James Levine withdraws from rest of BSO season

James Levine's ongoing health issues continue to dominate the news around Symphony Hall. The Boston Symphony Orchestra just announced that Levine has withdrawn from his remaining three weeks of programs this season due to continuing back problems. “This has been a difficult year for James Levine and we wish him the very best as he works with his doctors towards resolving his ongoing back problems,” said BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe. He already missed much of the fall because of back surgery, and there has been some question whether he should cut back his schedule conducting at the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The important part of the press release, including news on replacement conductors, is after the jump.

JAMES LEVINE WITHDRAWS FROM NEXT THREE WEEKS OF BSO PROGRAMS DUE TO ONGOING BACK PROBLEMS

 

JAYCE OGREN TO CONDUCT BSO IN WORLD PREMIERE OF

PETER LIEBERSON'S SONGS OF LOVE AND SORROW, MARCH 25, 26, AND 27

 

RAFAEL FRUHBECK DE BURGOS TO LEAD BSO IN MENDELSSOHN’S ELIJAH,

 APRIL 1, 2, AND 3, IN BOSTON AND APRIL 5,

IN NEW YORK AT CARNEGIE HALL

 

CONDUCTOR FOR JOHN HARBISON'S DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND

CELLO, WITH MIRA WANG AND JAN VOGLER AS SOLOISTS, ON A PROGRAM

WITH MAHLER'S SEVENTH SYMPHONY, APRIL 8, 9, AND 10,

TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER THIS WEEK

 

BSO Music Director James Levine is withdrawing from the next three weeks of BSO programs due to ongoing back problems.  These were to have been Mr. Levine’s final appearances of the 2009-10 season.  Jayce Ogren will lead the world premiere of Peter Lieberson's Songs of Love and Sorrow, featuring baritone Gerald Finley, March 25, 26, and 27.  The program will also include Sibelius's Finlandia and Valse triste, with Schubert's Symphony in C, The Great, bringing the program to a close (in addition to the Lieberson premiere and Schubert’s Great Symphony, the original program was to have included Debussy's Jeux).  The following week, April 1, 2, and 3 in Boston, and April 5 at Carnegie Hall in New York, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos will lead Mendelssohn's Elijah with soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, tenor Alexsandrs Antonenko, and bass-baritone Shenyang, as well the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor. These programs of Elijah mark the beginning of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus's 40th anniversary season.  

The conductor for the world premiere of John Harbison's Double Concerto for violin and cello featuring Mira Wang and Jan Vogler, on a program with Mahler's Seventh Symphony, April 8, 9, and 10, will be announced later this week.

 

“This has been a difficult year for James Levine and we wish him the very best as he works with his doctors towards resolving his ongoing back problems,” said BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe. “Though we will miss James Levine’s presence, all of us look forward to the last six Boston Symphony programs of the season—the greatly anticipated world premieres by Peter Lieberson and John Harbison, Mendelsshon’s magnificent Elijah in Boston and New York under the direction of Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, the final program by Julian Kuerti as BSO assistant conductor, and two season-ending programs led by BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink.” 

 

JAYCE OGREN

Jayce Ogren, serving as assistant conductor, made his subscription debut with The Cleveland Orchestra in May 2009, followed by his Blossom Festival with the orchestra in August.  He has also made noted debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.  Ogren made his New York debut in the 2007-08 season leading two programs with the International Contemporary Ensemble, resulting in a return invitation the following season.  Last summer Ogren was invited to conduct a staged production of Mozart's Magic Flute with the New York City Opera, which led to an immediate re-invitation with the company. He started the 2009-10 season with his Canadian Opera Company debut, conducting Stravinsky's The Nightingale & Other Short Fables.  In November, Ogren made his London debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, conducting Ives and Copland.  This season he also makes his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchestrer Berlin at the Philharmonie Berlin.  

 

In Sweden, Mr. Ogren has conducted the orchestras of Gävle, Helsingborg, and Norrköping; the SAMI Sinfonietta; the Swedish National Orchestra  Academy; and Stockholm's Opera Vox. He has also conducted Finland’s Vaasa City Orchestra. In the United States, he has appeared with the New World Symphony, Boston’s Callithumpian Consort, the Harvard Group for New Music, and the New England Conservatory Opera Theater.   He served as an assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, starting with the 2006-07 season through the 2008-09 season, having been appointed by Franz Welser-Möst. 

