BELÁ BARTÓK (1881-1945)
Rhapsody No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra (1929)
Bartók fully exploited the possibilities of a set of ideas he had by arranging them for different instrumentations (violin and piano, cello and piano, violin and orchestra, and cello and orchestra). This two-movement Rhapsody, like so much of Bartók’s creative output, found its inspiration in Hungarian dance. Here he reached for the gypsy-rhythms of the csárdás, with its characteristic slow start and wild, frenetic finish.

JOHN ADAMS (b. 1947)
Naïve and Sentimental Music (1998-99)
The title of John Adams’ composition alludes to an essay by German poet Friedrich Schiller who speaks of naïve (i.e., intuitive, spontaneous) and sentimental (i.e., self-aware, analytical) poets. The composer explains: “Even writing about my own work… brings my own creative process out of the realm of the spontaneous into the harsh light of verbalization, reason and analysis. This particular piece, perhaps more than any of my others, attempts to allow the naïve in me to speak, to let it play freely.” At the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s première of the work, the L. A. Times’ review comments on how the “liquid, syncopated melody, never predictable, never resolving but immediately appreciable, journeys through a first movement adventure. The second movement, inspired by a Busoni berceuse, takes its character from luminous open strings, the ringing of bells (cowbells and temple bells), and the slicing shimmer of a bowed vibraphone. Through it is a touching amplified guitar solo. The third movement has a Minimalist core, repeated motives accruing and discarding notes one at a time, a rush of rhythm, a bedazzlement of orchestration. …The audience responded with thunder. This is music people want to hear and should hear.”

David Zinman is in his 14th season as music director of the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, following many years as a regular guest conductor there. In 1998 he completed his 13-year tenure as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and became music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he also is program director of the recently formed American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He has toured widely with both the Tonhalle and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras in Europe, North America, and the Far East, including in such music centers as Berlin, Vienna, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris, and Milan.

David Zinman made his American conducting debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1967, and has since led many of the world's leading orchestras. His 2008–09 season engagements include the Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Philadelphia, and St. Louis Symphony orchestras, as well as, in Europe, the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Zinman has served as music director of the Rochester Philharmonic (1974–85), Rotterdam Philharmonic (1979–82), and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (1964–77); he was artistic director of the Minnesota Orchestra's Viennese Sommerfest from 1994 to 1996. As guest conductor, he has regularly led the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, New York Philharmonic, and The Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, and has appeared regularly at the Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Saratoga, and Tanglewood music festivals. He conducts and records frequently with major European orchestras.

Mr. Zinman's discography of more than 90 recordings has earned numerous international honors, including five Grammy Awards, two Grand Prix du Disque awards, two Edison Prizes, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, and a Gramophone Award. With the Tonhalle, he has recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies and concertos and the complete Strauss tone poems; he is in the process of completing a cycle of the Mahler symphonies.

Born in 1936, David Zinman graduated from Oberlin Conservatory and pursued advanced work in composition at the University of Minnesota. Conducting studies at the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center brought him to the attention of Pierre Monteux, who guided his musical development and gave him his first important conducting opportunities with the London Symphony Orchestra and at the 1963 Holland Festival. Mr. Zinman last conducted the New York Philharmonic in May 2006.

YO-YO MA
Cello, born in 1955 in Paris, France
Is there anyone whose love of music is more infectious than Yo-Yo Ma’s? This charismatic cellist has been a cultural beacon for decades. Young and old flock to his sold-out concerts, coming away moved, delighted, and inspired. Just a sampling of his activities is dizzying: performing a Vivaldi concerto, playing music from the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the Academy Awards, appearing on the soundtrack of the film Memoirs of a Geisha (for which he, Itzhak Perlman, and John Williams won Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Score), collaborating with colleagues and kids, and exploring music as a way of communicating among the most diverse people around the globe. And there’s his high-profile “Silk Road Project” of outreach programs, about which he enthuses: “In my musical journey I have had the opportunity to learn from a wealth of different musical voices—from the compassion and grace of Bach’s cello suites, to the ancient Celtic fiddle traditions alive in Appalachia, to the soulful strains of the bandoneón of Argentina’s tango cafés.” And oh yes—People Magazine chose him as one of the 50 sexiest men in 2001. To Yo-Yo Ma, it’s all in a life’s work. He was born in Paris of Chinese parents—his father Hiao-Tsiun Ma, had been a violinist and a professor in China, who left his native country for Paris in 1936. His mother, Marina, a singer from Hong Kong and former student of Ma’s father, came to Paris in 1949, where they married. Yo-Yo Ma took up the cello when just a little boy. He had started out, he says, “playing the violin, but I wasn’t any good at it. Then, one day I saw a double bass, and it was so big, and I was four, and that was incredibly exciting to me. I wanted to play the bass, so my parents and I compromised.” The great cellist told Harvard Magazine that his father taught him and his sister French, Chinese history, and calligraphy, and required his son to memorize two measures of Bach per day—with the result that Yo-Yo could play a Bach suite when he was just a toddler. When Yo-Yo Ma was seven, the family moved to New York. At age nine, he began his studies with the legendary cellist Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School, and graduated from Harvard in 1976 with a degree in the humanities.

“The most popular artist in classical music today.” Boston Globe

“Yo-Yo Ma is the greatest...cellist today. Everything he touches...he turns to gold...gorgeous, almost voluptuous playing.” Boston Herald

Violinist Jonathan Gandelsman was born in Russia, where he studied with Maya Glesarova. He emigrated to Israel in 1990 and subsequently settled in the United States, where he attended The Curtis Institute of Music. Mr. Gandelsman has a strong interest in multi-cultural performances, and during the summer of 2002 joined Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble for performances at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has been a member of the Ensemble, with whom he has performed from coast to coast in the U.S., in Europe, and in Asia. In late spring of 2006 he will join the Ensemble for a visit to Israel and to Azerbaijan. He is committed to bridging the gap between performers and audiences, and has founded “In a Circle” performance events in Lower Manhattan, a dynamic series exploring connections between forms. In addition, he has played with the Mark Morris Dance Company in more than 70 concerts, and has also performed with the dancer Savion Glover in concert, in addition to Christina Courtin’s Running Kicks.

From 1998 to 2002 Mr. Gandelsman participated in the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, collaborating with conductor James Levine, and cellists Lynn Harrell and Franz Helmerson. He has performed with violinist Nigel Kennedy in concert and in recordings of Bach and Bartók. He is making his New York Philharmonic debut in these concerts.

Pianist Joel Fan, a winner of the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts Auditions, began his career at age 11, performing the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 on the Young People’s Concert, December 8, 1980, conducted by Zubin Mehta. He has since appeared in recital and with orchestras throughout the world. His eclectic repertoire spans traditional piano classics and concertos, his own piano transcriptions and cadenzas, and newly commissioned works.

In recent seasons, Mr. Fan has performed to critical acclaim with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria, London Sinfonietta, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Bridgeport Symphony, Marion Philharmonic, and Singapore Symphony with conductors such as Gustav Meier, David Robertson, and Alan Gilbert. Mr. Fan, a member of the Silk Road Ensemble, received his bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University, where his teachers included the composer Leon Kirchner. He holds a master of music degree in piano performance from Peabody Conservatory as a student of Leon Fleisher. He is making his Philharmonic subscription debut in these concerts.