A very merry Happy New Year from your friends at the New York Philharmonic! May 2013 bring you health, wealth, and most excellent music.

Is there anything more fitting for New Year’s Eve than Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus? The champagne-infused lulu of an operetta is one of the most popular works around this time of year and is an annual tradition for many an opera house. Above, soprano June Anderson sings the work’s famous Czardas at the Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve gala from 1990, under the baton of Zarin Mehta.

Due to an illness in the family, Frederica von Stade has regrettably withdrawn from our New Year’s Eve concert, One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch. We’ll miss her warmth and charm onstage, but there’s still a solid choral lineup of artists — including Audra McDonald, Josh Groban, Brian d’Arcy James, and Maria Friedman — to pay tribute to the late, great Marvin Hamlisch on Monday. All the best to Flicka!

“He told stories through music and in that way he’s not all that different from Schubert. He wrote beautiful tunes and told beautiful stories through music.”

— Joshua Bell

Read am New York’s piece on our New Year’s Eve concert, One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch, for more thoughts on Marvin Hamlisch from Audra McDonald, Raúl Esparza, Michael Feinstein, and Kelli O’Hara.

“He understood that when you can no longer speak you must sing … his sentimentality had substance; it was earned.”

— Audra McDonald

On Monday, December 31, the New York Philharmonic will celebrate the life of Marvin Hamlisch in its New Year’s Eve concert, One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch

On the Hot Seat

Megan Hilty will join a star-studded cast in the Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve salute to Marvin Hamlisch, One Singular Sensation (broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center). But first, some questions… 

Several More Sensations

Little Orphan Annie (a.k.a. Lilla Crawford), one of the 2 Broke Girls (a.k.a. Beth Behrs), and Shrek (a.k.a. Brian d’Arcy James) have joined the Philharmonic’s star-studded New Year’s Eve salute, One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch.

Join us, or catch the broadcast on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, hosted by Audra McDonald.

lincolncenter:

(Photo of Audra McDonald by Michael Wilson)

JUST RELEASED: Live From Lincoln Center presents “One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch,” a New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve concert honoring the late composer-conductor, December 31 on PBS.

Before his passing on August 6, 2012, renowned composer-conductor Marvin Hamlisch was scheduled to conduct the New York Philharmonic’s 2012 New Year’s Eve program. The Orchestra will instead dedicate its annual New Year’s event to this icon of American music, and Live From Lincoln Center will bring the all-start tribute to viewers nationwide. The live broadcast, “One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch,” will air on PBS stations on Monday, December 31, 2012 at 8 p.m. (ET) (check local listings).

Live From Lincoln Center host Audra McDonald is among the artists associated with Marvin Hamlisch’s extraordinary career who will perform in the New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve celebration. Directed by Lonny Price and conducted by Paul Gemignani, “One Singular Sensation: Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch” will also feature Joshua Bell, Raúl Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Maria Friedman, Josh Groban, Megan Hilty, Kelli O’Hara, and Frederica Von Stade in a program highlighting music that spans Hamlisch’s groundbreaking music for stage and film.

(Read the entire press release here.)

 

Stars Align To Celebrate One Singular Sensation

The Philharmonic will salute the life and music of Marvin Hamlisch with a New Year’s Eve concert dedicated to the works of the late composer-conductor. Longtime friends and collaborators, including Joshua Bell, Raúl Esparza, Michael Feinstein, Maria Friedman, Josh Groban, Megan Hilty, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Frederica von Stade, will come together to perform popular works from stage and screen in an evening that promises to be both a look back on Mr. Hamlisch’s life and a look forward to 2013.

Now, can you help us pick up all those names we dropped?