January 30, 2018 — Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts today announced its 53rd season of Great Performers, dedicated to presenting many of the world’s most accomplished and inspirational artists in the concert halls and performance venues across the institution’s storied campus. This coming season brings distinguished soloists, orchestras, chamber ensembles, and conductors from across the globe, showcasing them at the height of their artistry.
 
Highlights of the 2018/19 season include performances by Esa-Pekka Salonen leading the Philharmonia Orchestra in back-to-back concerts featuring Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony and the conductor’s own work. Closing out the season, Manfred Honeck conducts the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a blockbuster program of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with pianist Till Fellner and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
 
Visits from the world’s most renowned chamber orchestras feature the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestraand conductor Nicholas McGegan joined by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo in a centuries-spanning program juxtaposing two premieres by Caroline Shaw, with duets and arias by Handel and Purcell. French Baroque favorites Les Arts Florissants and conductor William Christie perform Haydn’s The Creation, and acclaimed ensembles Accademia Bizantina of Italy and the Australian Chamber Orchestra make anticipated New York appearances.
 
Two brilliant soloists return to subjects that helped launch their careers in a pair of recitals: Hilary Hahn will perform a solo Bach program bringing new insight to a composer she explored in her debut recording, and pianist Piotr Anderszewski will present Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which he tackled to great acclaim early in his career. Violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Jeremy Denk, and cellist Steven Isserlis will combine their prodigious talents to form a trio for an evening of late-Romantic masterworks.
 
The esteemed Takács Quartet focuses on Schubert’s chamber music in a pair of concerts at Alice Tully Hall. Additional highlights include Great Pianists on Film, pre-concert lectures, and a wide range of recitals and concerts from established luminaries to rising stars presented in David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Walter Reade Theater, and David Rubenstein Atrium.
 
“From established virtuosos and ensembles to the newest voices of the next generation, Great Performers annually brings together a wealth of performance artistry from around the world,” said Lincoln Center’s Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss. “Their unmatched artistic achievements and inspiration provide us with a transcendent humanism, enabling us to move forward in these challenging times.”
 
Lincoln Center’s Great Performers 2018/19
Series at-a-glance
 
Symphonic Masters
A cornerstone of the Great Performers season, the Symphonic Masters series annually brings top orchestras, conductors, and soloists from across the globe to perform at David Geffen Hall. Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra anchor this year’s series with a pair of riveting performances. On March 10, Salonen will lead the ensemble in Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. The following day, March 11, he will conduct his Cello Concerto, which premiered in 2016, for the first time in New York alongside the complete ballet score of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Sibelius’s The Oceanides.
 
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra make their first appearance in New York since 2014 with a program featuring Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with pianist Till Fellner on May 19. Marking the centennial of Rachmaninoff’s immigration to the U.S., the Russian National Orchestra, a highly regarded and privately funded ensemble, performs a concert devoted to the composer on February 20 conducted by Ukrainian maestro Kirill Karabits in his New York debut with RNO founder Mikhail Pletnev as soloist in the towering Piano Concerto No. 2.
 
Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, both frequent guests to Lincoln Center, return for a pair of performances: Noted pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet performs Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as the centerpiece of an all-French program (April 14), followed by the Sibelius Violin Concerto with soloist James Ehnes, Mahler’s First Symphony, and Beethoven’s Egmont Overture (April 15).
 
Chamber Orchestras
Merging past and present, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo unite with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for a concert featuring two Caroline Shaw premieres, works by Arvo Pärt, and arias and duets by Handel and Purcell (March 12). The beloved French Baroque ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, conducted by founder William Christie, ventures into the early Classical era with a special performance of Haydn’s monumental oratorio, The Creation(November 15). Italy’s Accademia Bizantina, led by conductor and harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone , also brings Haydn to Alice Tully Hall with the composer’s Symphony No. 80, along with Mozart’s Symphony No. 10 and Violin Concerto No. 4. Known for their electrically charged performances, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and artistic director Richard Tognetti are joined by pianist Inon Barnatan in a program exploring the art of the fugue, tracing its legacy through works by Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.
 
Virtuoso Recitals
Held at Alice Tully Hall, this year’s slate of virtuoso recitals begins with the incomparable Hilary Hahn in a solo Bach program, featuring the First Violin Sonata and First Partita (October 23). Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst performs his own arrangements of Vivaldi and Telmann with pianist Henrik Måwe on December 12. Piotr Anderszewski brings his acclaimed take on Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations to Lincoln Center on April 2. Closing out the Alice Tully Hall season is the trio of Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, and Jeremy Denk, longtime collaborators and each a renowned soloist, who will perform trios by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and Ravel.
 
Takács Quartet Plays Schubert
Opening the 2018/19 Great Performers season and returning in March, the Takács Quartet presents a pair of concerts that each contain a Schubert quintet. On October 18, the ensemble performs the String Quintet in C major with David Requiro (cello), paired with Webern’s Langsamer Satz. The ensemble’s March 14performance includes the beloved Trout Quintet with David Korevaar (piano) and Paul Erhard (bass), along with Brahms’s String Quartet No. 2.
 
Schubert’s chamber music appears in additional concerts by the Van Kuijk Quartet, which presents the String Quartet in D minor (“Death and the Maiden”) on February 3 at the Walter Reade Theater, and the British Castalian String Quartet, which plays a free concert at the David Rubenstein Atrium on April 18, featuring Schubert’s Rosamunde String Quartet and Britten’s String Quartet No. 2.
 
Sunday Morning Coffee Concerts
Sunday Morning Coffee Concerts are intimate one-hour programs at the Walter Reade Theater accompanied by Nespresso coffee, light refreshments, and conversations with the artists. This season features the New York debut of Italian pianist Federico Colli (December 2); the Van Kuijk Quartet (February 3); the Verona Quartet (February 24); Benjamin Beilman (violin) with Orion Weiss (piano) (April 14); rising guitar player Jiji (April 28); and Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi (May 19).
 
Great Pianists on Film
Continuing the tradition of showcasing rare footage of great musicians captured on film, this April Great Performers will present three programs, each focusing on the piano literature of a single composer and each introduced by New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman, a pianist himself. The series leads off with filmed performances by celebrated Beethoven interpreters Rudolf Serkin, Claudio Arrau, and Wilhelm Backhaus(April 13). Later that day, a second program presents Chopin works played by Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, and Martha Argerich. The third and final program in the series focuses on Glenn Gould ’s storied performances of Bach, including director Bruno Monsaingeon’s studio capture of the pianist recording the Goldberg Variations (1981) for the second time in his legendary career.
 
Complimentary Classical
Great Performers’ popular Complimentary Classical series returns for a sixth year of free, one-hour-long performances in the David Rubenstein Atrium. This season, the Navarra String Quartet performs works by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks and Ravel (February 7); the Tesla Quartet tackles Beethoven’s final string quartet, Op. 135 (March 7); the Castalian String Quartet plays Schubert and Britten (April 18); and the Minguet Quartet takes on Beethoven and Mahler (May 2). Admission is first come, first served.