The New York Philharmonic's CONTACT! Features Alan Gilbert and Thomas Hampson,
Chanticleer Performs a Program of Music from Plainchant to Chen Yi,
Pianist Paul Lewis Performs His Only New York Recital of the Season, and
Dianne Reeves Makes a Return to the Met
For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs are available.
Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open
Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00.
Student and group discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.
Tickets include admission to the Museum on day of performance.
Saturday, April 10, 2010, at 7:00 p.m - Chanticleer – "In Time of…
Songs of Love & Loss, War & Peace"
The acclaimed a cappella men's ensemble Chanticleer performs its annual Christmas concerts at the Museum, and returns in the spring for its annual concert at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing; in 2010 a program called "In Time of… Songs of Love & Loss, War & Peace," consisting of works from the 17th to 20th centuries, including plainchant; works by Gibbons, Palestrina, Dufay, Janequin, and Chen Yi; a selection of folk songs, popular songs, and spirituals.
This concert is supported by the estate of Kathryn Walter Stein.
Called "the world's reigning male chorus" by the New Yorker magazine, and named 2008 Ensemble of the Year by Musical America, Chanticleer will perform more than 100 concerts in 2009-2010, the Grammy Award-winning ensemble's 32nd season. Chanticleer will tour to 21 states in the U.S. and 12 foreign countries this season, including appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Vienna's Musikverein, and Prague's Rudolfinum. In 2009 Chanticleer made debut appearances in Ireland and the People's Republic of China and will return to the latter in June for Expo 2010 in Shanghai. In 2009-2010 Chanticleer will release a new recording, "Best of Chanticleer," and a new DVD, "Fireside Christmas with Chanticleer."
Chanticleer is known for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz, and from gospel to venturesome new music. With its blend of 12 male voices, ranging from countertenor to bass, the ensemble has earned international renown as "an orchestra of voices." Chanticleer was founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto, who sang with the group until 1989 and served as Artistic Director until his death in 1997. Artistic Advisor Joseph Jennings joined the ensemble as a countertenor in 1983, and shortly thereafter assumed the title of Music Director, which he held until 2008. A prolific composer and arranger, Mr. Jennings has provided the group with some of its most popular repertoire, most notably spirituals, gospel music, and jazz standards. In 2008, tenor Matthew Oltman was named Music Director.
Collaborations between Chanticleer and the Metropolitan Museum include a PBS Great Performances program, "Christmas with Chanticleer," taped in the Metropolitan Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. And Chanticleer's 2002 recording of Sir John Tavener's Lamentations and Praises, a work co-commissioned by the Museum, won a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance.
The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing
Tickets: $70
Thursday, April 15, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. - Dianne Reeves – "Ivories & Strings"
Dianne Reeves makes her second Metropolitan Museum appearance with a concert titled "Strings Attached" with guitarist Romero Lubambo and pianist Peter Martin, two of the jazz vocalist's frequent collaborators.
Dianne Reeves is one of the world's premier jazz vocalists. In When You Know, her first Blue Note album of new material in five years – and her first since providing the award-winning soundtrack to George Clooney's 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck – Dianne Reeves offers an array of performances of old and new standards along with an infectious, uplifting new original. The new album by the four-time Grammy winner – the only singer to win the vocal category for three consecutive recordings in any singing category – showcases Reeves at the top of her game. It emerged following a period of intense touring for Reeves. Creatively revitalized during a break at home in Denver, she suddenly announced a desire to get into the studio right away, teaming once again with producer George Duke (Natalie Cole, Anita Baker), Reeves's cousin and the producer of two of her Grammy-winning albums: 2001's In the Moment and 2002's The Calling.
Tickets: $40
Saturday, April 17, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. - CONTACT! The New York Philharmonic's
New Music Series
Alan Gilbert, Conductor,
Thomas Hampson, Baritone
The second concert of the New York Philharmonic's CONTACT! new music series features Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting, and baritone Thomas Hampson. The program features three new works created specially for these concerts: Sean Shepherd's These Circumstances and Nico Muhly's Detailed Instructions – both New York Philharmonic commissions – and Matthias Pintscher's songs from Solomon's garden, a co-commission by the New York Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, which will be performed by Thomas Hampson.
Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic are launching CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic's new-music series, in the 2009-2010 season. The programs will consist exclusively of world premieres, for which the New York Philharmonic has commissioned works from a diverse list of composers.
Tickets: $40
Saturday, April 24, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. - Paul Lewis, Piano
English pianist Paul Lewis, in his only New York recital of the season, performs a program including Mozart's Adagio in B Minor, K. 540; Schumann's Fantasia in C Major, Op. 17; Liszt's Vallée d'Obermann; and Beethoven's Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53, "Waldstein."
Paul Lewis's recent recordings on the harmonia mundi label have earned notice and high critical praise: Schubert's Die Winterreise with tenor Mark Padmore; and the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, about which Gramophone magazine said, "one of the most highly prized recording marathons of recent years...an unmissable benchmark," and Hi-Fi News said, "already he can be ranked with such major interpreters as Kempff, Serkin, or Arrau."
Widely celebrated for his considered and profound interpretations of the classical repertoire, Paul Lewis is recognized internationally as one of today's most distinctive and poetic pianists. His many awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society's Instrumentalist of the Year Award and the South Bank Show Classical Music Award, both in 2003, a Diapason d'Or de l'Année in France in 2002, two successive Edison awards in Holland in 2004 and 2005, and the Gramophone Instrumental Award and Record of the Year in 2008. In 2006 he was awarded the 25th Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. Between 2005 and 2007, he performed the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at venues throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim, and his recordings of the Beethoven cycle for harmonia mundi have received unanimous praise throughout the world. His recent disc of Schubert's Winterreise with Mark Padmore was featured as 'Editor's Choice Disc of the Month' in the November 2009 edition of Gramophone Magazine.
Highlights of Lewis's 2009-2010 season include concerts with the London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, his debut with the Gurzenich Orchestra in Cologne, a solo recital tour of Australia with Musica Viva, duo recitals with Mark Padmore and Steven Osborne, a recital at the Royal Festival Hall in 2010, a new recording of the Diabelli Variations for harmonia mundi, and the start of a two year Schubert project from 2011.
A regular guest at many of the world's most prestigious venues and festivals, he has a particularly strong relationship with London's Wigmore Hall, where he has appeared on more than 30 occasions. He has performed with many of the world's leading orchestras with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Andrew Davis, Marin Alsop, Dimitri Kitajenko, Daniel Harding, Adam Fischer, Richard Hickox, Emmanuel Krivine, and Joseph Swensen. Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife, the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK.
Tickets: $45
Also in April 2010: The following music lecture:
Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at 2:30 p.m. - The Sound of Broadway:
Richard Rodgers, America's Waltz King
The best of Broadway returns with a two-part series on the great waltzes of Richard Rodgers. Each session features conversations with well-known performers and Rodgers experts, plus live performances, special guest appearances, and multimedia presentations. Featured speakers include pianist/conductor Gerald Steichen of the New York City Opera.
April 27: Rodgers and Hart in 3/4 Time
May 4: Rodgers with Hammerstein and Sondheim: Do You Hear a Waltz?
Tickets $23 (Series: $40)
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March 9, 2010
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