The New York Philharmonic has announced its 2024-25 season, which includes five world premieres, a residency by Grammy award-winning pianist Yuja Wang, and anniversary celebrations of Boulez and Ravel.
An Opening Gala September 24 will feature Tony winner Cynthia Erivo, making her Philharmonic debut, and conductor Manfred Honeck. The program for the gala will be announced at a later date.
Pianist Yuja Wang, named Artist-in-Residence for the 2024-25 season, will perform in two concerts with the orchestra, focused particularly on showcasing her left hand, playing Janáček's Capriccio for Piano Left Hand in January, and Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in March. The January concert will also feature Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, and Gerswhin's Rhapsody in Blue, while the March concert, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, will include Gershwin's An American in Paris, Varèse's Amériques, and Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major.
Ravel's 150th birthday will be a focus of the season. In addition to the two piano concertos named above, audiences will be able to hear the composer's La Valse, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, and the complete ballet score of Daphnis et Chloé. The latter will be performed alongside the New York premiere of Kevin Puts' The Brightness of Light, with soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Rod Gilfry, the latter making his Philharmonic debut.
Ravel is not the only French composer with a milestone birthday this season. The New York Philharmonic will also celebrate the centennial of composer, conductor, and former Philharmonic Music Director Pierre Boulez with a special concert with musicians from the Juilliard Orchestra, playing Boulez's Sur Incises. In January, the Philharmonic will recreate a program which was curated by Boulez in 1975, during his tenure as the orchestra's music director. In addition to selections from Boulez's Pli selon pli, the concert, conducted by David Robertson, will feature works by Bach, Schubert, Webern, and Stravinsky.
Boulez is just one of many impressive names in the history of New York Philharmonic music directors, and the 2024-25 season represents a transitional chapter in that ongoing legacy, as the orchestra's current music director, Jaap van Zweden, will step down at the close of the 2023-24 season, and Gustavo Dudamel will become music director designate in the 2025-26 season. In the in-between season, various NY Phil musicians and guest artists will be curating concerts and events. Dudamel will also join the orchestra for a three-week residency. In addition to collaborating with Yuja Wang for her Ravel concert, Dudamel will conduct the world premiere of a new work composed and performed by soprano Kate Soper, as well as symphonies by Stravinsky, Glass, and Mahler.
In addition to Kate Soprer, Thomas Larcher, Jessie Montgomery, Nico Muhly, and Augusta Read Thomas will all also have new works premiered by the Philharmonic. The orchestra will also perform the U.S. premieres of Dai Fujikura's Entwine and Matthias Pintscher's Neharot, as well as New York premieres of works by John Corigliano, Luca Francesconi, Nathalie Joachim, Kevin Puts, and Gabriella Smith.
The Art of the Score, the Philharmonic's concert series of film scores performed live alongside screenings of the movies, will return for four concerts this season, including John Williams' scores for Jaws—another New York premiere—and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, John Debney's score for Elf, and Alan Silvestri's score for Back to the Future.
Ludwig van Beethoven's sole opera Fidelio seems to be having a bit of a moment, with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Washington National Opera all including the work in their recently-announced 2024-25 seasons. The New York Philharmonic will be getting in on Fidelio fever with performances of the Leonore Overture No. 3, the third of four overtures Beethoven wrote for the opera. In fact, the Philharmonic's performances of the work will occur in the very same week in March when the opera will be performed at the Met, allowing avid Fidelio fans to make a double feature.
Tiler Peck, who recently joined Hilary Hahn for a Kravis Nightcap event, will return to curate more Nightcap events, late-night concerts exploring music and movement, featuring Peck alongside musicians from the New York Philharmonic as well as guest artists. The Philharmonic will also introduce a new series, Soundbites, of shorter, casual, intermission-less concerts. Programs for both the Nightcap and Soundbites series will be announced at a later date.
The season will also include appearances from conductors John Adams, Marin Alsop, Jakub Hrůša, and Nathalie Stutzmann, and soloists Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Isabel Leonard, and many more. To see the full season lineup, visit NYPhil.org.
