Among the most renowned orchestras today, the New York Philharmonic - which celebrates the 175th anniversary of its foundation in 2017 - is a record-breaker in a number of areas. In 2010, it gave its 15,000th concert - a number which no other orchestra can boast. It was then already led by current music director Alan Gilbert, who has held the position since 2009, and - as he himself has announced - will do so until the end of the 2016/17 season. Following predecessors Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, Gilbert has significantly reformed and diversified the world-famous ensemble's profile, opening up to contemporary and American music. This Budapest concert features the works of composers who had links to New York. The city saw the passing of Béla Bartók, whose music for an unusual combination of instruments was premièred exactly 80 years ago by the Basler Kammerorchester under Paul Sacher.
Austrian Gustav Mahler was himself music director of the New York Philharmonic in the final years of his life. His Symphony in G major is unusual in that the last movement features a sung part, not in the form of a large-scale choral movement, but rather as an intimate orchestral song evoking a vision of heaven. In this last of the so-called Wunderhorn Symphonies, German soprano Christina Landshamer is featured soloist. Despite her young age, she has already performed with noted conductors such as Kent Nagano, Philippe Herreweghe, Ton Koopman, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Roger Norrington, Christian Thielemann and Riccardo Chailly.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest