THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA'S 2005 ABSOLUTELY MOZART FESTIVAL FEATURES CONCERTOS FOR ONE, TWO, AND THREE PIANOS

Peter Oundjian returns to conduct his fourth Festival

Pianists Jeremy Denk, Jeffrey Kahane, Leon Fleisher,
Katherine Jacobson, and Shai Wosner perform; Kahane also conducts

(Philadelphia, March 23, 2005)

In its fourth Absolutely Mozart Festival, June 24-30, The Philadelphia Orchestra shines a spotlight on Mozart's piano concertos. Audiences will have the opportunity to hear four of Mozart's works for piano and orchestra - including the rarely performed Concerto for Three Pianos - as well as his beloved symphonies and works by composers whom he influenced. Peter Oundjian is the Festival's guest artistic director for the second consecutive year and has conducted the Festival since its inception. He is joined by pianists Jeremy Denk, Leon Fleisher, Katherine Jacobson, and Shai Wosner; conductor and pianist Jeffrey Kahane; and Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales.

Over the course of the weeklong Festival, the number of pianos on stage increases from one to three as the Orchestra performs Mozart's popular Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488; Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482; Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365; and, at the closing concert, the Concerto for Three Pianos, K. 242. Also on the program are three of Mozart's late orchestral works - Symphony Nos. 39 and 41 and the Overture to The Magic Flute - his Clarinet Concerto, and works that show his influence on other great composers: Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.

"Our fourth Absolutely Mozart Festival is an opportunity to delve into Mozart's piano concertos, through which we can experience the depth of his writing," says Philadelphia Orchestra Vice President of Artistic Planning Kathleen van Bergen. "Spending a week with the music of Mozart is a joyful way to start the summer; and, while he is a household name, this year we will perform some of his lesser-known works alongside of our favorites: a concerto for three pianos, performed by established artists such as Leon Fleisher and those making their Philadelphia Orchestra debuts, such as Jeremy Denk, pianist Jeffrey Kahane conducting while also performing, and of course Peter Oundjian, who is fresh from celebrating Mozart's 249th birthday with his orchestra in Toronto."

"There is nothing quite like the atmosphere of a Mozart Festival," says Mr. Oundjian. "The purity and spontaneity of his music moves and excites us on so many levels. In this fourth Absolutely Mozart Festival - kicking off the celebration of his 250th birthday, a mere six months away - we include music of two giants of the following generation, Beethoven and Schubert, both of whom were directly inspired by Mozart's genius."

Programs Featuring One Piano
Pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane makes his Philadelphia Orchestra conducting debut in the opening night of the Absolutely Mozart Festival. He conducts Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488, from the piano, and then leads the Orchestra in Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, performed by Ricardo Morales, who last played the piece on Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concerts in January 2005. Mr. Kahane moves to the piano again for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of Peter Oundjian. This program repeats the following night with the exception of the final piece: Beethoven's Concerto is replaced by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, conducted from the piano by Mr. Kahane.

Program Featuring Two Pianos
Two rising piano stars - Jeremy Denk, who received critical claim for his recent collaboration with violinist Joshua Bell, and Israeli pianist Shai Wosner - play Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365 in the third Absolutely Mozart program. Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony and Mozart's Symphony No. 39 open and close the program respectively.

Program Featuring Three Pianos
In the Festival's final concert, the Overture to The Magic Flute and the "Jupiter" Symphony - two familiar examples of Mozart's late orchestral writing - share the program with his Concerto for Three Pianos. Leon Fleisher and Katherine Jacobson, established pianists who perform as a duo all over the world, are joined by Shai Wosner for the culmination of this Festival's focus on Mozart's piano concertos. This will be The Philadelphia Orchestra's first performance of the original three-piano version of this Concerto. The Orchestra performed Mozart's own two-piano version at the Ann Arbor Festival on May 4, 1956.

Featured Artists
Peter Oundjian, who returns for the second time as guest artistic director of the Orchestra's Absolutely Mozart Festival, has conducted the Festival since its inaugural year in 2002. Mr. Oundjian was recently appointed music director of the Toronto Symphony and holds appointments as artistic director of the Caramoor International Music Festival (NY) and principal guest conductor of the Colorado Symphony. Canadian-born, Mr. Oundjian was educated in England as a student of Manoug Parikian. He is currently a faculty member of the Yale School of Music and lives with his family in Connecticut.

