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 The Boston Symphony Orchestra just announced that Levine has withdrawn from his remaining three weeks of programs this season due to continuing back problems.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.
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