This fall, Carnegie Hall presents Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture, a citywide festival paying tribute to China’s diverse and vibrant culture and its influence around the world with over 30 events at Carnegie Hall and New York partner institutions, presented from October 21 to November 10. November events at Carnegie Hall include:

• On Sunday, November 1 at 2:00 p.m., pianist Yundi Li presents a recital in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. He is also featured in two community programs presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute at Flushing Town Hall in Queens: a recital on Monday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m., and leading a master class for aspiring pianists on Tuesday, November 3 at 7:00 p.m.
  
• On Wednesday, November 4 at 8:00 p.m., Music Director David Robertson leads the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage in a program featuring Western works based on Chinese culture as well as percussion concertos by Bright Sheng (Colors of Crimson) and Tan Dun (Water Concerto) with soloist Colin Currie.
  
• The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Robert Spano, performs in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on Saturday, November 7 at 8:00 p.m. with a program featuring a complete performance of Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol and the New York premiere of Chinese-American composer Angel Lam’s new cello concerto Awakening from a Disappearing Garden with soloist Yo-Yo Ma.
  
• On Tuesday, November 10 at 8:00 p.m., Ancient Paths, Modern Voices closes in New York with a performance in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra—the oldest symphonic ensemble in China—and Music Director Long Yu. The program features Chen Qigang’s Iris dévoilée and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with soloist Lang Lang.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Music Director James Levine return to Carnegie Hall on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. with an all-Beethoven program featuring Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral,” and Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92.

The Kronos Quartet kicks off its Carnegie Hall Perspectives series on Tuesday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. with a program featuring the world premiere of A Chinese Home. Drawing on the metaphors embodied by Yin Yu Tang of displacement and migration, as well as the personal and private versus the public and formal, A Chinese Home explores China’s evolving identity through works ranging from folk tunes to electronic music. This music is enhanced with staging and video elements by acclaimed stage and film director Chen Shi-Zheng, and with instruments constructed expressly for this work by MacArthur Fellow Walter Kitundu. The wide-ranging selection of music and sounds, which will include traditional and popular works arranged by Jack Body and Jacob Garchik, has been curated by Kronos’s Artistic Director David Harrington and pipa virtuoso Wu Man, along with Chen Shi-Zheng. Also on the program is Tan Dun’s epic Ghost Opera. Kronos’ remaining Perspectives events take place in March 2010.

The Berliner Philharmoniker and Music Director Sir Simon Rattle perform the complete cycle of Brahms symphonies over three evenings, juxtaposing them with works by Schoenberg. Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 is paired with Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor on Wednesday, November 11 at 8:00 p.m.; on Thursday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Erwartung with soprano Evelyn Herlitzius is followed by Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major; and on Friday, November 13 at 8:00 p.m. the series concludes with Brahms’s Symphony Nos. 3 and 4, as well as Schoenberg’s Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, Op. 34.

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Jazz bassist/vocalist/composer Esperanza Spalding performs on Wednesday, November 11 at 8:30 p.m. with drummer Otis Brown III, pianist Leonardo Genovese, and guitarist Ricardo Vogt. Please note this concert replaces the previously announced George Wein's Newport All-Stars event, originally scheduled for Thursday, February 25, 2010.

Ensemble ACJW, featuring fellows of The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—perform works by Villa-Lobos, R. Strauss, and Stravinsky in a free concert at Juilliard’s Paul Hall on Thursday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m.

On Friday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni makes his New York recital debut with pianist Vlad Iftinca performing works by Liszt, Meyerbeer, Rossini, and Schubert.

Cape Verdean singer-guitarist-composer Sara Tavares combines contemporary music with African styles in a performance on Friday, November 13 at 8:30 p.m.

Carnegie Hall’s first Family Concert of the season takes place on Sunday, November 15 at 1:00 p.m., with Falu, recognized for her rare ability to seamlessly blend Indian classical, alternative and contemporary pop, and electronic styles to create a mix of East and West—ancient and modern.

Please note that tenor Rolando Villazón’s concert originally scheduled for Sunday, November 15 at 2:00 p.m. has been cancelled. Due to health reasons Mr. Villazón has cancelled all engagements until the end of 2009, including his Carnegie Hall recital debut.

Brazilian pop singer, songwriter, and guitarist Milton Nascimento makes a rare New York City appearance in a concert on Wednesday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. Renowned for his unique falsetto and tonal range, Nascimento gained international acclaim after his appearance on jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s classic 1974 album Native Dancer. He has since continued to record and collaborate with pop and jazz music greats including Paul Simon, Duran Duran, Cat Stevens, Quincy Jones, James Taylor, and Herbie Hancock among others.

Pianist Alfred Brendel—considered one of the world's most thoughtful interpreters of Classical and Romantic piano literature—returns to New York for the first time since retiring from public performance in 2008 for a lecture and performance at Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater presented by the Juilliard School in partnership with Carnegie Hall. Light and Shade of Interpretation, on Thursday, November 19 at 6:00 p.m., begins his four-day residency and focuses on performance practice, interpretation, and the process of approaching the music of selected composers, with Mr. Brendel performing examples on the piano. On Sunday, November 22 at 2:00 p.m. a concert featuring young artists from Juilliard and The Academy perform vocal, chamber, and solo music of Schubert in a concert programmed and coached by Mr. Brendel.

Conductor Christoph Eschenbach leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in E Minor in the orchestra’s second of three Carnegie Hall performances this season on Thursday, November 19 at 8:00 p.m.

On Friday, November 20 at 8:00 p.m., The New York Pops celebrates the centennial of Johnny Mercer, the composer and lyricist of such Great American Songbook standards as "Laura," "Dream," "Blues in the Night," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "One for My Baby," "Hooray for Hollywood," and "Moon River," with Music Director Steven Reineke and guest artists Ann Hampton Callaway and N’Kenge.

American new music pioneers Bang on a Can All-Stars and Scandinavian early music vocal ensemble Trio Mediaeval perform the New York premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Steel Hammer, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, on Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m.

American Composers Orchestra launches its annual “Orchestra Underground” series on Monday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m. with a program featuring composers exploring various folk traditions including world premieres by Erin Gee, Curt Cacioppo, and Donal Fox; the New York premiere of Huang Ruo’s Leaving Sao for Chinese Folk-Voice and Chamber Orchestra; and Charles Ives’ Tone Roads Nos. 1 and 3.