FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 8, 2015 Contact: Katherine E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2015
Contact: Katherine E. Johnson
(212) 875-5718; johnsonk@nyphil.org
STÉPHANE DENÈVE TO MAKE HIS NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC DEBUT
Conducting Works by James MacMillan, Fauré, and Tchaikovsky
JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET To Perform NEW YORK PREMIERE of
JAMES MACMILLAN’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3, THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT
Program Also To Include
Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4
February 11–13, 2015
Stéphane Denève will make his New York Philharmonic debut conducting the New York
Premiere of James MacMillan’s Piano Concerto No. 3, The Mysteries of Light, with Mr.
Denève’s frequent collaborator Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist; Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande
Suite; and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Wednesday, February 11, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.;
Thursday, February 12, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, February 13 at 2:00 p.m.
James MacMillan’s Piano Concerto No. 3, The Mysteries of Light, was written for Jean-Yves
Thibaudet, who premiered it with the Minnesota Orchestra, led by Osmo Vänskä, in 2011. The
concerto is inspired by the Roman Catholic Mysteries of the Rosary.
“Why do I call the MacMillan concerto ‘timeless’ and believe it will enter the repertoire, when
so many other new works do not? MacMillan is one of the rare composers who is actually able to
put into notes a flavor of a country, a flavor of our times,” Stéphane Denève said. “I’ve lived in
Scotland and know this country — its passion, earth, flavor, character — and MacMillan can
express that in a memorable way.”
The work represents a confluence of musical and personal friendships. “Jean-Yves is a very
close friend,” explained Mr. Denève. “He was my best man at my wedding and really is family.
James MacMillan and I became friends during the years I was in Glasgow: he’s a fantastic man
and a genius composer.” About his upcoming debut, he added: “In conducting the New York
Philharmonic, I am excited about this very interesting mix of the orchestra’s rich past and very
modern open mind.”
Related Events
 Pre-Concert Insights
Composer Paul Moravec will introduce the program. Admission/Tickets to Pre-Concert
Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups. These events
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Stéphane Denève / Jean-Yves Thibaudet / 2
take place one hour before performances, and are held in the Helen Hull Room, unless
otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org/preconcert or
(212) 875-5656.
Artists
Stéphane Denève is chief conductor of Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and, beginning this
season, principal guest conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he will become chief
conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic and director of its Centre for Future Orchestral
Repertoire in September 2015. Formerly music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
(2005–12), he is recognized internationally for the exceptional quality of his performances and
programming and regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s leading
orchestras and soloists. Mr. Denève has a special affinity for the music of his native France, and
is a passionate advocate for new music. Recent European engagements have included
appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich Philharmonic,
Vienna Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras,
as well as Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia
Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. In North America he made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2012 with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, with whom he is a frequent guest both in Boston and at
Tanglewood, and he appears regularly with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, The
Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and San Francisco Symphony. He enjoys close
relationships with many of the world’s leading solo artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif
Ove Andsnes, Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Nikolaj Znaider, Gil
Shaham, Piotr Anderszewski, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Nikolai Lugansky, Paul Lewis, Joshua
Bell, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Repin, and Nathalie Dessay. In the world of opera, Mr. Denève has led
productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and at Glyndebourne Festival, Milan’s
Teatro alla Scala, Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatro de Liceu, Netherlands Opera, Brussels’s
Théâtre de la Monnaie, and Opéra national de Paris. As a recording artist, he has won critical
acclaim for his recordings of the works of Poulenc, Debussy, Roussel, Franck, and
Connesson. He is a double winner of the Diapason d’or de l’année, was shortlisted in 2012 for
Gramophone’s Artist of the Year Award, and won the prize for symphonic music at the 2013
International Classical Music Awards. A graduate and prizewinner of the Paris Conservatoire,
Stéphane Denève worked closely in his early career with Georg Solti, Georges Prêtre, and Seiji
Ozawa. He is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians and listeners, and works
regularly with young people through programs at the Tanglewood Music Center and New World
Symphony. This is his New York Philharmonic debut.
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is noted for combining poetic musical sensibilities with dazzling
technical prowess. He has performed around the world with today’s foremost orchestras,
conductors, and festivals for more than 30 years, and has recorded more than 50 albums, and has
a depth and natural charisma that have made him one of the most sought-after soloists by. In
2010 the Hollywood Bowl honored Mr. Thibaudet for his musical achievements by inducting
him into its Hall of Fame. His recordings have been nominated for two Grammy Awards and
have won many other prizes, including the Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or, Choc du
Monde de la Musique, a Gramophone Award, two Echo Awards, and the Edison Prize. In 2010
Mr. Thibaudet released his latest CD, Gershwin, featuring big jazz band orchestrations
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Stéphane Denève / Jean-Yves Thibaudet / 3
of Rhapsody in Blue, Variations on “I Got Rhythm,” and Concerto in F recorded live with the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Marin Alsop. Mr. Thibaudet was the
soloist on the Oscar– and Golden Globe–award winning sound track to Atonement, as well as the
Oscar-nominated Pride and Prejudice; in 2012 he recorded Alexandre Desplat’s sound track for
the film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Known for his style and elegance, Mr. Thibaudet
wears a concert wardrobe designed by Vivienne Westwood. Previously a Chevalier of the Ordre
des Arts et des Lettres, he was awarded the title Officier by the French Ministry of Culture in
2012. Jean-Yves Thibaudet made his New York Philharmonic debut in November 1990,
performing Szymanowski’s Symphonie concertante for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 60 (Symphonie
No. 4) conducted by Charles Dutoit; he most recently made two appearances in 2013, playing
Grieg’s Piano Concerto in January subscription concerts, led by Manfred Honeck, and Liszt’s
Totentanz with Alan Gilbert during the Orchestra’s July Bravo! Vail residency.
