2006 Kennedy Center Honors Award Recipient Zubin Mehta to Conduct Annual New York Philharmonic Concert January 12
December 20, 2006
Zubin Mehta
Conductor Zubin Mehta leads the New York Philharmonic on Friday, January 12, 2007 at 8pm. A 2006 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors Award, Mehta was honored for his lifetime of artistry and devotion to music which make him a world renowned treasure. Mehta’s 13-year tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic was the orchestra’s longest, and he now returns to the podium with a program of late Romantic masterworks featuring Bruckner Symphony No. 7. and Elgar Cello Concerto with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, winner of the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award.
An Artist Chat with conductor Zubin Mehta, his brother, New York Philharmonic President, Zarin Mehta and his son, Kimmel Center VP of Programming and Education, Mervon Mehta will take place in the center’s Rendell Room at 6:30pm preceding the New York Philharmonic ticketed performance. In addition, organist Alan Morrison performs an organ postlude on The Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall following the performance.
This performance is the third concert in the Great Orchestras on Tour series. The next concert in this series is a solo recital by acclaimed pianist Leon Fleisher in Verizon Hall on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 8pm.
Tickets for the New York Philharmonic are $35, $59, $68, $89, $109, $126 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-893-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
Zubin Mehta was born in 1936 in Bombay and received his first musical education by his father, Mehli Mehta, the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. In 1954, he left for Vienna, where he eventually entered the conducting program under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie für Musik. Mr. Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958 and was also a prize winner at the Academy in Tanglewood, Mass. By 1961 he had already conducted the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras, with which he still retains close ties. In 1964 he made his debut as an opera conductor with Puccini's Tosca in Montreal; he has since conducted at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Milan's Teatro alla Scala, the opera houses of Chicago and Florence, and at the Salzburg Festival. This season he opened the new opera house in Valencia, Spain, and will conduct Wagner’s Ring Cycle there over the next three seasons.
Mehta has served as music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (1961-67); music director and advisor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (1962-78); music director of the New York Philharmonic (1978-91), and now is music director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Maggio Fiorentino in Florence, Italy. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Zubin was awarded "Lifetime Achievement Peace and Tolerance Award" by the United Nations for his humanist efforts, including performances at a fund-raising concert for victims of the Yugoslav wars and at a Tsunami memorial concert in Chennai, India. On January 1, 2007 he will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual New Year’s Day concert, which will be televised around the world.
Since making her solo debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 13 in 1996, Alisa Weilerstein has performed with major orchestras all over the world, including the St. Louis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony (Washington D.C.), Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Zurich’s Tonhalle orchestras. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in the summer of 2002 in the Orchestra's Concerts in the parks. Ms. Weilerstein was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2000. As winner of Carnegie Hall’s ECHO Award, she made her New York City recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall in 2001. Most recently, Weilerstein was awarded the 2006 Leonard Bernstein Award, becoming the first cellist to receive the award.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer says of the 24 year-old, "Cellists twice or thrice Weilerstein's age would be hard-pressed to match the concentrated beauty and power of this young dynamo's playing." Weilerstein holds a B.A. in Russian History from Columbia University.
Founded in 1842 by a group of local musicians led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill, the New York Philharmonic is by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. Since its inception, the orchestra has championed the new music of its time, giving the first performances of many important works, such as Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, "From the New world;" Rachmaninoff’s Piano concerto No. 3 with the composer at the keyboard; and Gershwin’s Concerto in F. Since its first domestic tour in 1882, the orchestra has performed in approximately 412 cities, in 57 countries, and on five continents. Also in keeping with its longstanding commitment to reaching the widest audiences possible, the New York Philharmonic has made remarkable achievements in radio, television, and other media that has helped to shape communications history. Since 1917, the Philharmonic has recorded nearly 2,000 albums; more than 500 recordings are currently available.
In February 2003, the orchestra was honored by The Recording Academy® with a Trustees Award in recognition of its outstanding contributions to the industry and American culture. Members of the Philharmonic also performed on the 45th Annual Grammy® Awards ceremony, televised internationally from New York's Madison Square Garden — the first time that a major symphony orchestra had performed live on the Grammy® Awards.
Kimmel Center Presents' 2006/2007 season is supported by: Mellon Financial Corporation, University of Pennsylvania Health System, National Endowment for the Arts, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, ARC Wheeler, The William Penn Foundation, Verizon Foundation, The Presser Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents. The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com are media sponsors for the Great Orchestras on Tour series.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS
Friday, January 12, 2007 | 8pm
Verizon Hall
New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Zubin Mehta, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E major
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FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS
Friday, January 12, 2007 | 6:30pm
Rendell Room
Artist Chat
Conductor Zubin Mehta, New York Philharmonic President and Executive Director Zarin Mehta, Kimmel Center VP for Programming and Education Mervon Mehta.
Friday, January 12, 2007 | Post-show
Verizon Hall
Organ Postlude
Organist Alan Morrison will follow the New York Philharmonic ticketed performance with an organ postlude.
OTHER FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS ARE:
Sunday, January 14, 2007 | 5:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza Stage
The Chance Trio
An intimate and acoustic, improvisational jazz trio featuring Bart Miltenberger on trumpet, Matt Davis on guitar, and Michael Taylor on bass. Prior to the Ramsey Lewis Trio ticketed performance in Verizon Hall at 7:30pm.
Saturday, January 27, 2007 | 4pm
Commonwealth Plaza Stage
Waking Up Tillie
This band features three award-winning old-time singers and musicians – Randy Johnson on fiddle, Pete Peterson on banjo, and Kellie Allen on guitar. Already notorious for their soaring two- and three-part vocal harmonies and hot fiddle tunes, Randy, Pete & Kellie love to get folks singing and up on their feet for a dance! Prior to A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor performance in Verizon Hall.
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