SEATTLE SYMPHONY RINGS IN 2010 WITH NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERT, COUNTDOWN AND CELEBRATION
FOR RELEASE Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Evening Includes Post-Concert Party with Music by Salsa Sensation Orchestra Zarabanda and Countdown to the New Year led by Maestro Schwarz
Productions:
New Year's Eve: Concert, Countdown and Celebration
Seattle, WA – Seattle Symphony will ring in 2010 with a New Year’s Eve Concert, Countdown and Celebration on Thursday, December 31, at 9 p.m. Audiences can start the New Year with the grandeur of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the majesty of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, conducted by Music Director Gerard Schwarz. Featured vocalists include soprano Amanda Pabyan, mezzo-soprano Kathryn Weld, tenor Jason Collins, and bass-baritone Charles Robert Austin. Tickets are available from $50 to $150, and include the concert, a post-concert celebration featuring local salsa band Orchestra Zarabanda and a countdown to the New Year led by Maestro Schwarz with a free sparkling wine toast.
For an extra special New Year’s, a pre-concert dinner is available separately, starting at 6:45 p.m. in the Samuel & Althea Stroum Grand Lobby for $69. The three-course dinner includes dessert and a glass of wine. Call (206) 215-4747 for more information or to make reservations.
Program
Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes skillfully explores the many shades of love and life, blending folk-like naiveté and the popular dance music of 19th-century Vienna. These waltz songs established Brahms’ reputation more than anything he had previously composed.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s heaven-storming Symphony No. 9, “Choral,” continues to enthrall listeners worldwide. Dramatic and ardently felt, the first three movements form a magnificent introduction to the famed finale drawn from Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.”
Gerard Schwarz
Maestro Schwarz’s Silver Anniversary Season marks an extraordinary milestone in the history of American orchestras. Schwarz is among only a handful of conductors to have achieved a tenure of 25 years or more at the helm of an American orchestra. Schwarz has received two Emmy awards, 13 Grammy nominations (12 with Seattle Symphony), six ASCAP awards, and numerous Stereo Review and Ovation awards. His extensive discography of some 260 releases showcases his collaborations with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras. Born to Viennese parents, Schwarz is a recipient of the Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University, and was the first American to be named Conductor of the Year by Musical America. He holds honorary doctorates from The Juilliard School, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle University, University of Puget Sound and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Schwarz has served on the National Council on the Arts. In 2002, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Schwarz with its Concert Music Award, and, in 2003, the Pacific Northwest Branch of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences gave Schwarz its first “IMPACT” lifetime achievement award. In October 2009, Schwarz received Seattle’s First Citizen Award.
Amanda Pabyan
Described by The New York Times as “a brilliant coloratura,” Amanda Pabyan is emerging as one of America’s leading lyric coloratura sopranos. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte under the baton of James Levine and also performed Ariadne auf Naxos with the company. Other operatic appearances include productions of Hansel und Gretel at Washington National Opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Anchorage and Portland, Orphée et Eurydice at Glimmerglass Opera, and Thaïs at Kentucky Opera. On the concert stage, she has appeared with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center, in a New Year’s Eve performance with the Boston Pops, and in Fauré’s Requiem with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra.
Kathryn Weld
Mezzo-soprano Kathryn Weld has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. She made two solo appearances with the New York Philharmonic and made her Carnegie Hall debut with a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Musica Sacra. Northwest regional appearances include performances with Orchestra Seattle, Oregon Symphony, Northwest Mahler Festival, Helena Symphony, Wyoming Symphony and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. On the operatic stage, Weld has appeared with the Seattle Opera, the Regensburg Opera Theater in Germany, Opera Carolina, Tacoma Opera and the State Repertory Opera of New Jersey, among others. Weld currently serves as an Affiliate Artist Voice Faculty at the University of Puget Sound and Cornish College of the Arts.
