New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert began his tenure in September 2009, launching what New York magazine called “a fresh future for the Philharmonic.” The first native New Yorker to hold the post, he has sought to make the Orchestra a point of civic pride for the city and country. “The Philharmonic is once again part of any conversation about the liveliness of the arts: a goal that Mr. Gilbert announced on arrival, then wasted no time in achieving,” The New York Times praised.

Mr. Gilbert’s creative approach to programming combines works in fresh and innovative ways. He has also forged artistic partnerships, introducing the positions of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, held in the 2012–13 season by Christopher Rouse and pianist Emanuel Ax, respectively; an annual, multi-week festival, which this season is The Bach Variations in collaboration with 92nd Street Y; and CONTACT!, the new-music series in which Philharmonic musicians perform works by today’s leading and emerging composers in New York’s more intimate venues.

In the 2012–13 season, Alan Gilbert conducts world premieres by Anders Hillborg, Steven Stucky, and Christopher Rouse; presides over a cycle of Brahms’s complete symphonies and concertos; conducts Bach’s Mass in B minor and an all-American program that includes Ives’s Fourth Symphony; leads the Orchestra on the EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour; and continues The Nielsen Project, the multi-year initiative to perform and record the Danish composer’s symphonies and concertos, the first release of which was named by The New York Times as among the Best Classical Music Recordings of 2012. The season concludes with Gilbert’s Playlist, four programs showcasing themes and ideas that Alan Gilbert has introduced since becoming Music Director, including the season finale: a theatrical reimagining of Stravinsky’s Petrushka and The Fairy’s Kiss in collaboration with director/designer Doug Fitch that features New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns.

Last season’s highlights included performances of three Mahler symphonies, including the Second, Resurrection, on A Concert for New York on September 10; the Orchestra’s first International Associates residency at London’s Barbican Centre as part of its EUROPE / WINTER 2012 tour; the CALIFORNIA / SPRING 2012 tour; and Philharmonic 360, the Philharmonic and Park Avenue Armory’s acclaimed spatial music program featuring Stockhausen’s Gruppen, about which The New York Times said: “Those who think classical music needs some shaking up routinely challenge music directors at major orchestras to think outside the box. That is precisely what Alan Gilbert did.” Highpoints of Mr. Gilbert’s first two Philharmonic seasons included the acclaimed performance of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, hailed by The Washington Post as “another victory,” building on 2010’s wildly successful staging of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, which The New York Times called “an instant Philharmonic milestone”; world premieres of works by Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg, John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse, and composers featured on CONTACT!; Mr. Gilbert’s Philharmonic debut as violin soloist in J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins; four concerts at Carnegie Hall; and four tours to Europe, as well as the Asia Horizons tour, which included the Philharmonic’s Vietnam debut at the historic Hanoi Opera House.

In September 2011 Alan Gilbert became Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The Juilliard School, where he is also the first holder of Juilliard’s William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies. Conductor Laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra, he regularly conducts leading orchestras nationally and internationally, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic. His 2012–13 season engagements include appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra, and Berlin Staatskapelle.

Alan Gilbert made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 2008 leading John Adams’s Doctor Atomic; the DVD and Blu-ray of this production received the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Renée Fleming’s recent Decca recording Poèmes, on which he conducted, received a 2013 Grammy Award. Earlier releases garnered Grammy Award nominations and top honors from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine.

Mr. Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and Juilliard and was assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra (1995–97). In May 2010 he received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Curtis, and in December 2011 he received Columbia University’s Ditson Conductor’s Award for his “exceptional commitment to the performance of works by American composers and to contemporary music.”

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In the 2012–13 season, Harvey Sachs enters his second year as the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic. He has published nine books — of which there are now almost 70 editions in 17 languages — including well-known biographies of Arturo Toscanini and Arthur Rubinstein, a history (Music in Fascist Italy), two collections of essays on musical subjects, and, as co-author, the memoirs of Plácido Domingo and Sir Georg Solti. He also compiled, edited, and translated The Letters of Arturo Toscanini (Knopf, 2002). His most recent book, The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, was published by Random House in 2010 and is currently being reissued in paperback. Mr. Sachs has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement (London), La Stampa (Italy), and numerous other newspapers and periodicals, as well as for radio and television networks including the BBC, CBC, PBS, and RAI. He is on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, has lectured at many important North American and European universities and cultural institutions, and has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and a fellowship recipient from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Mr. Sachs is the former artistic director of Italy’s prestigious concert organization Società del Quartetto di Milano.

