As the New York Philharmonic “prepares to welcome the Dutch maestro Jaap van Zweden as its 26th music director, the orchestra is focusing on its hometown” during the 2018-19 season, writes Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (2/14) New York Times. “In one new initiative, called ‘Phil the Hall,’ teachers, city workers and others will be invited to buy $5 tickets to short introductory concerts in April…. Two new series outside Geffen Hall [Nightcap and Sound On, both hosted by Nadia Sirota] will explore new music, drawing on the city’s contemporary scene…. Mr. van Zweden will … lead five world premieres: Louis Andriessen’s ‘Agamemnon,’ … Julia Wolfe’s ‘Fire in My Mouth,’ a multimedia choral work about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; David Lang’s opera ‘prisoner of the state,’ a take on Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ and the centerpiece of a season-ending festival of ‘music of conscience’; and pieces by Ashley Fure … and Conrad Tao…. The orchestra is ending several new-music initiatives … Contact!, … the NY Phil Biennial … and, at least for the time being, the composer-in-residence position. The idea, Ms. Borda said, is to integrate new-music offerings more completely into the main season and reflect larger programming themes.”
Posted February 14, 2018