Jason Collins
American tenor Jason Collins has attracted attention with his robust voice and commanding stage presence. This season he debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Katya Kabanová and at the Boston Lyric Opera in the title role of Idomeneo. This past summer, he returned to Seattle Opera to perform in Wagner’s Ring. On the concert stage, Collins has performed repertoire including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Handel’s Messiah with the Pittsburgh, San Diego, Pacific, American and National Symphony Orchestras, among others. A native of South Carolina, Collins is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music.
Charles Robert Austin
Nebraska native Charles Robert Austin has an operatic repertoire of more than 100 roles, including Scarpia in Tosca, Méphistophélès in Faust, Wotan in Die Walkure, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Duke Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle. He has won particular acclaim for his work in Wagner’s operas, performing with the Cincinnati and Minnesota symphonies, Opera Pacific, Teatro de la Opera San Juan, Tokyo Philharmonic and Virginia Opera. A frequent performer on the concert stage, notable highlights include Carnegie Hall performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C, Verdi’s Nabucco, Haydn’s Creation at the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Handel’s Messiah at both Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Orchestra Zarabanda
Orchestra Zarabanda plays deep-grooving salsa, echoing the classic Cuban conjunto format straight from “Old Havana,” spicing it up with modern arrangements. Equally at home in dance halls, at festivals and in concert halls, Orchestra Zarabanda has a trademark sound of sultry melodies contrasted with syncopated and exacting rhythms. The band is comprised of a Latin rhythm section, trombones, flute and vocals.
Tickets
Tickets are available from $50 to $150 and can be purchased by calling the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office at (206) 215-4747 or toll-free at (866) 833-4747, faxing the Symphony at (206) 215-4748, ordering online at www.seattlesymphony.org, or visiting the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office in Benaroya Hall at Third Avenue & Union Street, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m. For group sales information, call (206)215-4784. A pre-concert dinner is available separately, starting at 6:45 p.m. in the Samuel & Althea Stroum Grand Lobby for $69. Call (206)215-4747 for more information or to make reservations. Student and senior rush discount tickets, subject to availability, go on sale in person at the Seattle Symphony Ticket Office at 6 p.m. prior to evening performances and two hours prior to afternoon performances.
Program
Thursday, December 31, 2009, at 9 p.m.
S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium
Benaroya Hall
HOLIDAY SPECIALS
NEW YEAR’S EVE: CONCERT, COUNTDOWN AND CELEBRATION
Gerard Schwarz, conductor
Amanda Pabyan, soprano
Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano
Jason Collins, tenor
Charles Robert Austin, bass-baritone
Seattle Symphony Chorale
Seattle Symphony
JOHANNES BRAHMS Liebeslieder Waltzes, Opp.52 & 65
Rede Mädchen, allzu liebes, (“Tell me, maiden, dearly loved one”) Op. 52, No. 1
Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut, (“Over the rocks rushes the torrent”)Op. 52, No. 2
Wie des Abends schöne Röte, (“Like the evening’s lovely redness”) Op. 52, No. 4
Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel, (“A little, charming bird took flight”) Op. 52, No. 6
Die grüne Hopfenranke, (“The green hop-vine”) Op. 52, No. 5
Nagen am Herzen fühl ich, (“I feel a poison gnawing at my heart”) Op. 65, No. 9
Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen, (“No, there is no getting along”), Op. 52, No. 11
Wenn so lind dein Auge mir, (“When your eyes so gently”) Op. 52, No. 8
Am Donaustrande, (“On Danube’s bank”) Op. 52, No. 9
Amanda Pabyan, soprano
Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano
Jason Collins, tenor
Charles Robert Austin, bass-baritone
Seattle Symphony Chorale
INTERMISSION
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, "Choral"
Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
Molto vivace
Adagio molto e cantabile
Presto—Allegro assai—Allegro assai vivace
Amanda Pabyan, soprano
Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano
Jason Collins, tenor
Charles Robert Austin, bass-baritone
Seattle Symphony Chorale
* All programs, artists and prices subject to change. Photos of guest artists and Seattle Symphony are available to the media on request.