Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Classical Music Takes Center Stage at the Kimmel Center This Fall

OCTOBER 1, 2010

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Pianist Kathryn Stott

Kick Off Classical Music Offerings On Oct. 17 with Sold Out Recital!

 

Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations Begin with All-Chopin Program, Oct 18

 

Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra Debuts with Conductor Daniel Harding, Nov.  2

 

Organist Gunnar Idenstam Debuts on Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, Nov. 6

 

Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Kathryn Stott, piano

Sunday, October 17, 2010, 7:30pm

Verizon Hall

Tickets: $55 to $100 (extremely limited availability)

 

Classical music’s brightest star, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Kathryn Stott kick off the Kimmel Center’s 2010-11 classical music season on Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 7:30pm with a sold-out cello-piano recital.  Program includes Graham Fitkin’s “L,” a newly commissioned work by Kathryn Stott for Yo-Yo Ma in honor of his fiftieth birthday, as well as works of Morricone, Gershwin, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff, among others.

 

Yo-Yo Ma’s wide-ranging cello repertoire defies categorization with a discography of over 75 albums, including Grammy-winning tribute Obrigado Brazil exploring the music of Brazil with pianist Kathryn Stott. One of Britain’s most versatile and imaginative musicians, Stott’s wide-ranging musical interests have taken her to the major international concert platforms and festivals throughout the world. Both musicians have sought to expand the Western classical tradition by performing lesser known music of the 20th century and commissions of new concertos and recital pieces, as well as exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western hemisphere.

 

Tickets for Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott are available from $55 to $100 by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102, which is open daily from 10am to 6pm. Please note that ticket availability is extremely limited for this performance.

 

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance.  Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm. Limit one ticket per person.

 

Yo-Yo Ma remains one of the best-selling recording artists in the classical field.  He has won 15 Grammy awards and draws inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators, including Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and Wu Man, to name a few.  Mr. Ma recently collaborated with Carlos Santana in the single “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which also features the vocals of India Arie on the 2010 album release, Guitar Heaven.  In January 2009, he performed at the Obama Inauguration with Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill.  His latest album, Songs of Joy & Peace, include Yo-Yo Ma performing seasonal holiday songs and beloved works with many of his favorite artists from around the world.

 

Yo-Yo Ma is strongly committed to educational programs that bring young audiences into contact with music and allows them to participate in its creation.  In 1998, Mr. Ma established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of the cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient trade route that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. 

 

Internationally known pianist Kathryn Stott has captivated audiences worldwide with her poetic musicality and engaging personality.  She is greatly in demand for chamber music alliances, playing with some of the world’s leading instrumentalists, as well as appearing on major international concert platforms in recitals and concerto performances. As a concerto soloist, she enjoys associations with major orchestras in Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong and Australia.  She has directed several distinctive concert series and festivals and has built up an extensive and exceptionally varied catalogue of recordings.   In addition to her busy career as a performer, she is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Chethams’ School of Music in Manchester.

 

Born in Lancashire, she studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Vlado Perelemuter and Nadia Boulanger, then at the Royal College of Music in London with Kendall Taylor.  In 1978, she attracted critical attention as a prize-winner at the Leeds International Piano Competition. 

 

Program:

ENNIO MORRICONE: “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission

GERSHWIN: Prelude No. 2

CESAR CAMARGO MARIANO: Cristal

BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1 in E Minor for Cello and Piano, op. 38

FITKIN: L

RACHMANINOFF: Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19

 

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Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel

Chopin the Passionate Patriot

Monday, October 18, 2010

Perelman Theater

Tickets: $30

 

Jeffrey Siegel begins his Keyboard Conversations® concert-plus-commentary series on Monday, October 18, 2010 at 7:30pm in the Perelman Theater with Chopin the Passionate Patriot.  The first of the three-part educational series, Chopin the Passionate Patriot celebrates the 200th birthday of composer Frederic Chopin by honoring his Polish heritage and strong patriotic pride. This includes performances of music that held great meaning to Chopin, including the famous heroic Polonaise in A-flat, several poignant mazurkas, and graceful waltzes.

