#NewYorkNotes @NYPhil NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ANNOUNCES 2021–22 SEASON CREATING A PATHWAY TO THE REOPENING OF DAVID GEFFEN HALL THE ORCHESTRA TO PRESENT FULL SUBSCRIPTION SEASON AT TWO DIFFERENT LINCOLN CENTER VENUES: ALICE TULLY HALL AND ROSE THEATER AT JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
CARNEGIE HALL TO PRESENT NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
IN FOUR CONCERTS
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JAAP van ZWEDEN TO CONDUCT
World, US, and New York Premieres plus
Repertoire Ranging from Schubert, Mahler, and Shostakovich to Eastman, Chen Yi, and Walker
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ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO
Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within
Two Weeks Exploring the Complexity of Identity
Featuring World Premieres and
Community Partnerships Developed during NY Phil Bandwagon
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GUSTAVO DUDAMEL CONDUCTS THE SCHUMANN CONNECTION
Schumann Symphonic Cycle with
World Premieres of Commissions Reflecting on the Robert-Clara Relationship
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Ten World, US, and New York Premieres
Sound ON and Kravis Nightcap Series Return
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The New York Philharmonic announces its 2021–22 season, marking the Orchestra’s long-awaited return to subscription performances following an 18-month period of cancellations due to the pandemic. For the first time in modern history the Philharmonic will be performing outside its home for an entire season. While David Geffen Hall is currently undergoing major renovations and is scheduled to reopen in Fall 2022, the Orchestra and Music Director Jaap van Zweden will perform this season at two Lincoln Center venues: Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. In addition to these performances, the Philharmonic will be presented by Carnegie Hall in four orchestral concerts.
The 2021–22 Philharmonic season, which begins on September 17, marks Jaap van Zweden’s fourth as Music Director. Throughout the subscription season he conducts a wide range of repertoire, including four World Premieres, a US Premiere, and two New York Premieres alongside symphonic cornerstones. He also leads the Orchestra in multiple concerts at Carnegie Hall.
In the upcoming season the Philharmonic continues to build on its strong connections with New Yorkers and the city’s communities, many forged through impactful collaborations developed over the course of the pandemic with local organizations — National Black Theatre in Harlem, El Puente in Brooklyn, Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education in the Bronx, and Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, A Better Jamaica, and Flushing Town Hall in Queens. Projects enriched by these partnerships include the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts and complementary performance events that explore the season’s themes.
Music Director Jaap van Zweden stated: “This is a very special time for the New York Philharmonic. First and foremost, as we return to live orchestral concerts, the Orchestra and I cannot wait to greet our audiences with programs that are full of wonderful surprises, embracing the traditional and welcoming the new. As you can see, this is a season of flexibility and varied venues. Come the fall of 2022, we all look forward to reuniting in our completely renovated home at David Geffen Hall.”
Deborah Borda, the Philharmonic’s Linda and Mitch Hart President and CEO, said: “What a singular and unique time for the New York Philharmonic, filled with hope and rebirth. During the past 15 months we have so often used the word ‘unprecedented’ for it truly has been just that. Once again we say ‘unprecedented’ as we prepare to launch our 2021–22 season, a virtual kaleidoscope of movement, challenges, and opportunities. As the Orchestra navigates multiple homes this coming season in preparation for moving into a transformed David Geffen Hall in the fall of 2022, the programs, inhabited by remarkable artists and a variety of initiatives, respond to our city’s musical and community needs. Our musicians are so ready to be back!”
SUBSCRIPTION SEASON AT ALICE TULLY HALL AND ROSE THEATER
PLUS FOUR CONCERTS PRESENTED BY CARNEGIE HALL
· The Orchestra’s season includes 50 concerts at Alice Tully Hall and 28 concerts at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall.
· With a top priority being the health and safety of audiences, musicians, and staff, the Philharmonic will work closely with medical and public health experts to follow the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New York State, and New York City. Audiences will be provided with clear guidelines in advance of the concerts.
· For the first time since the 1964–65 season, Philharmonic presentations include a series of Sunday matinees, complete orchestral concerts that begin at 2:00 p.m.
· The Philharmonic presents a podcast series hosted by Deborah Borda, exploring the season’s themes and programming and inviting audiences into the Orchestra’s world.
· The Philharmonic performs four concerts at Carnegie Hall, three led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden, one by Susanna Mälkki. In concerts presented by the Hall, the Orchestra will be joined by violinist Hilary Hahn, piano duo Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianist Igor Levit, and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The repertoire includes a World Premiere by Sarah Kirkland Snider and a US Premiere by Nico Muhly; seminal works by Bartók, Brahms, Debussy, Mahler, Sibelius, and Wagner; and 20th-century compositions by three Americans: John Adams, Samuel Barber, and Adolphus Hailstork.
