomas, who all worked with and learned from Leonard Bernstein, will be joined by vocalist Christine Ebersole in the Opening Night Gala for a program that features music from a wide variety of Bernstein’s stage works—from such early triumphs as West Side Story and On the Town to later works, Mass and A Quiet Place.
Thirteen/WNET New York will record the concert for broadcast on Great Performances on PBS, October 29 at 9:00 p.m.*, extending the reach of the Bernstein festival to a national audience. (*Check local listings.)
The Opening Night Gala of Carnegie Hall’s 118th Season is chaired by Suzie and Bruce Kovner and co-chaired by Mercedes and Sid Bass. The gala sponsor is PricewaterhouseCoopers with major support for the Opening Night Gala Broadcast by S. Donald Sussman. The benefit includes a gala dinner at The Waldorf=Astoria’s Grand Ballroom following the concert. Gala benefit tickets, priced at $5000, $2500, and $1250, include concert seating and the post-concert dinner; those priced at $650 include the concert and a pre-concert cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. in Carnegie Hall’s Rohatyn Room. All gala benefit tickets are available by calling the Carnegie Hall Special Events office at 212-903-9679 or online at carnegiehall.org/specialevents.
A limited number of concert tickets for Opening Night in the Dress Circle and Balcony, priced at $56, $69, and $92, are now available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at carnegiehall.org.
Michael Tilson Thomas first met Bernstein in 1968 and, in 1971, succeeded him as conductor of the famed New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts televised on CBS-TV. They remained close friends and colleagues until Bernstein’s death in 1990. On this Opening Night program, Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony in the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Danzon from Fancy Free, an early Bernstein collaboration with choreographer Jerome Robbins. With Upshaw and Hampson—both of whom first performed in Carnegie’s main auditorium under Bernstein’s baton—they perform selections from A Quiet Place. Ma, who played for Bernstein when the cellist was 8 years old, joins the orchestra for a performance of Meditation No. 1 from Mass, as well as “To What You Said” from Songfest, also with Hampson. Rounding out the program, Broadway star Ebersole sings “I Can Cook Too” from On the Town, Upshaw returns to perform “What a Movie!” from Trouble in Tahiti, and an ensemble selected from the Vocal Arts Department and the Drama Division of The Juilliard School collaborates on “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story. All will join together to close the program with “Ya Got Me” from On the Town.
Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony return for two more concerts at Carnegie Hall on the following two nights. On Thursday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m., they perform Ligeti’s Lontano, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, and Poulenc’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos featuring pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque. On Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m., they conclude their series with Oliver Knussen’s Third Symphony and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. (See below for complete program information.)
Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds
From September 24 to December 13, 2008, Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic present Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, a citywide festival celebrating one of the most important international musicians of the 20th century and a quintessential New Yorker—Leonard Bernstein—in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his appointment as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. The celebration, reflecting Bernstein’s multi-faceted artistry and work in diverse musical genres, will include concerts, recitals, musical theater, lectures, and film screenings, as well as family and educational programming, illustrating the breadth of this legendary artist’s contributions to music history on both the American and international music scenes.
A number of New York cultural partners will broaden the reach of the festival, presenting Bernstein-themed performances, film screenings, and panel discussions. Joining Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic in these special festivities are the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, The Jewish Museum, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City Center, and The Paley Center for Media. Thirteen/WNET New York and WNYC Radio will also produce original programming, extending the reach of the festival. Thirteen/WNET will record Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala for a national broadcast October 29 on Great Performances on PBS.
WNYC will present “Our Lenny,” an 11-day multiplatform festival that celebrates the station’s unique and long-standing relationship with the maestro. From the ad campaigns Bernstein voiced for the station in the 1980’s to numerous interviews, broadcasts, and performances spanning from his earliest days on the NYC scene—including a 12-hour Wall to Wall Bernstein and Bernstein’s debut performance as conductor of the New York City Symphony—WNYC will dig deep into its archives to present illuminating exclusive material. WNYC will also re-broadcast “Leonard Bernstein: An American Life,” the Peabody Award-winning series, hosted by Susan Sarandon, that presents a complex portrait of this American master.
In addition to Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala, other first-week Bernstein festival highlights include the New York Philharmonic and conductor Lorin Maazel performing works from past Philharmonic Music Directors, including Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”; Mahler’s Adagio from Symphony No. 10; Boulez’s Pli Selon Pli: Improvisation Il sur Mallarmé; and Maazel’s Music for Flute in three concerts from Thursday, September 25 to Saturday, September 27 in Avery Fisher Hall; and Kent Tritle conducting the Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola in a program that pairs Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on Wednesday, October 1, presented as part of the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola.
Also throughout the festival, special exhibitions in Carnegie Hall’s Rose Museum and at Avery Fisher Hall will pay tribute to Leonard Bernstein, his contributions to music, and his artistic achievements as conductor, composer, educator, and media pioneer.
For complete festival program information, please visit www.bernsteinfestival.org. This online companion to Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds features up-to-date information on the citywide events, press releases, and a multimedia survey of Leonard Bernstein’s musical life, including interactive timelines, slide shows, audio clips, and video featuring Bernstein, his family, colleagues, and friends.
