(For Immediate Release: January 25, 2017, NEW YORK)—Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall’s 2017–2018 season consisting of more than 170 concerts as well as a wide range of education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. The upcoming season includes performances by many of the world’s finest artists and ensembles representing classical, pop, jazz, and world music, with events presented on Carnegie Hall’s three stages, in the Hall’s Resnick Education Wing, and throughout New York City.
Programming highlights include a citywide festival—The ’60s: The Years that Changed America—inspired by writer Robert A. Caro; the appointment of composer Philip Glass to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair; and two Perspectives series curated by violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Daniil Trifonov.
“A common thread running through our 2017-2018 season is the influential role that music can play in changing the world in which we live, a theme most notably embodied in our 1960s festival inspired by the extraordinary historian Robert Caro, examining the landscape of this turbulent decade through the lens of arts and culture,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director. “We will also celebrate the work of a composer who changed the music of our time, this season’s Debs Composer Chair Philip Glass, and discover new musical insights through series curated by our renowned Perspectives artists. With an incredible line-up of performances by the world’s finest artists across multiple genres, presented alongside innovative education and social impact programs, this season provides a range of fascinating opportunities that invite music lovers of all ages to listen, engage, and enjoy.”
2017–2018 Season Highlights Overview
Carnegie Hall’s 127th season kicks off on Wednesday, October 4 with a celebratory Opening Night Gala concert by The Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Yannick Nèzet-Séguin, marking the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth with Bernstein’s On the Waterfront Symphonic Suite and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Pianist Lang Lang is soloist for this festive occasion, performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
From January–March 2018, Carnegie Hall presents The ’60s: The Years that Changed America, a citywide festival, inspired by Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist Robert A. Caro.
Half a century later, the cultural and social upheavals felt in the US and abroad throughout the 1960s inform nearly all aspects of our lives. With programming at Carnegie Hall and multidisciplinary offerings from leading cultural institutions across New York City, this festival examines the tumultuous spirit of the decade, including music’s place at the center of its many struggles and as a meaningful vehicle to inspire change.
Among Carnegie Hall’s offerings, two programs in the festival explore the nexus of music, protest, and social change: one featuring legendary singer-songwriter and activist David Crosby with Snarky Puppy, and another led by acclaimed composer, music director, and producer Ray Chew with a lineup of prominent guest artists from the worlds of folk, rock, soul, and R&B. The festival also features a performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble and new works premiered by the Kronos Quartet—one referencing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the other based on the works of author and activist Studs Terkel. Pianist Matthew Shipp and the legendary Roscoe Mitchell—a proponent of the free jazz movement that flourished in the ’60s and a founder of the groundbreaking Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—perform together for the first time. Other highlights include performances by Icelandic psychedelic pop band mùm, the socially and politically-minded singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman, and an afternoon devoted to musical responses to the Vietnam War, featuring a performance by the Friction Quartet as well as a multimedia presentation curated by John Monsky.
This special festival exploration of the 1960s will extend citywide with music, dance, lectures, panels, exhibitions, and films, plus more, thanks to partner programming created by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Apollo Theater, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Keyes Art Projects, The Museum of Modern Art, New York City Center, New-York Historical Society, The New York Public Library, New York University, and The Paley Center for Media, among others. A complete festival schedule will be published later in 2017.
Carnegie Hall has appointed Philip Glass to hold its Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for the 2017–2018 season. With this residency, Carnegie Hall joins the yearlong celebration of this eminent composer’s 80th birthday year, presenting performances that feature Glass classics and premieres. To open the series, American Composers Orchestra dedicates a program to works inspired by Glass, and presents the New York premiere of his Violin Concerto No. 2, “The American Four Seasons.” Glass’s rarely performed masterpiece, Music with Changing Parts, is featured as part of Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival The ’60s: The Years that Changed America. In addition, notable premieres include a new string quartet for the JACK Quartet and arrangements by composer Nico Muhly of lesser-known Glass songs—both Carnegie Hall commissions. Both the Louisiana Philharmonic and Pacific Symphony make their Carnegie Hall debuts this season in programs that place important Glass orchestral works in illuminating contexts. Conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performs Glass’s Days and Nights in Rocinha and his Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra alongside a work by Revueltas. Music Director Carl St.Clair leads the Pacific Symphony in a program pairing a sitar concerto by Ravi Shankar with Glass’s “Meetings Along the Edge” from Passages and the New York premiere of The Passion of Ramakrishna, with vocal soloists and the Pacific Chorale.
Celebrated violinist Janine Jansen will curate a five-concert Perspectives next season, performances that feature central works of the violin literature as well as new music. Founder and formerly artistic director of Utrecht’s International Chamber Music Festival for 13 seasons, Ms. Jansen performs two Zankel Hall chamber music concerts to open the series, appearing with an all-star roster of longtime musical collaborators; later in the season, she joins pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Dover Quartet for an afternoon of chamber music in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Ms. Jansen will play Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by its new Chief Conductor Daniele Gatti. In her final Perspectives appearance of the season, she performs the New York premiere of a violin concerto written for her by Dutch composer Michel van der Aa with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Internationally-renowned pianist Daniil Trifonov offers a seven-concert Perspectives series next season, performances that showcase his talents as solo artist, champion of the concerto repertoire, collaborator at the keyboard in chamber music and song, and as a composer. Three concerts celebrate the music of Chopin including a solo recital and two all-Chopin concerts with chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, joined in the second performance by cellist Gautier Capuçon. In addition, Mr. Trifonov plays the New York premiere of his own Piano Concerto with the Mariinsky Orchestra led by Valery Gergiev, collaborates with baritone Matthias Goerne, and appears in two Zankel Hall recitals—partnering with his longtime mentor Sergei Babayan in works for two pianos; and presenting Decades, an inventive solo program featuring a seminal piece from each decade of the 20th century.
