Back to Press Release List > 01/07/2010 - Alan Gilbert Leads New York Philharmonic in US Premiere of Magnus Lindberg Clarinet Concerto, 2/13

On Saturday, February 13 at 8:00 p.m., Carnegie Hall presents the New York Philharmonic in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Conducted by Alan Gilbert in their first appearance together at Carnegie Hall since Mr. Gilbert assumed the position of Music Director last fall, the Philharmonic will perform the US premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto with guest soloist Kari Kriikku, for whom the work was written. Also on the program is Wagner’s Rienzi Overture and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major.

Mr. Lindberg currently serves as the New York Philharmonic’s Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence. His Clarinet Concerto received its world premiere on September 14, 2002 in Helsinki, Finland. The Times of London called the work, “A giddy 25-minute flight through an enchanted forest of bewitching sounds.”

Artist Information
Finnish clarinetist Kari Kriikku is recognized as a champion of contemporary music and also maintains a position as an important interpreter of the standard clarinet repertoire. Many of Finland’s renowned composers have written for him, including Magnus Lindberg, whose Clarinet Concerto has been performed over forty times by Mr. Kriikku. Mr. Kriikku’s recording of the work on the Ondine label has received five-star reviews and many awards. Highlights of Mr. Kriikku’s 2009–10 season include performances as guest soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, and the Oslo, Bergen, Helsinki, and Rotterdam Philharmonics. In 2009 Kari Kriikku released Bizarre Bazaar, a recording of works for clarinet and strings influenced by musical styles of the Middle East and klezmer on the Ondine label. Also in 2009 he received the Nordic Council Music Prize, and his recording of works for clarinet by Kimmo Hakola was awarded the Finnish Janne Prize. In 2008 Kari Kriikku made his debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival under the direction of Osmo Vänskä and will return to Lincoln Center in March 2010 as guest soloist in a chamber festival of Finnish music, featuring a new clarinet quintet by Jukka Tiensuu. As Artistic Director of Avanti! Chamber Orchestra since 1998, Mr. Kriikku is an active participant in their experimental group, HumppAvanti!, in which he also incorporates his skills as an accomplished drummer and banjo player on the 5-stringed Bluegrass banjo.

Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009–10 season and is the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has introduced a number of new initiatives and artistic partners: Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg; The Artist-in-Residence Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic’s new music series. He also led the orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi and will lead a European tour in January and February. Also in the 2009–10 season Mr. Gilbert holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting, and performance master classes. Highlights of Mr. Gilbert’s 2008–09 season with the New York Philharmonic included the November 14, 2008, Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra also as part of the Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds festival. In May 2009 he conducted the world premiere of Peter Lieberson’s The World in Flower and in July 2009 led the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks and Free Indoor Concerts, series as well as four concerts at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. In June 2008 Mr. Gilbert was named conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, following his final concert as its chief conductor and artistic advisor. He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra (NDRSO) since 2004, and he has conducted other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lyon. Born and raised in New York City, Mr. Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School; he was a substitute violinist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for two seasons and assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. In November 2008 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Dr. Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award and his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 received top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine.

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. Since its inception, the Philharmonic has played a leading role in American musical life, championing the new music of its time and commissioning or premiering many important works, from Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World (1893) and Gershwin’s An American in Paris (1928) to John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls (2002) and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto (2007). Alan Gilbert became Music Director in the 2009–10 season, succeeding Lorin Maazel in a distinguished line of musical giants that has included Kurt Masur, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Gustav Mahler, Bruno Walter, and Arturo Toscanini. Over the last century the Philharmonic has become renowned around the globe, having appeared in 428 cities in 61 countries on five continents. In February 2008 the Philharmonic made a historic visit to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—the first performance there by an American orchestra and an event that was watched around the world and for which the Philharmonic received the 2008 Common Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy. Long a media pioneer, the orchestra began radio broadcasts in 1922, and is currently represented by The New York Philharmonic This Week, syndicated nationally 52 weeks per year, streamed on the orchestra’s Website, nyphil.org, and carried on Sirius XM Radio. On television, in the 1950s and ’60s, the Philharmonic inspired a generation of music lovers through Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, telecast on CBS, and its presence on television has continued with annual appearances on Live From Lincoln Center, which began with that series’ inaugural episode in 1976. The Internet has expanded the orchestra’s reach, and in 2006 the Philharmonic became the first major American orchestra to offer downloadable concerts, recorded live; and in November 2009 became the first orchestra to offer an iTunes Pass, with Alan Gilbert: The Inaugural Season.

Program Information
Saturday, February 13 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
Alan Gilbert, Music Director and Conductor
Kari Kriikku, Clarinet

RICHARD WAGNER Rienzi Overture
MAGNUS LINDBERG Clarinet Concerto (US Premiere)
JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

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