 

The second concert in the series takes place on Monday, February 7, 2011 with Jeffrey Siegel exploring the music and legacies of three unrivaled composers, The Three “Bs”—Bach, Beethoven, and Barber!  Keyboard Conversations concludes on Monday, April 25, 2011 with Jeffrey Siegel’s commentary and performance of Paris 1911—A Festive Musical Year!  (*PIFA event)

 

Tickets for Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel are available at $30, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings).

 

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm. Limit one ticket per person.

 

Jeffrey Siegel continues to bring both novice and advanced classical music connoisseurs a richer understanding and appreciation for works by celebrated composers with his engaging concert-plus-commentary format.  Siegel has performed this series in over 25 cities from New York to Los Angeles. Most recently, following the successful reception of Jeffrey Siegel in the United Kingdom last season, Keyboard Conversations continue in 2010-11 at London’s dynamic, newest arts complex, Kings Place.

 

“Jeffrey Siegel is that rare artist who can combine a superb performance with an illuminating, inspiring, educational experience. Keyboard Conversations are truly a treasure that will delight music lovers everywhere” (Kaplinsky).

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Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra

Daniel Harding, conductor

Tuesday, November 2, 2010, 8pm

Verizon Hall

Tickets:  $39 to $113

 

Christiane Karg, soprano

Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone

Westminster Symphonic Choir

Joe Miller, choral director

 

Conductor Daniel Harding opens the Kimmel Center’s orchestral season as he leads the debut of Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra on Tuesday, November 2, 2010 in Verizon Hall.  The Staatskapelle is believed to be the only orchestra to have been in continuous existence for over four and a half centuries, and recently celebrated its 460th Jubilee in 2008.  A regular visitor to the Staatskapelle, Harding will lead the orchestra through a program of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45, a special program that is only being performed in Philadelphia and New York.

 

Harding’s 2010-11 season includes an eight city U.S. fall tour with the Dresden Staatskapelle featuring two concerts in New York: a performance of the Brahms Deutsches Requiem as part of the Lincoln Center White Light Festival, and an all-Beethoven program featuring pianist Rudolph Buchbinder and soprano Deborah Voigt.

 

Tickets for Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra with conductor Daniel Harding are available from $39 to $113, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings).

 

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm. Limit one ticket per person.

 

The Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra was founded by Prince Elector Moritz von Sachsen in 1548.  Voted one of the world’s top ten orchestras by Gramophone, the ensemble has retained its reputation as the “Strauss orchestra,” closely linked to composer Richard Strauss for over 70 years.  Nine of the composer’s operas were premiered in Dresden (including Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier) while Strauss’s Alpine Symphony was dedicated to the Staatskapelle. Many other famous composers have written works either dedicated to the orchestra or first performed in Dresden, including Vivaldi, Bach, Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, Hindemith, Weill, or more recently, Matthus, Zimmermann and Rihm. From the early 1920s, the Staatskapelle’s outstanding reputation as an opera and concert orchestra has been documented by numerous recordings, including now legendary performances with famous conductors and soloists

 

A busy touring schedule regularly brings the ensemble to the great music centers of Europe, Asia and the United States, while long-term residencies at Vienna’s Musikverein and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris mean that audiences there can enjoy the Staatskapelle several times each year.  At a ceremony in Brussels in 2007, the Staatskapelle became the first – and so far only – orchestra to be awarded the “European Prize for the Preservation of the World’s Musical Heritage.” In December 2008, the British classical music magazine Gramophone once again voted the Staatskapelle one of the world’s top ten orchestras. 