Artist Information
Michael Tilson Thomas made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Symphony in 1974 and was appointed its Music Director in September 1995. A Los Angeles native, he studied piano with John Crown and composition and conducting with Ingolf Dahl at the University of Southern California and has worked with Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen, and Copland on premieres of their compositions. In 1969, at the age of 24, Mr. Thomas won the Koussevitzky Prize and was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Ten days later he came to international recognition, replacing Music Director William Steinberg in mid-concert at Lincoln Center. Until 2000, he was co-Artistic Director of the Pacific Music Festival, which he and Leonard Bernstein inaugurated in Sapporo, Japan, in 1990, and he continues to serve as Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, which he founded in 1987. On television, he has been featured with the San Francisco Symphony in PBS’s Great Performances, in a series with the London Symphony Orchestra for the BBC, and in PBS documentaries with the New World Symphony, among others. In June 2004, he and the San Francisco Symphony launched Keeping Score: MTT on Music on PBS. Carnegie Hall presented Michael Tilson Thomas in its Perspectives series for two consecutive seasons in 2003–04 and 2004–05.
Dawn Upshaw—whose first performance in Carnegie Hall was as a chorus member under Bernstein’s baton in Mahler’s Second Symphony when she was in graduate school—has achieved worldwide renown as a singer of opera and concert repertoire ranging form the sacred works of Bach to the freshest sounds of today. At Carnegie Hall this season, she will co-lead a workshop for young singers and composers with Osvaldo Golijov, perform with Ensemble ACJW in Zankel Hall, and reprise her role as Margarita Xirgu in a concert performance of Golijov’s opera Ainadamar with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Ms. Upshaw has championed numerous new works created for her, including The Great Gatsby by John Harbison, L’amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho, John Adams’s nativity oratorio El Niño, and Golijov’s Ainadamar and song cycle Ayre. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Ms. Upshaw has recorded several of Bernstein's music theater songs for Nonesuch Records, as well as "What a Movie!" on her American opera aria collection "The World So Wide". The Artistic Partner of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, she is a member of the faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center and is Artistic Director of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory of Music. In 2007 she received a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “genius grant.”
Christine Ebersole won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Obie Award, special citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle, and the Drama League’s 2006 Distinguished Performance of the Year Award for her dual performance in Grey Gardens. Her other Broadway credits include Steel Magnolias, Dinner at Eight (Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations), 42nd Street (Tony and Outer Critics Circle awards), The Best Man, Getting Away With Murder, Harrigan ‘n’ Hart, Camelot (with Richard Burton), Oklahoma!, On the Twentieth Century, I Love My Wife, and Angel Street. Off Broadway credits include Talking Heads (Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards) and four productions for New York City Center’s Encores! Her many film and television appearances include Tootsie, Amadeus, “Saturday Night Live,” and “Will & Grace.”
American baritone Thomas Hampson enjoys a wide-ranging career as a singer of lieder, operas, oratorios, and works for voice and orchestra. His first performance in Carnegie Hall’s main auditorium was singing Mahler’s “Songs of a Wayfarer” and Rückert-Lieder in a 1990 concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein—one of a trio of programs that were to be Bernstein’s last at the Hall. Mr. Hampson’s encounter with Bernstein had a strong impact on his life and career and led the way to his becoming one of today’s leading interpreters of the music of Mahler. He recently recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, to be released in September as part of the orchestra’s Mahler recording project on its SFS Media Label. As an active proponent of the study of American song, Mr. Hampson collaborates on song projects with academic and cultural partners through his foundation, Hampsong.org, to promote the art of song in intercultural understanding. His “Song of America” tour, first presented with the Library of Congress in 2005–06, will be expanded during the 2009–10 season. In 2007 he was named Special Advisor to the Library of Congress for Education and the Legacy of the Performing Arts.
The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma is testament to both his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing a new concerto, revisiting a familiar work from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music, or exploring musical forms outside of the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination. One of Mr. Ma’s goals is the exploration of music as a means of communication, and as a vehicle for the migrations of ideas across a range of cultures throughout the world. Expanding upon this interest, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of the cultural, artistic, and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The San Francisco Symphony is considered to be a leading presence among American orchestras and maintains an active touring program, with award winning recordings and innovative broadcast and education projects. The orchestra appears regularly in Europe, Asia, and cities in the US, including annual performances at Carnegie Hall. Its commitment to music education has resulted in the groundbreaking television, radio, and multimedia project Keeping Score; a nationally syndicated radio series on avant-garde American composers entitled American Mavericks; an award-winning children’s website, sfskids.com; and Adventures in Music, a nationally acclaimed in-school music education program for San Francisco schools.