Repertoire
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) drew his Pelléas et Mélisande Suite from the incidental music he
composed in 1898 for the first English performance of Maeterlinck’s play. The orchestration of
the 17 cues Fauré wrote was entrusted to his pupil and biographer, Charles Koechlin, but after
the London performance, Fauré himself re-scored three of the scenes as an orchestral suite in
four parts. The opening movement is the Prelude to Act I, a forest scene in which Golaud
discovers the fragile, amnesiac Mélisande. The second movement, an entr’acte played before Act
III, depicts Pelléas and Mélisande together in a room of the castle — she at her spinning wheel,
he in rapt attendance. The third movement is Fauré’s portrait of Mélisande, and the suite
concludes with the tragic final scene of play, the death of Mélisande — a muted, poignant
movement that was played at Fauré’s funeral in 1924. The complete suite was first performed by
the Philharmonic in April 1938, led by John Barbirolli; its most recent performance was in
January 2005, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
Piano Concerto No. 3, The Mysteries of Light, by Scottish composer James MacMillan (b.
1959) is a fusion of a concerto form with symphonic poem in five continuous parts, inspired by
the Roman Catholic Mysteries of the Rosary. The composer explains that the work “attempts to
revive the ancient practice of writing music based on the structure of the Rosary,” specifically on
the Luminous Mysteries, the set of meditations introduced by John Paul II in 2002. However, he
clarified, “the music here is in no way geared towards liturgy, or devotional in any accepted,
traditional sense. Rather, each image or event becomes the springboard for a subjective
reflection, and proceeds in quasi-dramatic fashion, not too distant in concept from the musical
tone poem.” The work was written for Mr. Thibaudet, who premiered it with the Minnesota
Orchestra, led by Osmo Vänskä, in 2011. The Philharmonic has previously performed three of
Mr. MacMillan’s works: Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (in 1996 with percussionist Evelyn Glennie, led
by Leonard Slatkin); The World’s Ransoming, a Concertante Work for Cor Anglais and
Orchestra (1999, with former Philharmonic English Horn Thomas Stacy, led by Colin Davis),
and The Confession of Isobel Gowide (2005, led by Marin Alsop).
In 1877 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93) briefly endured a disastrous marriage to one of his
students at the Moscow Conservatory. Only a year before, he had entered into an unusual
relationship with the wealthy patroness Nadezhda von Meck. Enthralled with Tchaikovsky’s
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Stéphane Denève / Jean-Yves Thibaudet / 4
music, she provided him with 500 rubles each month, yet stipulated that they must never meet.
Thus began a 14-year friendship marked by voluminous and intimate correspondence. It was
during this period that the Symphony No. 4 (1878) was created and dedicated to von Meck. “I
am working hard on the orchestration of our symphony and am quite absorbed in the task,” he
wrote her less than three weeks before its completion. “None of my earlier works for orchestra
has given me so much trouble, but on none have I lavished such love and devotion…. I have
fallen more and more under the spell of the work and now I can hardly tear myself away from
it.” The Orchestra’s first presentation of the piece was in 1890 by the New York Symphony
(which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today’s New York
Philharmonic), led by Walter Damrosch; Alan Gilbert conducted the Philharmonic’s most recent
performances in 2012 at the Free Annual Memorial Day Concert at The Cathedral Church of
Saint John the Divine, Concerts in the Parks, and during its Bravo! Vail residency.
***
Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the
New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the
New York State Legislature.
***
Tickets
Tickets for these performances start at $30. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $20. Pre-Concert
Insights are $7; discounts are available for multiple talks, students, and groups (visit
nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or
by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00
p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery
Fisher Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at
noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after
performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $16 tickets for select
concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or
in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the
Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to
change.]
For press tickets, call Lanore Carr in the New York Philharmonic Marketing and
Communications Department at (212) 875-5714, or e-mail her at carrl@nyphil.org.
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Stéphane Denève / Jean-Yves Thibaudet / 5
New York Philharmonic
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Wednesday, February 11, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Open Rehearsal — 9:45 a.m.
Thursday, February 12, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, February 13, 2015, 2:00 p.m.
Pre-Concert Insights (one hour before each concert) with composer Paul Moravec
Stéphane Denève*, conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
FAURÉ
James MACMILLAN
TCHAIKOVSKY
Pelléas et Mélisande Suite
Piano Concerto No. 3, The Mysteries of Light (New York Premiere)
Symphony No. 4
* New York Philharmonic debut
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ALL PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
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