Associate Principal Oboe Sherry Sylar joined the New York Philharmonic in 1984. Previously she performed with the Louisville Orchestra and taught at the University of Evansville in Indiana. She was among the select group of Philharmonic musicians who joined the orchestra that Leonard Bernstein conducted in the historic Freedom Concert at the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. In 2001 the Boston Symphony Orchestra invited her to perform solo principal oboe in tour performances led by Bernard Haitink, which concluded with a concert at Carnegie Hall, and in 2003 she substituted for an ailing principal oboist for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France’s Carnegie Hall debut conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. She was also invited to China as a judge in the Beijing National Orchestra’s first-ever auditions. Also the oboe d’amore player for the New York Philharmonic, her featured solos on that instrument during the Orchestra’s Bach festival in March 2013 were praised in The New York Times.

Ms. Sylar earned her bachelor’s degree in music at Indiana University and her master’s degree from Northwestern University. She gives master classes internationally, has participated in the Aspen and Grand Teton Music Festivals, and performs chamber music regularly, including at Merkin Concert Hall and the 92nd Street Y. She is on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music.

Mark Nuccio joined the New York Philharmonic in 1999 as Associate Principal and Solo E-flat Clarinet. He previously held positions with orchestras in Pittsburgh, Denver, Savannah, and Florida. He has worked with distinguished conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Erich Leinsdorf, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, André Previn, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Gustavo Dudamel. Additionally, Mr. Nuccio has toured with both the New York Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to numerous countries, recorded with both orchestras, and performed with the Philharmonic on the award-winning series, Live From Lincoln Center, broadcast on PBS. A recent New York Philharmonic tour included a historic visit to North Korea — an event watched around the world.

An active solo and chamber musician, Mark Nuccio has been the featured performer with several orchestras in the United States and on numerous occasions at the International Clarinet Association conventions. He made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2001, his Japan recital debut in 2002, and he now regularly performs in recital in the Far East and Europe, as well as across the U.S. In New York, he often can be heard at Merkin Concert Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Nuccio is also a member of the Philharmonic Quintet of New York (PQNY) — a group of five woodwind players from the New York Philharmonic. Since its inception, in 2001, the PQNY has performed across the globe. During summers, Mr. Nuccio performs chamber music at the Strings in the Mountain Music Festival in Steamboat, Colorado.

As a studio musician, Mr. Nuccio is featured on several movie soundtracks, including Failure to Launch, The Last Holiday, The Rookie, The Score, Intolerable Cruelty, Alamo, Pooh’s Heffalump, Hitch, The Manchurian Candidate, and numerous television commercials. He also performed on the Late Show with David Letterman as well as on the 2003 Grammy Awards.

In November 2006, Mr. Nuccio’s first CD, Opening Night,featuring the clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms, was released, and is available at dorian.com as well as on iTunes and amazon.com.

A Colorado native, Mark Nuccio holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with the renowned pedagogue Robert Marcellus. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado.

Beyond his active performing schedule, Mr. Nuccio is committed to training the next generation of musicians. He currently serves on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and teaches master classes in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Nuccio is a Rico advising artist and clinician as well as an artist/clinician for Buffet Crampon, and performs exclusively on Buffet clarinets.

Bassoonist Roger Nye joined the New York Philharmonic in September 2005 after serving as the second bassoonist of the Omaha Symphony for 11 seasons. Raised in Michigan, he attended the Interlochen Arts Academy for the last two years of high school, where he studied with Robert Barris, now bassoon instructor at Northwestern University. Mr. Nye earned his bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of K. David Van Hoesen; he continued his studies at the USC School of Music, where he received his master’s in bassoon performance with Norman Herzberg, son-in-law and student of former New York Philharmonic second bassoonist Simon Kovar.

While a student at the Eastman School he participated in two important recording projects. The first: playing contrabassoon on the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s recording of cornet solos with Wynton Marsalis; the second, playing contrabassoon on the Eastman Philharmonia’s recording, with flutist Sir James Galway, of the world premiere of John Corigliano’s Pied Piper Fantasy. Other recordings of note include the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Stravinsky’s complete Firebird (as principal bassoon) with Edo De Waart conducting. Mr. Nye moved to Sydney, Australia, with his wife, oboist Caroline Park, in 1997, after winning the position of principal bassoon there. He has also served as principal bassoon of the Buffalo Philharmonic and the South Dakota Symphony.

In summer, Mr. Nye has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra, where he was soloist with violinist Joseph Silverstein in Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante, and at the Peninsula Music Festival, Door County, Wisconsin, where he served as both principal and solo bassoon. He resides in New Jersey with his wife, Caroline, and their son, Zeke.

Howard Wall, a native of Pittsburgh, joined the horn section of the New York Philharmonic in March 1994. Previously, he was a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for nearly 20 years. He is also a former member of both the Phoenix Symphony and the Denver Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns in New York as well as in Europe and South America, and can be heard on the CD Take 9, featuring the New York Philharmonic horn section and the American Horn Quartet. Mr. Wall, who began playing the horn at age 10, earned his bachelor of arts degree in music performance at Carnegie Mellon University. His wife, Elmira Darvarova, is a former concertmaster of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.