Music Director Kurt Masur will lead the New York Philharmonic in a nine-city,
fourteen concert tour of Europe from August 15 to September 3, 1 996. The
tour's itinerary will take the Orchestra to eight major European festivals
including the Edinburgh International Festival, the BBC Henry Wood Promenade
Concerts in London, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Lubeck, the
Tivoli Music Festival in Copenhagen, the International Festival of Music
Lucerne, the Salzburg Festival, the Settembre Musica Festival in Turin,
and the Berlin Festspiele. The Philharmonic will also travel to the National
Concert Hall in Dublin. The soloists for this European Festivals Tour are
violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, New York Philharmonic English hornist Thomas
Stacy, and members of the Orchestra's French horn section.
The New York Philharmonic's 1996 European Festivals Tour is sponsored by
Citibank, whose support of the Philharmonic began in 1980. Citibank's relationship
with the Orchestra is believed to be unique in the world of corporate support
of the arts.
"This year's Festivals tour promises to be highly successful with music
lovers in Europe," said Guenther Greiner, New York-based executive
vice president for the bank. "Citibank is proud to be sponsoring the
New York Philharmonic again and we look forward with great anticipation
to presenting this experience for our customers."
"We are pleased to be embarking on this prestigious tour," said
Deborah Borda, the Philharmonic's Executive Director. "It allows us
to bring one of America's artistic treasures, the New York Philharmonic,
to eight major European festivals. Once again, this is made possible by
Citibank, whose 1 6-year relationship with the Orchestra is exemplary in
the world of corporate support of the arts."
Music Director Kurt Masur, who will lead his third tour of Europe with the
Philharmonic, observed, "Appearing with the New York Philharmonic in
Europe for the third time will be especially meaningful for me, since we
have the opportunity to bring to these audiences the English Horn Concerto
by Ned Rorem, performed by Thomas Stacy, our own distinguished English horn
player."
Maestro Masur continued, "Our audiences will enjoy the outstanding
virtuosity of the Orchestra in Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, and will
be impressed by the Russian sound in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. I also
believe the young audiences will find Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet inspiring.
Then there are the three major Bruckner and Beethoven works. And we are
grateful that Anne-Sophie Mutter will join us in Brahms' Violin Concerto
. Finally, Schumann's Conzertstuck will show the talent of our French horn
section to great advantage," he added.
Repertoire for the tour will include the Brahms Violin Concerto featuring
Ms. Mutter, and the Schumann Conzertstuck featuring the Orchestra's French
horn section: Principal horn Philip Myers, R. Allen Spanjer, Erik Ralske,
and Howard Wall. Other works to be performed include Bruckner's Symphony
No. 4, Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Fidelio
Overture, Prokofiev's excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, and Tchaikovsky's
Symphony No. 5. In addition, the New York Philharmonic will present the
United Kingdom premiere of Ned Rorem's English Horn Concerto commissioned
for its 150th Anniversary season. It is dedicated to Philharmonic English
hornist Thomas Stacy, who performed as soloist when the Orchestra gave the
work's premiere performance on January 27, 1994.
Anne-Sophie Mutter's career began when, at the age of 13, she played as
soloist with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic at the 1977
Salzburg Festival. Equally in demand ever since as a soloist and chamber
musician, Ms. Mutter appears regularly throughout Europe, North America,
and the Far East, performing with the world's finest orchestras and leading
conductors. In September Ms. Mutter plays the Brahms Violin Concerto at
the New York Philharmonic's Opening Gala, under the direction of Kurt Masur.
Ms. Mutter has received numerous awards for her recordings including the
Grand Prix du Disque and Holland's Edison Award. For her recording of Berg's
Violin Concerto and Rihm's Time Chant (with James Levine and the Chicago
Symphony, on the Deutsche Grammophon label) she received the Grammy award
for Best Classical Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra. Her most recent
recording is the Sibelius Concerto, with Andre Previn and the Dresden Staatskapelle;
the release of her September 1995 recital in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall
follows in the autumn of 1996.
New York Philharmonic English hornist Thomas Stacy has been with the Orchestra
since 1972. In addition to more than 50 solo performances with the New York
Philharmonic, Mr. Stacy has appeared as guest soloist with major orchestras
including the National Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Louisville
Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Spokane
Symphony and the Oregon Symphony. His guest appearances abroad have included
solo performances with the New York Philharmonic during its Asia Tour in
1994, Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, La Sinfonica
Municipal in Caracas, recitals in England and a broadcast recital on Swedish
radio. He has also given recitals in New York (that city's first English
horn recital), Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Baltimore, and at Salt Lake
City's Tabernacle, as well as on performance series throughout the U.S.-often
performing on oboe, oboe d'amore and English horn.
The New York Philharmonic's first tour in the United States was in 1882.
Other historic tours by the Orchestra came in 1920 under Walter Damrosch,
and in 1930 under Arturo Toscanini. The Orchestra's first tour of the U.S.S.R.
took place in 1959 under Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Schippers, and Seymour
Lipkin.
Music Director Kurt Masur led his first Philharmonic tour in July 1992,
a successful five-concert, two-country tour of South America. Subsequent
tours included the historic 150th Anniversary tour of Europe in 1993, the
1994 tour of Asia, and the 1995 tour of Europe. This tour will mark the
Philharmonic's 15th visit to Europe, and its third with Kurt Masur. Citibank
has sponsored 10 of the Orchestra's international tours in the last 16 years,
helping to create performances in 65 different cities and 35 countries.
June 3, 1996
Contact: Sylvie Volokhine
David Dorsey
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