Carnegie Hall

The New York Philharmonic connects with up to 50 million music lovers each season through live concerts in New York and around the world, as well as broadcasts, recordings, and education programs. The 2022–2023 season marks a new chapter in the life of America’s longest living orchestra with the opening of the reimagined David Geffen Hall and programming that engages with today’s cultural conversations through explorations of HOME, LIBERATION, SPIRIT, and EARTH, in addition to the premieres of 16 works. This marks the return from the pandemic, when the NY Phil launched NY Phil Bandwagon, presenting free performances across the city, and 2021–2022 concerts at other New York City venues.

The Philharmonic has commissioned and/or premiered important works, from Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony to Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Stride. The orchestra has released more than 2,000 recordings since 1917, streams performances on NYPhil+, and shares its extensive history free online through the New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives.

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world. Jaap van Zweden became music director in 2018–2019, succeeding such titans as Bernstein, Toscanini, and Mahler.

Jaap van Zweden became music director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2018. Also music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012, he has appeared as a guest with leading orchestras that include, in Europe, the Orchestre de Paris, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, and London Symphony Orchestra, and, in the United States, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In October 2022, Mr. van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic reopen the renovated David Geffen Hall with HOME, a monthlong housewarming for the orchestra and its audiences. Other 2022–2023 season highlights include Spirit, a musical expression of the trials and triumphs of the human spirit that features performances of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie and J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; and Earth, a response to the climate crisis that includes Julia Wolfe’s unEarth and John Luther Adams’s Become Desert. Over the course of his fifth Philharmonic season, Mr. van Zweden conducts repertoire that ranges from Beethoven and Bruckner to premieres by Marcos Balter, Etienne Charles, Caroline Shaw, and Carlos Simon, in addition to the works by Wolfe and Adams.

Mr. van Zweden’s Philharmonic recordings include David Lang’s prisoner of the state and Julia Wolfe’s Grammy-nominated Fire in my mouth (Decca Gold). With the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, he conducted the first-ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner’s Ring cycle (Naxos); his performance of Wagner’s Parsifal received the Edison Award for Best Opera Recording in 2012.

Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden became the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at age 19. He began his conducting career almost 20 years later. Recently named conductor emeritus of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, his previous posts include chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2005–2013), where he is now honorary chief conductor; chief conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra (2008–2011); and music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (2008–2018), where he is now conductor laureate. He was named Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year, and was awarded the prestigious Concertgebouw Prize in 2020. In 1997, Mr. van Zweden and his wife, Aaltje, established the Papageno Foundation to support families of children with autism.

With an alert and critical mind, Igor Levit places his art in the context of social events and understands it as inseparably linked to them. He was Musical America’s Recording Artist of the Year in 2020 and the 2018 Gilmore Artist. For his highly acclaimed first recording of the 32 Beethoven sonatas, he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category.

As a recitalist, Mr. Levit regularly performs at the world’s most renowned concert halls and festivals. He is a regular soloist with the world’s leading orchestras, such as The Cleveland Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, and Vienna Philharmonic. His 2021–2022 season includes concerts and recitals in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, and Vienna. In spring 2021, Mr. Levit and the Lucerne Festival announced a multi-year collaboration for a new piano festival curated by Mr. Levit starting in 2023.

Born in Nizhni Novgorod, Mr. Levit completed his piano studies in Hanover with the highest score in the history of the institute. In spring 2019, he was appointed professor for piano at his alma mater, the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media.

For his political commitment, Mr. Levit was awarded the fifth International Beethoven Prize in 2019, followed by the award of the “Statue B” of the International Auschwitz Committee in January 2020. In October 2020, he was recognized with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In Berlin, where he makes his home, Mr. Levit plays on a Steinway D grand piano kindly given to him by the Trustees of Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells.

Tonight’s performance marks Igor Levit’s New York Philharmonic debut.