 

 “Harding’s prowess is characterized by flamboyance, stamina and a communicative intensity that places no restrictions on his remarkably fluid gestures- a fusion of spontaneity and authority, of freedom and tension…” —Irish Times

 

The “best of British conductors.”  —Evening Standard

 

At 35 years-old, Oxford-born conductor Daniel Harding has established a major presence throughout Europe and beyond, having appeared with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras and opera companies.  He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Partner of the New Japan Philharmonic.  He is a regular visitor to the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Vienna Philharmonic (both of which he has conducted at the Salzburg Festival), Royal Concertgebouworkest, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala.  Among the American orchestras with whom he has performed are the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

 

In March, Harding returns to the United States for his New York Philharmonic debut, conducting Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with soprano Lisa Milne and Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with soloist Glenn Dicterow.  Additionally, this season he will conduct a double bill of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at La Scala in Milan, and a concert version of Verdi’s Otello on a European tour with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Harding will also appear with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, and Vienna Philharmonic.

 

Praised by the New York Times for its “full-bodied, incisive singing,” the Westminster Choir has set the standard for choral excellence for 88 years. The Westminster Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College, a division of Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts, in Princeton, N.J. The choir has been the chorus-in-residence for the Spoleto Festival USA since 1977, performing both in concert and as the opera chorus. The ensemble’s 2009-2010 season with conductor Joe Miller includes a concert tour of California, performances at its home in Princeton, a recording project and a series of concerts at the Spoleto Festival USA. The Westminster Choir also forms the core of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with the leading conductors and orchestras of our time. 

 

Program:

BRAHMS: Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45

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Gunnar Idenstam, organ

Saturday, November 6, 2010, 3pm

Verizon Hall

Tickets: $19 to $28

 

“Idenstam, without doubt, is one of the most talented organists on the international concert scene.” –Corriere del Ticino

 

Internationally acclaimed organist - composer Gunnar Idenstam debuts at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 3pm. In 1984, the Swedish musician won first prize in the prestigious “Grand Prix de Chartres” for his unmatched organ improvisational skills and has since traveled the world to perform organ recitals and collectively with leading orchestras. Idenstam performs his own transcription of Debussy’s symphonic poem La mer and an organ arrangement of Ravel’s Bolero.

 

In November, the CD Jukkaslåtar /Songs for Jukkasjärvi will be released. The music is a "world music" project by Gunnar Idenstam for folk musicians, percussion, organ, yoik, voice and prerecorded sounds. The music was comissioned for the 400 years celebration of the village Jukkasjärvi, in the far north of Sweden, and the CD is now going to be released worldwide by BIS Records in surround SACD.

 

Tickets for Gunnar Idenstam are available from $19 to $28, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings).

 

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 11:30am. Limit one ticket per person.

 

“His works and arrangements brought unto the instrument a seldom heard “Pop” character” (Neue Presse).

 

Gunnar Idenstam was trained in the classical French tradition by legendary Marie-Claire Alain, among others. He has a special love for the music of Bach and French cathedral repertoire, while also adventurously exploring folk and rock music selections on the organ.  He has transcribed orchestral works by Mahler, Debussy, and Ravel, as well as the popular ethnic music of “Riverdance” and traditional Swedish folk music. He also regularly performs with leading musicians, such as, British composer and saxophone virtuoso Andy Sheppard and Laponian yoik artist and songwriter Sofia Jannok. In addition, he has written commissioned works for Wermland Classic Festival, Lahti Organ Festival and for various groups in the Nordic countries.  His most recent album release, Cathedral Music, includes his own music. 

 

Program:

RAMEAU: Suite of Dances (Adapted for organ by Yves Rechsteinter)

MESSIAEN:  L’apparition de l’Eglise éternelle

DEBUSSY: La mer  (Arr. Idenstam)

BACH: Allemande from French Suite BWV 816

            Menuet polonaise from French Suite BWV 817

            Sarabande from French Suite BWV 816

            Fugue à la Giugue BWV 577

IDENSTAM: Vesper

                        Toccata IV (from Cathedral Music)

RAVEL: Bolero

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Kimmel Center, Inc., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center.  Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts’ Merriam Theater. Our mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The 2010/2011 season is sponsored by Citi, and the Broadway 2010/2011 season is sponsored by Verizon, and American Airlines.  For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org. 

 

Subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.

 

 

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