NÉZET-SÉGUIN CONDUCTS RACHMANINOFF
The Philadelphia Orchestra Gil Shaham, violinLegendary violinist Gil Shaham joins Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra in the Bravo! Vail premiere of Mason Bates’ explosive Nomad Concerto in a program that includes Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.
Did you know?
A leading Russian critic, encountering Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony in 1908, wrote, “Despite his 34 years he is one of the most significant figures in the contemporary music world, a worthy successor to Tchaikovsky … in concentration, sincerity, and subjective delicacy.”
Featured Artists
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Gil Shaham
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
conductor
In September 2018, Yannick Nézet-Séguin became the third music director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012, he became artistic and music director in February 2023 and renewed his contract until 2030. As music director and principal donductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal since 2000, he signed a contract "for life" in 2019. He is honorary conductor of the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest after being their music director from 2008 to 2018. He is also an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Yannick has worked with many leading European ensembles and enjoys close collaborations with Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Bayerischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Between 2008 and 2014, he was also principal guest conductor of London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared many times at the BBC Proms and at many European festivals, among them Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg, and Grafenegg (Vienna). North American summer appearances include New York's Mostly Mozart Festival, Lanaudiere, Vail, and Saratoga along with Domaine Forget Festival in Charlevoix.
With The Philadelphia Orchestra, he goes regularly to Carnegie Hall where he has been Perspectives Artist in 2019-2020. He also conducts master classes, notably at two of the most renowned institutions, the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia and the Julliard School of New York. In Quebec, he directs an academy of young conductors linked to the Orchestre Métropolitain, in close collaboration with the Domaine Forget Summer Festival.
A long-term collaboration with the Baden Baden Summer Festival, La Capitale d'été, resulted over the years in several concerts and recordings of operas with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe , as well as the complete symphonies by Beethoven (summer 2021) and the Brahms cycle (summers 2022 and 2023).
He regularly conducts the Philadelphia and Rotterdam Orchestras as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on Asian or European tours. In November 2017, he conducted the Orchester Métropolitain de Montréal on its very first European tour, which was a huge success, followed, in November 2019, by a very prestigious American tour with singer Joyce DiDonato. A second American tour is planned with the Orchestre Métropolitain which will take them to Carnegie Hall in March 2024. During Summer 2023, he conducted a very successful European Tour with the MET Orchestra who had not travelled since many years. An Asian Tour is planned.
Yannick is as comfortable at the opera as at the concert. After having cut his teeth at the Opéra de Montréal from 2000 to 2004 in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, The Barber of Seville, Cosi fan tutte, Pelléas et Mélisande, and L'Elisir d' amore, he returns sporadically for Wozzeck, Madame Butterfly, Salomé, and Elektra. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2008 with a new production of Romeo and Juliet by Gounod and returned there in 2010 and 2011 for Don Giovanni by Mozart. It was during the 2009-2010 season that he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera (MET) in a new production of Carmen by Bizet; thereafter, he returned there each season to conduct Don Carlo, Faust, La Traviata, Rusalka, Otello, Der Fliegende Hollander, Parsifal, and Elektra before becoming its musical director. In this position, he conducted La Traviata, Pelléas et Mélisande, Dialogues des Carmélites, Turandot, Wozzeck, Tosca, Fire shut up in my bones, Eurydice, and Don Carlo (in French). In addition, during the 2022-2023 season, he conducted The Hours, Lohengrin, Champion, and La bohême. During the season 2023-2024, he conducted Dead Man Walking, Florencia in el Amazonas, La Forza del Destino, and Roméo et Juliette.
He has conducted at the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden, London), the Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam) and the Vienna Staatsoper (Vienna). With the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, just before the start of the pandemic, he conducted a semi-staged version of Die fraù ohne schatten by Richard Strauss. In 2011, he undertook the cycle of Mozart's last operas for the Festspielhaus Baden Baden, all recorded "live" by Deutsche Grammophon, most of them with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. To date, the following titles have appeared: Di Zauberflöte; La Clemenza di Tito; Le Nozze di Figaro; Entführung aus dem Serail; Cosi fan tutte; Don Giovanni.
In April 2022, with the Rotterdams Philharmonisc Orkest, he conducted Rheingold by Richard Wagner in concert version during a tour in Rotterdam, Paris, Dortmund and Baden Baden which drew the highest praise to the entire production. In March 2024, he toured Walküre by Richard Wagner.
