San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas Perform Five-Concert European Tour September 2010
Entertainment Desk
June 19, 2010
September 11-16 tour includes concerts in Milan and Turin and coincides with release of Orchestra´s final Mahler cycle recording, Songs with Orchestra Soloists are mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, and organist Paul Jacobs.
SAN FRANCISCO Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) perform five concerts on a tour of Europe September 11-16, including three appearances at the Lucerne Festival and concerts in Milan and Turin, Italy. As acclaimed interpreters of the music of Gustav Mahler, and as part of the 2010-11 global commemoration of Mahler´s life, the Orchestra has been invited to perform the composer´s Symphony No. 5 at both the Lucerne Festival and in Turin.
On this tour, their ninth of Europe together, MTT and the Orchestra will also perform Aaron Copland´s Organ Symphony, featuring organist Paul Jacobs, and Berg´s Violin Concerto with frequent collaborator Christian Tetzlaff, both in Lucerne. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, lauded internationally for her mastery of French music, joins Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra for Berlioz´s Les Nuits d´été in Lucerne and Milan. The Orchestra will also perform Beethoven´s Symphony No. 5, Ravel´s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2 and Valses nobles et sentimentales, Berlioz´s Roman Carnival Overture, and Wagner´s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer. These are the Orchestra´s first concerts in Europe since 2007 and their first appearance in Milan since 1987. Their last visit to Turin was in 2004.
The Lucerne Festival concerts cap the Orchestra´s multi-year residency at one of the most important classical music festivals in Europe. The residency began in 2006 with three concerts, including performances of Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), and continued with three more in September 2007, with performances of Mahler´s Symphony No. 7. MTT and the Orchestra´s recordings of both Mahler symphonies won multiple Grammy Awards in 2007 and 2009, including Best Classical Album.
During the 2010-11 season, Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra are also marking the anniversaries of Mahler´s birth and death with performances of his music at home in Davies Symphony Hall, and with the September 2010 international release of Songs with Orchestra, the final recording of its Grammy Award-winning Mahler cycle, featuring Susan Graham and baritone Thomas Hampson. The Symphony´s new third season of its Keeping Score PBS Television series, hosted by MTT and scheduled to air in spring 2011, is devoted to Gustav Mahler. In May 2011, the Orchestra returns to perform Mahler Symphonies Nos. 2, 6, and 9 on tour throughout Europe, including a rare four-concert engagement at the famed Vienna Konzerthaus as part of the city´s commemoration of the Mahler anniversaries.
The Songs with Orchestra recording features Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra and Susan Graham performing Mahler´s Rückert Lieder. Thomas Hampson and the Orchestra contribute performances of Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) and selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Rückert Lieder and Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) were both recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall during the three-week September 2009 Mahler Festival. Hampson recorded songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with MTT and the Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall in May 2007.
Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) is widely considered to be among the country´s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. Under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), the SFS presents more than 220 concerts and presentations annually for an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, in other Bay Area venues, and through an active national and international touring program.
Tilson Thomas assumed his post as the SF Symphony´s eleventh Music Director in September 1995. Together, he and the SFS have formed a musical partnership hailed as one of the most inspiring and successful in the country. MTT celebrates his 16th season as Music Director in 2010-11. His tenure with the Orchestra has been praised by critics for outstanding musicianship, innovative programming, highlighting the works of American composers, and bringing new audiences to classical music.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony maintain a leading presence among American orchestras in Europe through an active touring program, award-winning recordings, and innovative broadcast and education projects. In 1996, MTT led the orchestra on the first of their 23 national and international tours together to Europe, Asia and throughout the United States, with annual performances at Carnegie Hall. They opened Carnegie Hall´s 2008-09 season with a gala tribute to Leonard Bernstein that was filmed and broadcast nationally on Thirteen/WNET New York´s Great Performances on PBS television. Other recent tour highlights include a three-week 2007 European tour that featured two televised appearances at the BBC Proms in London, concerts in Edinburgh, Berlin and Frankfurt, and at several major European festivals, including Lucerne; and their first appearances in mainland China, as part of their 2006 Asia tour. The September 2010 European tour marks their thirteenth tour of Europe since 1973.
In 2010, Tilson Thomas and the SFS conclude an ambitious self-produced Mahler recording project, launched in 2001 and encompassing all of Mahler´s symphonies and works for voice, chorus and orchestra. The Orchestra´s Mahler cycle on SFS Media has been recognized with seven Grammy Awards, including three 2009 Grammy Awards for its recording of Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10.
The San Francisco Symphony´s commitment to music education has resulted in the groundbreaking television, radio, multimedia and website project Keeping Score; an award-winning children´s website, www.sfskids.com; and Adventures in Music, a nationally acclaimed in-school music education program in San Francisco schools. The Keeping Score series has been viewed by over six million Americans since its first broadcast in September 2006 and has been acclaimed for making classical music accessible to a wider, more diverse audience.
