2011/2012 SEASON

Icarus at the Edge of Time

United Palace Theatre
4140 Broadway at 175th St.
New York, NY 10033

Orchestra of St. Luke’s returns to the World Science Festival to perform Philip Glass’ Icarus and the Edge of Time, which tells the story of a courageous boy who challenges the awesome might of a black hole.

This stunning, full-orchestral work with animated film and live narrator brings a powerful modern twist to a classic myth, taking audiences of all ages on a whirlwind voyage through space and time, to the very edge of understanding. Featuring an original orchestral score by Philip Glass, conducted by Brad Lubman, film by Al + Al and narration written by Brian Greene and David Henry Hwang.

2012/2013 SEASON

OPENING NIGHT: 

MENDELSSOHN’S MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Caramoor Music Festival
Venetian Theater

Mendelssohn’s masterful incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was begun as a teenager (the Overture) and completed toward the end of Mendelssohn’s life. He evokes the fantastical, supernatural whimsy found in Shakespeare’s characters. Readings of excerpts of Shakespeare’s play will contextualize this symphonic masterpiece, from the iconic Wedding March to the unforgettable scherzo. Conductor Roberto Abbado leads the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and violin virtuoso Gil Shaham makes a special appearance in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

PERFORMERS 
Orchestra of St. Luke’s 
Roberto Abbado, conductor 
Gil Shaham, violin
Bebe Neuwirth, narrator

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 
MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61

POPS, PATRIOTS & FIREWORKS
Caramoor Music Festival
Venetian Theater

Michael Barrett leads Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the music of George Gershwin. Some of his greatest works, including Rhapsody in Blue, performed by John Musto, and hit songs sung by Darius DeHaas and Carla Jablonski will complete the patriotic preparations for the pyrotechnic fireworks to follow.

PERFORMERS 
Orchestra of St. Luke’s 
Michael Barrett, conductor
Darius DeHaas, vocals
Carla Jablonski, vocals
John Musto, piano

All Gershwin Program

CIRO IN BABILONIA
Gioachino Rossini
Bel Canto at Caramoor
Venetian Theater

Operas on Old-Testament stories were popular in Italy in the early 19th century, and in some cities were obligatory for performances during Lent; other examples include Rossini’s own Mosè in Egitto, Donizetti’s Il diluvio universale (telling of Noah and the Flood), and Verdi’s Nabucco (about Belshazzar’s forefather Nebuchadnezzar). The usual dramatic strategy for these works was to insert a love story or other personal complication into the outline of the familiar narrative.

Rossini was just shy of 20 years old, with four operas already to his credit, when he received the contract to compose Ciro in Babilonia for the Teatro Comunale of Ferrara early in 1812, to a libretto by Francesco Aventi.

In collaboration with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy.

PERFORMERS 
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Will Crutchfield, conductor
Davide Livermore, stage director
Ewa Podleś, contralto
Jessica Pratt, soprano
Sharin Apostolou, soprano
Eric Barry, tenor
Michael Spyres, tenor
Scott Bearden, baritone
Krassen Karagiozov, baritone

EMANUEL AX & PABLO HERAS-CASADO
Caramoor Music Festival
Venetian Theater

Pablo Heras-Casado returns to celebrate his recent appointment as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s following his brilliant debut performance with the Orchestra last summer. Emanuel Ax joins OSL and Maestro Heras-Casado in a program of music by Beethoven and Ravel.

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s 
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor 
Emanuel Ax, piano

RAVEL Le tombeau de Couperin (orch. Ravel 1919)
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

I CAPULETI ED I MONTECCHI
Vincenzo Bellini
Bel Canto at Caramoor
Venetian Theater

Bellini’s I Capuleti ed i Montecchi tells the Romeo and Juliet story—based on the same ancient Italian sources that Shakespeare used—in the gorgeous language of Italian bel canto. Late in life, Richard Wagner told how Bellini’s yearning, passionate melodies had inspired him to create Tristan und Isolde.

PERFORMERS 
Orchestra of St. Luke’s 
Will Crutchfield, conductor
Eglise Gutiérrez, soprano
Kate Aldrich, mezzo-soprano
Leonardo Capalbo, tenor
Benjamin Harris, bass-baritone
Jeffrey Beruan, bass

BAROQUE IN PIECES
Brooklyn Museum

Explore the myriad influences and musical colors of Italy, France, and Germany which inspired the rich, cosmopolitan language of Bach and his Baroque contemporaries.

PROGRAM
ALBINONI Concerto for Two Oboes in C Major, Op. 7, No. 11 
BACH Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 
BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066

BAROQUE IN PIECES
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Explore the myriad influences and musical colors of Italy, France, and Germany which inspired the rich, cosmopolitan language of Bach and his Baroque contemporaries.

PROGRAM
ALBINONI Concerto for Two Oboes in C Major, Op. 7, No. 11 
BACH Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 
BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066

BAROQUE IN PIECES
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Explore the myriad influences and musical colors of Italy, France, and Germany which inspired the rich, cosmopolitan language of Bach and his Baroque contemporaries.

PROGRAM
ALBINONI Concerto for Two Oboes in C Major, Op. 7, No. 11 
BACH Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 
BACH Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major, BWV 1066

WEILERSTEIN’S HAYDN
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

Cellist and recently-named MacArthur "Genius" Alisa Weilerstein joins conductor Nicholas McGegan and OSL in a program of works by Haydn and Mozart.

