The MET Orchestra concludes its 2012-2013 season with the much anticipated return of Music Director James Levine on Sunday, May 19 at 3 p.m. at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.
The concert, featuring pianist Evgeny Kissin, will include the following music:
RICHARD WAGNER, Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
FRANZ SCHUBERT, Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944, "Great"
Maestro Levine last performed at Carnegie Hall with the MET Orchestra on April 10, 2011 with Mr. Kissin.
Since his June 5, 1971, debut at The Metropolitan Opera with Tosca, Levine has developed an unparalleled relationship with the company. He conducted the first-ever Met performances of Mozart's Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, I Lombardi and Stiffelio, Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Schoenberg's Erwartung and Moses und Aron, Berg's Lulu, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, as well as the world premieres of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles and John Harbison's The Great Gatsby.
All told, Maestro Levine has led nearly 2,500 performances of 85 different operas at the Met.
Levine also inaugurated the "Metropolitan Opera Presents" series for PBS in 1977, founded The Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in 1980 and returned Wagner's complete Der Ring des Nibelungen to the repertoire in 1989. Expanding on that tradition, he and the MET Orchestra began touring in 1991, and since then, have performed around the world.
During the 2013-2014 Metropolitan Opera season, Maestro Levine--who has conducted more performances at the Met than any conductor in the company's 129-year history--is scheduled to lead three operas, including a new production of Verdi's Falstaff and revivals of Mozart's Così fan tutte and Berg's Wozzeck. He will also conduct all three Carnegie Hall concerts by the MET Orchestra beginning on October 13 with the overture from Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, Elliott Carter's "Variations for Orchestra", Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major and selections from Rossini's Giovanna d'Arco and Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (featuring mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato).
On December 22, Maestro Levine will conduct an all-Mahler program that includes Symphony No. 7 and the composer's first song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), with baritone Peter Mattei.
Levine's final concert of the season (May 11) is an all-Dvořák program, including the Carnival Overture, Symphony No. 7 in D minor and the Cello Concerto in B minor with soloist Lynn Harrell.