Carnegie Hall’s commitment to new music continues with the third year of its five-year 125 Commissions Project over the span of which at least 125 new works will be commissioned from today’s leading composers. Launched during the Hall’s 125th anniversary season, the project features new solo, chamber, and orchestral music from both established and emerging composers, including works in 2017-2018 by Philip Glass, Thomas Adès, Qigang Chang, Gabriel Kahane, Mauro Lanza, Olga Neuwirth, Hannah Lash, Sofia Gubaidulina, André Previn, Caroline Shaw, Tigran Hamasyan, Pauchi Sasaki, and Jimmy López, among others.
Additional season highlights: Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia makes its Carnegie Hall debut with two October 2017 performances led by Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano, collaborating with soloists pianist Martha Argerich and soprano Barbara Hannigan; The Cleveland Orchestra, celebrating its centennial season, returns for two concerts led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in January 2018; and Music Director Designate of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko makes his Carnegie Hall debut leading the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Bayerische Staatsoper on consecutive nights in March 2018.
Within next season’s early music programs, The English Concert and Artistic Director Harry Bicket return in March 2018 as part of their multi-year Handel operas project at Carnegie Hall, presenting a concert performance of Handel’s Rinaldo with countertenor Iestyn Davies singing the title role.
Among an array of great recital and chamber music presentations in 2017-2018: pianist Mitsuko Uchida launches a four concert survey of Schubert’s piano sonatas to be performed over two consecutive seasons; pianist Maurizio Pollini marks the 50th anniversary of his Carnegie Hall debut; the Emerson String Quartet is joined by pianist Evgeny Kissin; and Ensemble Connect plays four concerts, including the New York premiere of a Carnegie Hall-commissioned work by Gabriel Kahane.
Popular music highlights next season: singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash continues her deep dive into musical Americana, curating two Carnegie Hall concerts with a focus on Appalachian music traditions and the blues featuring Parker Millsap, Sara Watkins, Ruthie Foster and the North Mississippi Allstars; acclaimed composer, music director, and producer Ray Chew brings leading artists together for a high-energy sing-along celebration of the music of Stevie Wonder; and Steven Reineke and The New York Pops return to Carnegie Hall with their outstanding six-concert series.
Alongside Carnegie Hall’s 2017-2018 line-up of performances, the Hall also announced that a wide range of innovative music education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) will serve more than half a million people in the coming season in New York City and beyond.
Highlights of WMI’s season include the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America’s inaugural tour to Latin America in summer 2017, led by conductor Marin Alsop and featuring the country’s best instrumentalists, ages 16-19, and the second summer of NYO2, an intensive training program for younger musicians, ages 14-17. Giancarlo Guerrero and The Philadelphia Orchestra return as WMI’s partners for NYO2 which seeks to further expand the pool of young musicians in the US equipped with the tools to succeed at the highest level. WMI’s PlayUSA program also supports young players through partner organizations across the country that offer instrumental music education programs to low-income and underserved students.
Link Up, Carnegie Hall’s music education programs for grades 3-5, continues to grow, reaching over 400,000 students and teachers through partnerships with more than 100 orchestras across the country and around the globe, while WMI’s Music Educators Workshop brings teachers from throughout the US together to share best practices and cultivate a strong community through professional development during the school year and an intensive summer program, open to educators from throughout the US. As part of its social impact focus, WMI will partner with the Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network in Los Angeles to launch Create Justice, a series of national forums that bring together non-profit organizations, artists, and policymakers to consider the role of the arts in juvenile justice reform, culminating in a March 2018 concert in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, featuring art and music created by young people.
Among WMI’s series of masterclasses and workshops for young professional musicians: in January 2018, the great mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne will celebrate her final season as Artistic Advisor for The Song Continues, the annual festival dedicated to the art of the vocal recital. Ms. Horne passes the torch to soprano Renée Fleming, who will lead the series in years to come.
Carnegie Hall and WQXR 105.9 FM in New York will partner for a seventh consecutive year to produce Carnegie Hall Live, an engaging nationwide live broadcast and digital series featuring 12 performances from Carnegie Hall’s season. To encourage community and conversation, the series offers digital content surrounding each concert, including social media commentary by the broadcast team from backstage and in the control room, live and on-demand audio, special videos, program notes, photo galleries, and more. This year’s series launches on October 4 with Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night performance with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra, joined by pianist Lang Lang. The full schedule of the 2017–2018 broadcasts will be announced at a later date.
For the thirteenth consecutive year, Bank of America will be Carnegie Hall’s season sponsor. “We are very grateful for our ongoing collaboration with Bank of America,” said Clive Gillinson. “Their continued generous support plays an essential role in helping us to bring performances by the finest artists to our three stages and innovative education and social impact programs to our New York City community and beyond. Bank of America shares Carnegie Hall’s belief that the arts make a difference in people’s lives. We greatly appreciate their commitment to supporting arts and cultural organizations around the world.”
“Bank of America is pleased to enter our thirteenth year as season sponsor of Carnegie Hall,” said Rena DeSisto, Global Arts and Culture Executive for Bank of America. “This partnership is emblematic of our longstanding commitment to be a leader in supporting the arts around the world, through partnerships with world class institutions such as Carnegie Hall, to local programs that make the arts thrive in local communities. We believe strongly that cultural organizations and programs are part of the foundation on which healthy communities and economies are built.”
• After the success of his New York recital debut last spring, pianist Seong-Jin Cho
returns with a recital program including Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and
music by Schubert and Debussy. (Jan 22., SA/PS)
