Music. NY Philharmonic conductor begins farewell concerts this fall
| 22 May 2023 | 01:08
Jaap van Zweden will conduct Mahler’s Second Symphony in his farewell concerts as the New York Philharmonic’s music director from June 6-8, 2024, ending a season that will spotlight the 100th anniversary of the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts.
Van Zweden, who succeeded Alan Gilbert as music director in the 2018-19 season, announced in September 2021 that the 2023-24 season would be his last. Gustavo Dudamel will take over but will not start until 2026-27.
The 62-year-old van Zweden will be joined by soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony.
Starting its second season in the rebuilt David Geffen Hall, the orchestra will open its season September 27 with van Zweden and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Beethoven’s “Egmont” concerto, Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien” and Dvorák’s cello concerto.
Before the official opening, the orchestra said there will be four performances of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” from September 12-17 with conductor David Newman accompanying the 2021 movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The orchestra also will play Ludwig Göransson’s score to Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” accompanying the 2018 film from December 20-23 and Bernard Herrmann’s score to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 movie “Vertigo” from Jan. 23-26.
The Young People’s Concerts centennial will be marked November 18 with a program called “Time Capsule” that will include reminiscences by pianist André Watts, who debuted with the orchestra at age 16 in a televised Young People’s Concert with Bernstein in 1963.
World premieres include Steve Reich’s “Jacob’s Ladder” (October 5) and a work by Joel Thompson (March 21). The philharmonic will give a U.S. premiere on September 29 to “The Elements,” a collective work conceived by Josh Bell, featuring the violinist and composed by Jake Heggie (Fire), Jennifer Higdon (Air), Edgar Meyer (Water), Jessie Montgomery (Ether), and Kevin Puts (Earth).
For more about van Zweden’s farewell concerts, log onto https://bit.ly/43fcLLa.