Renowned pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane will take up the position of music director of the Colorado Symphony in the 2005-06 season. He currently holds the position of music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony, and is artistic director of the Green Music Festival in Sonoma County. Mr. Kahane has made both piano and conducting appearances at the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony.

Renowned pianist Leon Fleisher made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 16 and has performed all over the world with every major orchestra and conductor, given recitals worldwide, and made numerous recordings. In 1965, a neurological affliction known as focal dystonia immobilized Mr. Fleisher's right hand. Since then, Mr. Fleisher has followed parallel careers as a conductor and teacher while learning to play the extensive, but limiting, repertoire of compositions for piano left-hand. He recently began treatments that finally helped relieve the affliction, and for several years he has been playing - infrequently - with both hands again. Mr. Fleisher made his New York conducting debut at the 1970 Mostly Mozart Festival. He has appeared as guest conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra and the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, and Detroit, in addition to others.

Katherine Jacobson made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 with Leon Fleisher, Jaime Laredo, and the New York String Orchestra. This season her concert schedule will take her to France, the Far East, Mexico, and the United States. Orchestras with which Ms. Jacobson has appeared include the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, the Baltimore Symphony, the Aspen Chamber Symphony at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, Gulbenkian Orchestra of Portugal, and the Northwest Chamber Symphony.

American pianist Jeremy Denk, who makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in the 2005 Absolutely Mozart Festival, has given recitals in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C., and has made numerous orchestral and festival appearances. He has collaborated with several leading string quartets, among them the Borromeo, Brentano, Colorado, and Shanghai, and has appeared at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, the Spoleto festivals in Italy and Charleston, and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival.

Shai Wosner has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Israel Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, and the Jerusalem Symphony, among others. He made his London Proms debut in 2003 in a performance of Mozart's Concerto for Three Pianos with pianists Daniel Barenboim and Saleem Abboud-Ashkar and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Mr. Wosner has also been invited to perform the Mozart Triple Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg as part of the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. Mr. Wosner studied at the Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax.

Festival Sponsorship
This year, The Philadelphia Orchestra is proud to partner with global financial services firm UBS as sponsor of the 2004-05 season and the Absolutely Mozart Festival.

UBS is a leading financial firm, combining financial strength with a reputation for innovation and a global culture that embraces change. UBS is one of the world's largest wealth managers, premier investment banking and securities firm, and one of the largest global asset managers. In Switzerland, UBS is the market leader in retail and commercial banking. UBS, headquartered in Zurich and Basel, employs over 66,000 people, and has operations in 50 countries and in all major financial centers.

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. Concluding an acclaimed first season together that saw the launch of the Orchestra's first-ever multi-year cycle of Mahler's complete symphonies, Mr. Eschenbach and the Orchestra toured 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 at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts each year from September to May, in addition to education and community partnership programs. 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 Philadelphia Orchestra
Absolutely Mozart 2005
Peter Oundjian, Guest Artistic Director and Conductor

ABSOLUTELY MOZART - PROGRAM NO. 1
Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

June 24 at 8:00 p.m. - Friday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Ricardo Morales, clarinet

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488
Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4

The Absolutely Mozart Festival is presented by UBS, a global financial services leader.

Tickets: $10-$75 (call for box seat prices), 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.

ABSOLUTELY MOZART - PROGRAM NO. 2
Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

June 25 at 8:00 p.m. - Saturday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Jeffrey Kahane, conductor and piano
Ricardo Morales, clarinet

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488
Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482

The Absolutely Mozart Festival is presented by UBS, a global financial services leader.

Tickets: $10-$75 (call for box seat prices), 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.

ABSOLUTELY MOZART - PROGRAM NO. 3
Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

June 28 at 8:00 p.m. - Tuesday evening
June 29 at 8:00 p.m. - Wednesday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Jeremy Denk, piano
Shai Wosner, piano

Schubert Symphony in B minor ("Unfinished")
Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365
Mozart Symphony No. 39

The Absolutely Mozart Festival is presented by UBS, a global financial services leader.

Tickets: $10-$75 (call for box seat prices), 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.

ABSOLUTELY MOZART - PROGRAM NO. 4
Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

June 30 at 8:00 p.m. - Thursday evening

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Peter Oundjian, conductor
Leon Fleisher, piano
Katherine Jacobson, piano
Shai Wosner, piano

Mozart Overture to The Magic Flute
Mozart Concerto for Three Pianos, K. 242
Mozart Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter")

The Absolutely Mozart Festival is presented by UBS, a global financial services leader.

Tickets: $10-$75 (call for box seat prices), 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.