 

A native of Hoquiam, Washington, Jayce Ogren previously served as a conducting apprentice with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, working with Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert. Mr.  Ogren received a bachelor’s degree in composition from St. Olaf College in 2001 and a master’s degree in conducting from the New England Conservatory in 2003. Aided by a U.S. Fulbright Grant, Ogren completed a postgraduate diploma in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. His principal teachers have been Steven Amundson, Jorma Panula, Charles Peltz, and David Zinman. Jayce Ogren is a published composer whose music has been premiered at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, the Brevard Music Center, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the American Choral Directors Association Conference, and the World Saxophone Congress.  His Symphonies of Gaia has been performed by ensembles on three continents and serves as the title track on a new DVD featuring the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. Devoted to education, Jayce Ogren has worked with student musicians throughout the United States, appearing most recently as a guest composer/conductor at the 2004 Washington All-State Music Festival. In 2001, the Minnesota Music Educators Association named Jayce Ogren their Composer of the Year.

 

RAFAEL FRÜHBECK DE BURGOS

Born in Burgos, Spain, in 1933, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos studied violin, piano, theory, and composition at the Conservatories in Bilbao and Madrid, followed by conducting classes at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik, where he graduated summa cum laude. Currently chief conductor and artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic, he has served as general music director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Turin, Bilbao Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Spain, the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, and the Montreal Symphony. For many seasons, he was also principal guest conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. In 1998 he was named emeritus conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra. Mr. Frühbeck de Burgos appears regularly with major orchestras across North America, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest of most of the major European ensembles as well and has conducted the Israel Philharmonic and the major Japanese orchestras. Mr. Frühbeck de Burgos has received many awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Navarra in Spain, the Gold Medal of the City of Vienna, the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Republic of Austria and Germany, the Gold Medal from the Gustav Mahler International Society, and the Jacinto Guerrero Prize, Spain’s most important musical award, conferred in 1997 by the Queen of Spain. He has recorded extensively and several of his recordings are considered to be classics, including his interpretations of Mendelssohn’s Elijah and St. Paul, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina burana, Bizet’s Carmen, and the complete works of Manuel de Falla. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos made his Boston Symphony debut in January 1971. Since an August 2000 appearance at Tanglewood, he has been a frequent guest leading the BSO in a wide range of repertoire both at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, where he also conducts the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

 

SYMPHONY HALL TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the regular-season Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as Friday afternoons, are priced from $29 to $105; concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons are priced from $30 to $115. Open rehearsal tickets are priced at $19 each (general admission). Tickets may be purchased by phone through SymphonyCharge (617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200), online through the BSO’s website (www.bso.org), or in person at the Symphony Hall Box Office (301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston). There is a $5.50 service fee for all tickets purchased online or by phone through SymphonyCharge.

American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club, and Discover, and cash (in person only) are all accepted at the Symphony Hall Box Office. A limited number of rush tickets for Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons are set aside to be sold on the day of a performance. These tickets are sold at $9 each, one to a customer, at the Symphony Hall Box Office on Fridays beginning at 10 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning at 5 p.m. Gift certificates are available in any amount and may be used toward the purchase of tickets (subject to availability) to any Boston Symphony Orchestra or Boston Pops performance at Symphony Hall or Tanglewood. Gift certificates may also be used at the Symphony Shop to purchase merchandise.

Patrons with disabilities can access Symphony Hall through the Massachusetts Avenue lobby or the Cohen Wing on Huntington Avenue. An access service center, accessible restrooms, and elevators are available inside the Cohen Wing entrance. For ticket information, call the Disability Services Information Line at 617-638-9431 or TDD/TTY 617-638-9289.

 

CARNEGIE HALL TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2009-10 appearances at Carnegie Hall range from $49-$154. Single tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, New York. They may also be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or purchased online at the Carnegie Hall website, www.carnegiehall.org.