Several films or sequences have been shot on Yannick Nézet-Séguin's career, the most complete, released in 2021, entitled Yannick, an Artist's Journey by Susan Froamke, produced by the MET. In addition, Yannick has participated as a Conducting Consultant in 2022 and 2023 in the production of two films: Maestro, an American film by Bradley Cooper (who also plays the title role), also starring Carrie Mulligan, chronicling the life of Leonard Bernstein (on Netflix in November 2023); and Happy Days, a Quebec film by Chloé Robichaud starring Sophie Desmarais in the role of a young Conductor.
The maestro records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. September 2013 marked his first symphonic recording under this prestigious banner. For the occasion, he directed The Philadelphia Orchestra which had not recorded under a renowned label since 1997. Their record Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring)-Stokowski (transcriptions by Bach and Stravinsky) proved to be a huge success. With the Chamber of Europe Orchestra, he recorded the complete Mendelssohn Symphonies as well as the complete works of Schumann Symphonies; with the Rotterdams Philhamonisch Orkest, a souvenir box; with Daniil Trifonov and The Philadelphia Orchestra, two discs of four piano concertos by Rachmaninoff. His DG discography includes several other recordings, including Tchaikovsky with Lisa Batiashvili and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra; and Visions of Prokofiev with Lisa Batiashvili and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Following a few stage performances of Mass by Leonard Bernstein, Yannick conducted The Philadelphia Orchestra as well as all the participants in a recording which was released in March 2018. In 2021, still with The Philadelphia Orchestra, he engraved Florence Price's Symphonies 1 and 3; this disc earned him a GRAMMY Award for Best Orchestral Performance. With the same orchestra, he recorded the album Price: Symphony No. 4, Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony, nominated for a GRAMMY in 2024.
With ATMA Classique and the Orchester Métropolitain de Montréal, with whom he began recording in 2000, a special box set brings together all the Bruckner Symphonies recorded over the years. He then undertook the cycle Sibelius with the orchestra, to be released in 2024. A return to the piano during the pandemic allows his first solo piano album, Introspection, to see the light of day on Deutsche Grammophon (February 2021). Other recordings are available on various labels: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI Classics, BIS); London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO label); Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra (ATMA Classic); Berliner Philharmoniker (house label); Wiener Philharmoniker (Sony Classical).
Yannick studied piano, conducting, composition, and chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montreal and choral conducting at the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, before going on to study with renowned conductors, most notably the Italian maestro Carlo Maria Giulini. By the time he made his European debut in 2004, he had already founded his own professional orchestra and vocal ensemble, La Chapelle de Montréal, going on to conduct all the major ensembles in Canada. His honors include his first GRAMMY Award for the Florence Price recording with The Philadelphia Orchestra (2022); a second GRAMMY Award for the Best Opera Recording (MET: Fire Shut Up In My Bones from Terence Blanchard; 2022); in 2023, a third GRAMMY Award for the Best Voice Recording (Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene Piano and Voice with the great Renée Fleming; Musical America’s Artist of the Year (2016), Eco Klassik’s Conductor of the year (2014), and the following Awards: Virginia-Parker (2000); Royal Philharmonic Society (2009); National Arts Centre (2010); Denise-Pelletier (2015); Medal of Honor of the Quebec National Assembly (2015); Oskar Morawetz (2017). He holds eight honorary doctorates from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2011), Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (2014), Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton (2015), McGill University in Montreal (2017), Université de Montréal (2017); University of Pennsylvania (2018); Université Laval in Québec City (2021), Drexel University in Philadelphia (2023). He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada (2012), Companion ot the Order of Arts and Letters of Québec (2015), Officer of the Order of Québec (2015), Officer of the Order of Montreal (2017), Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music (2020) and Officer of Arts and Letters of the French Republic (2021).
Gil Shaham
violin
Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time. His flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The GRAMMY Award-winner, also named Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons in addition to championing these solo works he will join his long-time duo partner pianist, Akira Eguchi, in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Appearances with orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.
Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple GRAMMYS, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers, and many more. His most recent recording in the series, 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a GRAMMY Award. He released a new recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights in 2021.
Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard, and also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius and performs on an Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona c1719, with the assistance of Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.
Program Highlights
- Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
- Gil Shaham, violin
MASON BATES Nomad Concerto
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2
The Bates co-commission was made possible through the generous support of Joseph and Bette Hirsch and Carol Kaganov.
Lead support for the Rachmaninoff 150 Celebration is provided by Tatiana Copeland. Mrs. Copeland’s mother was the niece of Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Tatiana Copeland was named after the composer’s daughter, Tatiana Sergeyevna Rachmaninoff.
