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about the performers
New York Philharmonic
Founded in 1842, the New York
Philharmonic is the oldest symphony
orchestra in the USA 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 Dvořák’s
Symphony No. 9 and Gershwin’s An
American in Paris (1928) to John
Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning On the
Transmigration of Souls and Esa-Pekka
Salonen’s Piano Concerto.
Alan Gilbert became Music Director at
the start of this season, succeeding
Lorin Maazel in a distinguished line of
musicians that has included Kurt
Masur, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin
Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Gustav Mahler,
Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini.
Over the past century the Philharmonic
has become renowned around the
globe, having appeared in 429 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 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 1960s,
the orchestra 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. The internet has expanded the
orchestra’s reach still further, and in
2006 it 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.
Credit Suisse, the exclusive global
sponsor of the New York Philharmonic,
supports the orchestra’s activities at
home in New York, nationally in the
USA, and around the world. The
current European tour will be the fifth
one under the aegis of Credit Suisse,
and the second in Europe.
NEW YORK
PHILHARMONIC
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