The New York Philharmonic

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SLIDESHOW: A Glamorous Opening Gala

The New York Philharmonic launched its 2014–15 season last night! Following a glittering pre-concert reception, the Opening Gala centered on La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema, in which Music Director Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra were joined by a starry array of artists — Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, and Josh Groban plus Martin Scorsese and Alec Baldwin. Afterward, the Gala audience crossed the Lincoln Center Plaza for a post-concert dinner in the David H. Koch Theater. Echoing the festive occasion, the Empire State Building shone Philharmonic red last night in celebration of the new season. Relive the festivities!

The New York Times Previews Chaplin Concerts with Piece on Chaplin, the Composer

Charlie Chaplin NY Philharmonic The New York Times

A century after his Little Tramp character first appeared on screen, Charlie Chaplin is remembered for many things: as the derby-hatted, mustachioed comic symbol of the silent screen; as one of the first true international superstars; as an actor, writer and director who helped elevate film to a respected art form even as he enjoyed enormous popular success.

But it is another, often overlooked aspect of Chaplin’s creative output that will be explored this weekend in New York: his work as a composer.

Read the rest of "Silent Star Gets Full Orchestration," Michael Cooper's in-depth look at Chaplin, the composer, in today's New York Times. Cooper interviewed Timothy Brock, who conducts the New York Philharmonic in the concerts, which are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Hear the Opening Gala Concert Live via WQXR

Can't join us Tuesday night? Catch it on the radio or by clicking the play button above. (If you want to SEE the concert, good news: PBS's Great Performances will air it at a later date; we'll let you know when it's announced).

WQXR, New York's classical music radio station, will broadcast and stream the New York Philharmonic's Opening Gala Concert, La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema, live on Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 p.m., on air at 105.9 FM and online. Conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, the program will feature violinist Joshua Bell, soprano Renée Fleming, and singer/songwriter/actor Josh Groban. Elliott Forrest will host the broadcast.

La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema celebrates the lush and iconic scores from some of Italy's greatest films — including 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, and Once Upon a Time in the West, among others — with music by Nino Rota, Andrea and Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, and more. The program is presented in collaboration with Sugarmusic.

Special guest Martin Scorsese, Oscar-winning director and film preservation proponent, will deliver welcoming and introductory remarks. Award-winning actor, Philharmonic Board Member, and Philharmonic Radio Host Alec Baldwin returns as Artistic Advisor for the second season of THE ART OF THE SCORE: Film Week at the Philharmonic, which highlights some of the genre's most distinctive uses of music.

Film Week Makes BBC Music Magazine List of Top Sept. Events

BBC Music Magazine NY Philharmonic

THE ART OF THE SCORE: Film Week at the Philharmonic (September 16–20) made BBC Music Magazine's September North American Live Choice, a "guide to the very best concerts and opera around the U.S. and Canada":

The New York Philharmonic is sparing no expense with its second annual Film Week. Up first are two nights of scores ... from Italian cinema, including Fellini's (1983) and La Dolce Vita (1960) and Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1983). Violinist Joshua Bell, soprano Renée Fleming and singer Josh Groban are the soloists. Later in the week comes the complete score to Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1938), performed live as the film is screened in Avery Fisher Hall.

Martin Scorsese To Introduce La Dolce Vita Opening Night

Martin Scorsese NY Philharmonic 

As cineastes know well, Martin Scorsese is as keen and fascinating a film scholar, preserver, and commentator as he is a film director — especially when it comes to Italian cinema.

That is why we are thrilled to announce that he has been added as a special guest on the New York Philharmonic's Opening Gala Concert, La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema, September 16, 2014. Mr. Scorsese, an Oscar-winning director and film preservation proponent, will deliver welcoming and introductory remarks.

The concert kicks off our new season and the second season of THE ART OF THE SCORE: Film Week at the Philharmonic, offering two contrasting programs of film music September 16–20. On September 17, an expanded version of the Sept. 16 program will be recorded by PBS’s Great Performances for telecast at a later date.

On September 19–20, Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times: The Tramp at 100 will pay tribute to the 125th
anniversary of the birth of film legend and auteur Charlie Chaplin and to the 100th birthday of
his most famous character, The Little Tramp.

Click here for a press release with more information.

Alan Gilbert and Philharmonic Take 3 of NYMag’s Top 10 Concerts

ny mag 

In baseball, 3 for 10 is a .300 average — the benchmark of a top hitter. In music it’s not bad, either.

Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic have three concerts on New York magazine's “10 Best Classical Performances of the Year” — more than any other musical institution.

Equally satisfying is the wide range the three concerts reflect. Here’s what critic Justin Davidson wrote:

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, from September's Art of the Score: Film Week at the Philharmonic. “Stanley Kubrick’s trippy meditation on galactic travel never seemed more operatic than when the Philharmonic ripped the great soundtrack out of two dimensions and into the concert hall.”
  • Unsuk Chin's Gougalon, from the April CONTACT! concerts: “Scored for a jangly ensemble of percussion, strings, winds, and brass, the piece, subtitled 'Scenes From a Street Theater,' evokes the raucous soundtrack of the composer’s native Seoul. ... Chin’s work made the whole concert snap into focus.”
  • Ives’s Symphony No. 4, from an April subscription concert: “Few conductors can whip Ives’s crazy megalopolis of a score into luminous sense more effectively than Alan Gilbert.”

This Is Your Brain on Music

World Science Festival Panel 

Alec Baldwin, Joel and Ethan Coen, film composer Carter Burwell (who's done the music for many of the Coens' films), and neuroscientist Aniruddh Patel explored the uniquely powerful role of music in shaping the narrative flow and the emotional impact of film at a sold-out event that was part of last month's THE ART OF THE SCORE: Film Week at the Philharmonic. If you missed it, World Science Festival, which co-presented the event, just posted video of the whole discussion, plus insightful blogs on related topics. From Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey to the Coen Brothers’ Miller’s Crossing and True Grit, the program examines the creative process of scoring feature films and the neuro-scientific insights that reveal how such compositions profoundly shape the audience experience.

SLIDESHOW: A Glamorous Opening Gala

The New York Philharmonic's 2013–14 season kicked off yesterday with a full day of celebratory activities: a Free Dress Rehearsal, courtesy of the Philharmonic and Global Sponsor Credit Suisse, complete with chocolates and tango dancers; buzzing pre-concert receptions; the Opening Gala Concert itself headlined by Yo-Yo Ma; and the post-concert dinner. Relive the day's highlights!