Program Notes
Nomad Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2023)
MASON BATES (b.1977)
Nomad Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Song of the Balloon Man
Magician at the Bazaar
Desert Vision: Oasis
Le Jazz manouche
Mason Bates studied composition with Schoenberg’s pupil Dika Newlin before pursuing degrees in composition from The Juilliard School and in English literature from Columbia University; earning a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California, Berkeley; and developing an individualistic voice that draws on both classical models and the sounds of electronica (the electronic sound production associated with the dance scene). He became enmeshed in the club culture of New York’s Lower East Side, and then of the Bay Area, gaining a reputation as a deejay under the name DJ Masonic.
His first opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, has been mounted several times since its 2017 premiere, and the Metropolitan Opera co-commissioned his next opera for presentation in the 2025-26 season—The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, after the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon. He wrote the film scores for Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees (2015) and Philharmonia Fantastique (2021), which he calls a “concerto for orchestra and animated film.” Named Musical America’s 2018 Composer of the Year, he has been composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony and the Kennedy Center, and for two seasons was the Pittsburgh Symphony’s “composer of the year.” He was given the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities (2012) for his work with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the citation observing that “his music has moved the orchestra into the digital age and dissolved the boundaries of classical music.” While there, he introduced his Violin Concerto (2012); though not so-named, his new Nomad Concerto, premiered this past January by Gil Shaham and The Philadelphia Orchestra, is effectively his Violin Concerto No. 2.
He observed of Nomad Concerto: “Each movement is exploring different kinds of traveling cultures, to pay tribute to the power of migratory ideas. ... I’d like listeners to both have the experience of a virtuosic piece that showcases one of the great musicians of our time [and] to think about the role of the nomad in cultures around the world.” Bates wrote the piece with Gil Shaham in mind, specifically inspired by the violinist’s 2013 album Nigunim: Hebrew Melodies. In fact, the concerto’s third movement (“Desert Visions: Oasis”) incorporates the folk song “Ani Ma’amin,” which expresses principles of Jewish faith. Before we get there, though, we pass through other scenes: in the first movement (“Song of the Balloon Man”), a balloon seller whose sad song is repeated by the residents of a village he passes through; and in the second (“Magician at the Bazaar”), a vivacious illusionist. After “Desert Visions: Oasis” comes the finale (“Le jazz manouche”), inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt, the famous guitarist-composer of Romany heritage.
INTERMISSION
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (1906-08)
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
Largo—Allegro moderato
Allegro molto
Adagio
Allegro vivace
Sergei Rachmaninoff was very nearly undone by the mean-spirited criticism that greeted his First Symphony, unveiled in 1897—so much so that for the next three years he didn’t write a note and turned his focus instead to conducting. Daily visits with Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who was investigating psychological therapy through hypnosis, steered him back on track, and by 1906, feeling ready to confront whatever compositional demons were still lingering, he embarked on another symphony. He had recently moved with his wife and daughter to Dresden, hoping to escape some of the constant social and professional pressures that accompanied his mounting celebrity.
In February 1907 he wrote to a friend back in Russia: “A month ago, or more, I really did finish a symphony, but to this must be added the phrase ‘in draft.’ I have not announced it to ‘the world,’ because I want first to complete its final writing. While I was planning to put it in ‘clean’ form, it became terribly boring and repulsive to me. So I threw it aside and took up something else.” Nonetheless, word was out, and Rachmaninoff promptly received an invitation to conduct it during the upcoming season—before he was anywhere near polishing the piece. “I can tell you privately that I am displeased with it,” Rachmaninoff’s letter continued, “but that it really ‘will be,’ though not before autumn, as I shall not begin its orchestration until summer.” He toughed it out, finally vindicating himself as a gifted symphonist. His Second Symphony scored a popular success at its premiere, which he conducted in St. Petersburg in early 1908, and that December it was honored with a prestigious Glinka Award for symphonic composition.
The Second Symphony is indeed imbued with Rachmaninoff’s recognizable fingerprints, right from its brooding outset. That introduction contains melodic material that reappears transformed as the surging first movement unrolls, and it comes back again at the end of the second movement, which is an often boisterous scherzo that demands athleticism from all players. In the scherzo’s coda he works in a reference to the Dies irae chant from the Mass for the Dead, a Rachmaninoff signature, if a macabre one.
In the third movement Adagio, he spins out a rhapsody par excellence. The finale seems part tarantella and part march, with the tarantella winning out in the end. But the spirit of the dance is melded to Rachmaninoff’s trademark lyricism, which keeps the emotional pitch high right up to the final measure. There, the concluding rhythmic motif “TUM-ta-ta-ta-TUM” serves as a slight variation on Rachmaninoff’s usual sign-off of just “TUM-ta-ta-TUM.”
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