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Alisa Weilerstein, cello

PROGRAM
MOZART Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201/186a
HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Hob. Vllb:2
MOZART Chaconne from Idomeneo, K. 367
HAYDN Symphony No. 99 in E-flat Major, Hob. 1:99

ST. LUKE’S AT SAINT THOMAS CHURCH

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
John Scott, conductor
The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys
Richard Pittsinger, treble
David Pittsinger, baritone

PROGRAM
BRAHMS Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45

OSL will join the famed Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys under the baton of conductor John Scott to perform the stirring Brahms German Requiem.

HAYDN’S THE CREATION
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Harold Rosenbaum, conductor
The New York Virtuoso Singers
Christine Brandes, soprano
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone

PROGRAM
HAYDN The Creation, Hob. 21/2

HERAS-CASADO & ZACHARIAS
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

Pablo Heras-Casado makes his Carnegie Hall main stage debut with OSL and pianist Christian Zacharias, performing music by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Schumann.

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor
Christian Zacharias, piano

PROGRAM
BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture, Op. 84
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21
DEBUSSY Five Préludes (orch. Hans Zender) (U.S. Premiere)
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120 (1841 version)

SPIN PARIS
Brooklyn Museum

Glimpse into the wide-ranging styles and consequences of composers who defined French music at the turn of the 20th century. The program also features the world premiere of a new work by Sean Shepherd, who refracts a French musical sensibility through his own distinct, kaleidoscopic compositions.

PROGRAM
SEAN SHEPHERD World Premiere (OSL commission)
DEBUSSY Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
RAVEL Sonatine en Trio for flute, cello, and harp (arr. Carlos Salzedo)
SAINT-SAËNS Fantasy for Violin and Harp, Op. 124

SPIN PARIS
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Glimpse into the wide-ranging styles and consequences of composers who defined French music at the turn of the 20th century. The program also features the world premiere of a new work by Sean Shepherd, who refracts a French musical sensibility through his own distinct, kaleidoscopic compositions.

PROGRAM
SEAN SHEPHERD World Premiere (OSL commission)
DEBUSSY Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
RAVEL Sonatine en Trio for flute, cello, and harp (arr. Carlos Salzedo)
SAINT-SAËNS Fantasy for Violin and Harp, Op. 124

SPIN PARIS
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Glimpse into the wide-ranging styles and consequences of composers who defined French music at the turn of the 20th century. The program also features the world premiere of a new work by Sean Shepherd, who refracts a French musical sensibility through his own distinct, kaleidoscopic compositions.

PROGRAM
SEAN SHEPHERD World Premiere (OSL commission)
DEBUSSY Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
RAVEL Sonatine en Trio for flute, cello, and harp (arr. Carlos Salzedo)
SAINT-SAËNS Fantasy for Violin and Harp, Op. 124

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

Renée Fleming, as part of her Perspectives residency at Carnegie Hall this season, is joined by an all-star cast for André Previn’s acclaimed opera A Streetcar Named Desire, based on the play by Tennessee Williams. 

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Patrick Summers, conductor
Renée Fleming, soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey, tenor
Teddy Tahu Rhodes, baritone
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Jane Bunnell, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Bidlack, tenor
Brad Dalton, director
(additional artists to be announced)

PROGRAM
PREVIN A Streetcar Named Desire 
(semi-staged performance)

FISCHER CONDUCTS ST. MATTHEW PASSION
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

Following a memorable, sold-out performance of Mozart’s Requiem last season, Iván Fischer returns to Carnegie Hall in his only U.S. guest conducting appearance this season to lead OSL and Musica Sacra in J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Iván Fischer, conductor
Dominique Labelle, soprano
John Tessier, tenor
Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone
Musica Sacra
Kent Tritle, music director

PROGRAM
BACH St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHORAL FESTIVAL
Carnegie Hall
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Seating Chart

PERFORMERS
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
John Nelson, conductor
Nicole Cabell, soprano
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Russell Thomas, tenor
John Relyea, bass-baritone
Kent Tritle, choral director

PROGRAM
MOZART Requiem, K. 626

THREE PART INVENTIONS
Brooklyn Museum

Trace the evolution and diversity of the trio reimagined over a period of 125 years with key works by Schubert, Brahms, and Bartók.

PROGRAM
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897 (“Notturno”)
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 28 (“Sonatensatz”)
BARTÓK Contrasts for clarinet, violin, and piano
BRAHMS Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano in A minor, Op. 114

THREE PART INVENTIONS
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Trace the evolution and diversity of the trio reimagined over a period of 125 years with key works by Schubert, Brahms, and Bartók.

PROGRAM
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897 (“Notturno”)
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 28 (“Sonatensatz”)
BARTÓK Contrasts for clarinet, violin, and piano
BRAHMS Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano in A minor, Op. 114

THREE PART INVENTIONS
The Morgan Library & Museum
Richard Gilder Chamber Music Series

Trace the evolution and diversity of the trio reimagined over a period of 125 years with key works by Schubert, Brahms, and Bartók.

PROGRAM
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897 (“Notturno”)
SCHUBERT Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D. 28 (“Sonatensatz”)
BARTÓK Contrasts for clarinet, violin, and piano
BRAHMS Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano in A minor, Op. 114