MUSIC DIRECTOR JAAP van ZWEDEN’S FOURTH SEASON
Premieres and Commissions
Jaap van Zweden leads four World Premieres commissioned by the New York Philharmonic: Project 19 commissions by Joan Tower and Sarah Kirkland Snider, and newly commissioned works by Joel Thompson and Gregory Spears, both set to new texts by Tracy K. Smith (the 22nd US Poet Laureate), as part of Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within. Maestro van Zweden also conducts the US Premiere of a Philharmonic co-commission by Nico Muhly, and the New York Premieres of works by Hannah Kendall and Nina Shekhar.
Additional Highlights
Jaap van Zweden conducts A Gala Evening with Itzhak Perlman, and Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within, two weeks exploring the complexity of identity featuring The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Anthony Roth Costanzo. Maestro van Zweden’s repertoire includes Chen Yi’s Duo Ye, Eastman’s Symphony No. II, Haydn’s Oxford Symphony, Perry’s Study for Orchestra, Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, and Walker’s Antifonys.
More information on Jaap van Zweden’s fourth season is available at nyphil.org/jaap.
ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO
The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, 2021–22
AUTHENTIC SELVES: THE BEAUTY WITHIN
Countertenor, producer, and creator Anthony Roth Costanzo has been named The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the 2021–22 season. His participation in the season is two-fold. He helps create and performs in Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within, two weeks exploring the complexity of identity, January 27–February 5, 2022. Throughout the season he also works with the Philharmonic to grow the partnerships and collaborations he helped forge during NY Phil Bandwagon.
He collaborates with the Philharmonic on programming and performs in two weeks of concerts, both conducted by Music Director Jaap van Zweden. In the first program, January 27–29, 2022, at the Rose Theater, he is joined by trans-genre artist Justin Vivian Bond in a set of arias, standards, and popular songs arranged by Nico Muhly, and is the soloist in the World Premiere of Joel Thompson’s settings of new texts by Tracy K. Smith, the 22nd US Poet Laureate. In the second week, February 3 and 5, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall, he sings Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, traditionally performed by mezzo-sopranos, as well as the World Premiere of Gregory Spears’s settings of new texts also crafted by Tracy K. Smith.
Mr. Costanzo said: “I’ve been thinking a lot about what defines us, how we become who we are, and how that gets expressed in the art we make. I look very different from the way I sound when I sing. How do we hear gender in pitch? How does this perception relate to my own queer identity? What is natural and what is artificial? The countertenor voice hints at questions of self and belies a wide spectrum of historical and cultural contexts surrounding falsetto singing. Authentic Selves is an opportunity to explore what stories my voice can tell, and what truths it can reflect.”
In the other aspect of his residency, Mr. Costanzo helps curate co-presentations throughout the season with organizations that participated in NY Phil Bandwagon 2, including National Black Theatre, El Puente, Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, A Better Jamaica, and Flushing Town Hall. Details will be announced.
More information on Anthony Roth Costanzo’s residency is available at nyphil.org/anthonyrothcostanzo.
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL CONDUCTS THE SCHUMANN CONNECTION
Gustavo Dudamel returns to conduct the New York Philharmonic in The Schumann Connection, March 9–20, 2022. In each of two consecutive weeks he complements a pair of the Romantic composer’s symphonies with a World Premiere of a work commissioned by the Orchestra to reflect on the complicated relationship of Robert Schumann and his wife, pianist and composer Clara Wieck Schumann.
The first week of concerts presents Schumann’s first two symphonies alongside the World Premiere of a Philharmonic commission by Gabriela Ortiz, March 9–12, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall; the composer of the work premiered the second week, March 17–20, 2022, at the Rose Theater, featuring the Symphonies No. 3, Rhenish, and No. 4, will be announced.
The Orchestra’s performances will be complemented by a Sound ON contemporary music concert that spotlights creative partnerships akin to the one shared by Robert and Clara Schumann. Details will be announced.
NEW MUSIC
Over the 2021–22 season, the New York Philharmonic introduces New York audiences to ten works by composers from a variety of backgrounds: six World Premieres, two US Premieres, and two New York Premieres. In addition, Sound ON and Kravis Nightcap — the Orchestra’s two new-music series, presented in intimate venues, that delve deeper into the season’s themes — return.
Six new works receiving their World Premieres during the season have been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for specific initiatives:
· Project 19 — the Philharmonic’s multiyear celebration of the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment through the world’s largest-ever woman composer commissioning initiative — returns with Jaap van Zweden conducting both Joan Tower’s 1920 / 2019, December 3–4, 2021, at Alice Tully Hall, and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward into Light, June 10, 2022, at Carnegie Hall.
· During Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within, Jaap van Zweden conducts new vocal works composed by Joel Thompson, January 27–29, 2022, at the Rose Theater, and Gregory Spears, February 3 and 5, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall. Both works are settings of new texts by Tracy K. Smith, the 22nd US Poet Laureate, composed for countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, the season’s Artist-in-Residence.