The Fall 2010 Tour is generously supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Brayton Wilbur, Jr. Endowed Fund for Touring, and the Frannie and Mort Fleishhacker Endowed Touring Fund. The Lucerne concerts are supported by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through US Artists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
SAN FRANCISCO Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) perform five concerts on a tour of Europe September 11-16, including three appearances at the Lucerne Festival and concerts in Milan and Turin, Italy. As acclaimed interpreters of the music of Gustav Mahler, and as part of the 2010-11 global commemoration of Mahler´s life, the Orchestra has been invited to perform the composer´s Symphony No. 5 at both the Lucerne Festival and in Turin.
On this tour, their ninth of Europe together, MTT and the Orchestra will also perform Aaron Copland´s Organ Symphony, featuring organist Paul Jacobs, and Berg´s Violin Concerto with frequent collaborator Christian Tetzlaff, both in Lucerne. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, lauded internationally for her mastery of French music, joins Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra for Berlioz´s Les Nuits d´été in Lucerne and Milan. The Orchestra will also perform Beethoven´s Symphony No. 5, Ravel´s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2 and Valses nobles et sentimentales, Berlioz´s Roman Carnival Overture, and Wagner´s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer. These are the Orchestra´s first concerts in Europe since 2007 and their first appearance in Milan since 1987. Their last visit to Turin was in 2004.
The Lucerne Festival concerts cap the Orchestra´s multi-year residency at one of the most important classical music festivals in Europe. The residency began in 2006 with three concerts, including performances of Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand), and continued with three more in September 2007, with performances of Mahler´s Symphony No. 7. MTT and the Orchestra´s recordings of both Mahler symphonies won multiple Grammy Awards in 2007 and 2009, including Best Classical Album.
During the 2010-11 season, Tilson Thomas and the Orchestra are also marking the anniversaries of Mahler´s birth and death with performances of his music at home in Davies Symphony Hall, and with the September 2010 international release of Songs with Orchestra, the final recording of its Grammy Award-winning Mahler cycle, featuring Susan Graham and baritone Thomas Hampson. The Symphony´s new third season of its Keeping Score PBS Television series, hosted by MTT and scheduled to air in spring 2011, is devoted to Gustav Mahler. In May 2011, the Orchestra returns to perform Mahler Symphonies Nos. 2, 6, and 9 on tour throughout Europe, including a rare four-concert engagement at the famed Vienna Konzerthaus as part of the city´s commemoration of the Mahler anniversaries.
The Songs with Orchestra recording features Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra and Susan Graham performing Mahler´s Rückert Lieder. Thomas Hampson and the Orchestra contribute performances of Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) and selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Rückert Lieder and Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) were both recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall during the three-week September 2009 Mahler Festival. Hampson recorded songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with MTT and the Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall in May 2007.
Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) is widely considered to be among the country´s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. Under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), the SFS presents more than 220 concerts and presentations annually for an audience of nearly 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, in other Bay Area venues, and through an active national and international touring program.
Tilson Thomas assumed his post as the SF Symphony´s eleventh Music Director in September 1995. Together, he and the SFS have formed a musical partnership hailed as one of the most inspiring and successful in the country. MTT celebrates his 16th season as Music Director in 2010-11. His tenure with the Orchestra has been praised by critics for outstanding musicianship, innovative programming, highlighting the works of American composers, and bringing new audiences to classical music.
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony maintain a leading presence among American orchestras in Europe through an active touring program, award-winning recordings, and innovative broadcast and education projects. In 1996, MTT led the orchestra on the first of their 23 national and international tours together to Europe, Asia and throughout the United States, with annual performances at Carnegie Hall. They opened Carnegie Hall´s 2008-09 season with a gala tribute to Leonard Bernstein that was filmed and broadcast nationally on Thirteen/WNET New York´s Great Performances on PBS television. Other recent tour highlights include a three-week 2007 European tour that featured two televised appearances at the BBC Proms in London, concerts in Edinburgh, Berlin and Frankfurt, and at several major European festivals, including Lucerne; and their first appearances in mainland China, as part of their 2006 Asia tour. The September 2010 European tour marks their thirteenth tour of Europe since 1973.
In 2010, Tilson Thomas and the SFS conclude an ambitious self-produced Mahler recording project, launched in 2001 and encompassing all of Mahler´s symphonies and works for voice, chorus and orchestra. The Orchestra´s Mahler cycle on SFS Media has been recognized with seven Grammy Awards, including three 2009 Grammy Awards for its recording of Mahler´s Symphony No. 8 and the Adagio from Symphony No. 10.
The San Francisco Symphony´s commitment to music education has resulted in the groundbreaking television, radio, multimedia and website project Keeping Score; an award-winning children´s website, www.sfskids.com; and Adventures in Music, a nationally acclaimed in-school music education program in San Francisco schools. The Keeping Score series has been viewed by over six million Americans since its first broadcast in September 2006 and has been acclaimed for making classical music accessible to a wider, more diverse audience.
The Fall 2010 Tour is generously supported by the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the Brayton Wilbur, Jr. Endowed Fund for Touring, and the Frannie and Mort Fleishhacker Endowed Touring Fund. The Lucerne concerts are supported by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through US Artists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
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