* * * *
Presented by Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic—Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds, September 24–December 13, 2008—celebrates a quintessential New Yorker and one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. Renowned nationally and internationally as a leading musical figure in his own lifetime, most notably as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958 to 1969 and Laureate Conductor from 1969 to 1990, Leonard Bernstein brought his own particular New World sensibility to classical music. Equally at home in a Broadway theater (in such legendary musicals as West Side Story) or the concert hall, Bernstein—who performed at Carnegie Hall over 400 times and with the New York Philharmonic more than 1,200 times during his career—had an enthusiasm for and understanding of music far beyond the classical realm, extending into jazz, world music, American song, and 1960s pop and rock. His charismatic personality and remarkable communication skills through both words and music made him a natural ambassador for music as well as an international celebrity. Through television, Bernstein influenced millions of viewers, sparking excitement and love for classical music that remains with them to this day. With this festival, Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic honor an extraordinary artist, revered as conductor, composer, educator, advocate, and media pioneer.
A number of New York cultural partners will broaden the reach of the festival, presenting Bernstein-themed performances, film screenings, and panel discussions. Joining Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic in these special festivities are Church of St. Ignatius Loyola; The Jewish Museum; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; New York City Center; The Paley Center for Media; Thirteen/WNET, which will nationally broadcast Carnegie Hall’s all-Bernstein Opening Night Gala concert on PBS’ Great Performances on October 29; and WNYC, which presents “Our Lenny,” an 13-day multiplatform festival from September 24 to October 6 that celebrates the radio station’s unique and long-standing relationship with the maestro.
For complete festival program information, please visit www.bernsteinfestival.org. This online companion to Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds features up-to-date information on the citywide events, press releases, and a multimedia survey of Leonard Bernstein’s musical life, including interactive timelines, slide shows, audio clips, and video featuring Bernstein, his family, colleagues, and friends.
Program Information
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
THE OPENING NIGHT GALA OF CARNEGIE HALL’S 118TH SEASON
Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor
Dawn Upshaw, Soprano
Christine Ebersole, Vocalist
Thomas Hampson, Baritone
Yo-Yo Ma, Cello
Ensemble selected from the Vocal Arts Department and the Drama Division of The Juilliard School
ALL-LEONARD BERNSTEIN PROGRAM
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Selections from A Quiet Place
Prelude from Act I
“You're Late”
“Morning. Good morning.”
Postlude from Act I
“I Can Cook Too” from On the Town
Meditation No. 1 from Mass
“What a Movie!” from Trouble in Tahiti
“To What You Said” from Songfest
"Danzon" from Fancy Free
“Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story
“Ya Got Me” from On the Town
Opening Night Gala Sponsor: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Major support for the Opening Night Gala Broadcast has been provided by S. Donald Sussman.
Tickets: $56, $69, $92 (limited availability)
Gala Tickets: $5000, $2500, $1250, $650
__________________________________
Thursday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor
Katia and Marielle Labèque, Piano
GYÖRGY LIGETI Lontano
FRANCIS POULENC Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100
Sponsored by KPMG LLP
Tickets: $32, $39, $50, $69, $90, $100
__________________________________
Friday, September 26 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY
Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director and Conductor
Erin Wall, Soprano
Kendall Gladen, Mezzo-Soprano
Garrett Sorenson, Tenor
Alastair Miles, Bass
New York Choral Artists
Joseph Flummerfelt, Chorus Director
OLIVER KNUSSEN Symphony No. 3
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with Walter Frisch, Professor of Music, Columbia University.
Tickets: $34, $41, $53, $73, $95, $105
* * * *
For complete festival program information, please visit www.bernsteinfestival.org. This online companion to Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds features up-to-date information on the citywide events, press releases, and a multimedia survey of Leonard Bernstein’s musical life, including interactive timelines, slide shows, audio clips, and video featuring Bernstein, his family, colleagues, and friends.
For high resolution images of featured artists, please contact the Carnegie Hall Public Affairs Office at 212-903-9750 or publicaffairs@carnegiehall.org.
For high resolution images of the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, or events at Avery Fisher Hall, please contact the New York Philharmonic Public Relations office at 212-875-5700 or PR@nyphil.org. Additional information available at www.nyphil.org/newsroom.
* * * *
Major funding for Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Alice Tully Foundation, American Express, Bob and Martha Lipp, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Nash Family Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. A. Alfred Taubman.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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Ticket Information
For September 24, Gala Benefit tickets, priced at $5000, $2500, and $1250, include concert seating and the post-concert dinner in The Waldorf=Astoria’s Grand Ballroom; those priced at $650 include the concert and a pre-concert cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. in Carnegie Hall’s Rohatyn Room. All gala benefit tickets are available by calling the Carnegie Hall Special Events office at 212-903-9679 or online at carnegiehall.org/specialevents. A limited number of concert tickets for Opening Night in the Dress Circle and Balcony, priced at $56, $69, $92, are now available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online at www.carnegiehall.org.
For September 25 and 26, Carnegie Hall subscription packages, on sale now, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, www.carnegiehall.org. Single ticket on-sale date for Carnegie Hall subscribers is August 25; single tickets for the general public go on sale September 2.
In addition, for all Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of partial-view seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.
A limited number of student/senior citizen discount tickets, priced at $10, may also be available for some Carnegie Hall events. They are on sale at the Box Office day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance. Student/senior discount tickets for some Weill Recital Hall events are available at the Box Office one hour before the performance. Please call CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 for ticket availability.
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