· Each of the two programs in The Schumann Connection, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, features a Philharmonic commission exploring the connection between Robert and Clara Schumann. The first, to be premiered March 9–12, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall, is being composed by Gabriela Ortiz, marking her Philharmonic debut. The composer of the second, to be premiered March 17–20, 2022, at the Rose Theater, will be announced.
A seventh work, Nico Muhly’s In Certain Circles — a double piano concerto that the New York Philharmonic co-commissioned with the Orchestre de Paris, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic — receives its US Premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 27, 2022; Jaap van Zweden conducts, and Katia and Marielle Labèque are the soloists.
The season also includes:
· The US Premiere of Saudade by Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, February 17–19, 2022, at the Rose Theater, led by Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
· The New York Premieres of Kanashibari by Hannah Kendall, who was born in London of Guyanese parents, September 23–25, 2021, at the Rose Theater, and of Lumina by second-generation Indian American Nina Shekhar, May 12–14, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall. Jaap van Zweden conducts both works.
Sound ON and Kravis Nightcap, the two new-music series introduced in Jaap van Zweden’s inaugural season, return in the 2021–22 season. The Marie-Josée Kravis Creative Partner Nadia Sirota serves as host of both series and curator of Sound ON. Sirota is a viola soloist and member of the ensemble yMusic. A leader in the new-music community, she won a Peabody Award as host and co-creator of the podcast Meet the Composer.
· Sound ON presents contemporary chamber concerts performed by Philharmonic musicians that dive deeper into the season’s key initiatives, and explore the music of our time through the performer’s lens. As part of The Schumann Connection, Nadia Sirota is curating an event that spotlights contemporary creative partnerships akin to the one shared by Robert and Clara Schumann. Details will be announced.
· Nightcap, hosted by Nadia Sirota, presents cabaret-style concerts curated by composers and performers who engage in conversation about the music to explore themes related to Philharmonic performances in a casual setting. In the 2021–22 season two composers of Philharmonic commissions being premiered during the season — Nico Muhly’s In Certain Circles and Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward into Light — will each curate a Nightcap event. Details will be announced.
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC DEBUTS
· Soloists making Philharmonic debuts include vocalist Justin Vivian Bond, violinist Ray Chen, soprano Amanda Forsythe, countertenor John Holiday, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, pianist Igor Levit, pianist Beatrice Rana, and soprano Golda Schultz, as well as New York Philharmonic English horn player Ryan Roberts in his first Philharmonic solo appearance for a live audience. In addition, three musicians who previously appeared with the Orchestra in special events or on tour are making their New York Philharmonic subscription debuts: pianist Seong-Jin Cho, violinist Karen Gomyo, and pianist Haochen Zhang.
· The conductors making their first Philharmonic appearances include Jeannette Sorrell, Dalia Stasevska, and James Blachly.
ADDITIONAL CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS
Beyond the subscription concerts, the Philharmonic’s season includes:
· Three Galas, at Alice Tully Hall:
A Gala Evening with Itzhak Perlman, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, December 2, 2021
Lunar New Year Gala, February 8, 2022
Spring Gala, April 20, 2022
· Holiday programs:
Handel’s Messiah, Presented by Gary W. Parr, conducted by Jeannette Sorrell and featuring soprano Amanda Forsythe, countertenor John Holiday, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass Kevin Deas, December 14–15 and 17–18, 2021, at The Riverside Church
Holiday Brass, December 16 and 18, 2021, at Alice Tully Hall
· Raiders of the Lost Ark in Concert, April 22–23, 2022, at Alice Tully Hall, as part of The Art of the Score
· Four Young People’s Concerts, at Alice Tully Hall:
Reconnect, November 13, 2021: Simone Young, conductor; Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello; Gary A. Padmore, host
The Orchestra Will Not Be Televised, January 15, 2022: Thomas Wilkins, conductor and host; National Black Theatre, artistic advisor
Youth as Creator, March 5, 2022: James Blachly, conductor
One Planet, May 14, 2022: Lina González-Granados, conductor and host; El Puente, artistic advisor
· Three residencies, all featuring Jaap van Zweden; details will be announced at a later date:
Usedom Music Festival, May 2022
Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership, July 2022
Bravo! Vail Music Festival, July 2022
For the complete chronological listing of concerts — including performance dates, times, and venues; artists; and repertoire — visit nyphil.org/chronological-listing.
For a full listing of the 2021–22 season’s conductors, soloists, premieres, and more, visit nyphil.org/at-a-glance.
For a full listing of the 2021–22 season’s education programs, chamber music performances, ticket information, and more, visit nyphil.org/addendum.
ALL PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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Programs for Families at the New York Philharmonic are presented by Daria and Eric Wallach.
Lead support for Project 19 is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust, and Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Mr. Oscar L. Tang.
Starr International Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of the Lunar New Year Gala and the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and Partnership.
Support for Young People’s Concerts is provided by The Theodore H. Barth Foundation, The Brodsky Family Foundation, and Sally E. Cummins.
Programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
