The Strings in the Cupboard

The EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour has been a busy ride. This week, the Orchestra performed in three cities in three days. So yesterday during intermission in Essen’s Philharmonie, Philharmonic violinists and violists set their instruments down for a brief rest before the second half of the concert. The instruments were wide awake for Bruckner’s Third Symphony plus an encore.

Check out even more exclusive photos and videos on the Virtual Tour!

Photo: Chris Lee

Hello, Izmir!

The Philharmonic made its debut in Izmir, Turkey, today, the first stop in our EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. On hand for the first concert, Artist-in-Residence Emanual Ax, who performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, topped off by a solo encore: Schumann’s Des Abends from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, No. 1.

Check in tomorrow for the first post in our virtual tour, your window on the music and musicians’ lives for the next several weeks.

(Photos: top, Katherine Johnson; bottom, Chris Lee)

Here, There, and Everywhere

As our musicians prepare to go on tour together, many individual performers have received accolades for their performances near and far.

Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow: Performed as soloist on Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, led by Long Yu.

Organist Ken Tritle: Led an acclaimed performance of Britten’s War Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, of which he is the music director — this, right after overseeing the chorus for our own  performances of Ives’s Fourth Symphony.

Principal Cello Carter Brey and Associate Principal Cello Eileen Moon: Performed with their Plaza colleagues in “The Cellists of Lincoln Center,” a performance presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall.

Congrats to all for how wonderfully they’ve been representing the Phil!

(Portraits by Chris Lee)

Jonesing for Jan

“The cellist Jan Vogler was the soloist in Bloch’s Schelomo, a Hebrew Rhapsody, composed during World War I. Bloch’s works on Jewish themes constitute a small part of his oeuvre, although they are the ones that are now primarily performed, with Schelomo proving ever popular. Mr. Vogler’s soulful, richly hued playing highlighted the piece’s melancholy traits, with the plaintive solo cello line embodying the voice of the biblical King Solomon.”

From The New York Times’s review of our concerts last week, in which Jan Vogler played the piece he also played with Alan Gilbert and the Orchestra in Ann Arbor a few days later. Our German fans can catch the German cellist, along with Alan and the Phil, performing this work in Dresden on May 13 as part of our EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour.

Check out what Philharmonic news had Twitter buzzing this week from coast to coast:

California Dreaming

Following a second concert in San Francisco, with none other than New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow as soloist, the Orchestra concluded its tour in San Diego. Along the way there was time to ride shotgun with the top down next to Associate Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey. See the sights and hear the sounds of the final stops on the CALIFORNIA 2012 tour. 

Watch out West Coast …

The New York Philharmonic is on its way! The Orchestra departed from Avery Fisher Hall this morning for the CALIFORNIA 2012 tour. Here’s what Music Director Alan Gilbert had to say in interviews over the weekend anticipating the Phil’s visits:

“I was always very comfortable when I was in L.A. as a guest conductor. I always felt, ‘This is the place where what I’m doing is understood.’” — Los Angeles Times

“For Gilbert, the Philharmonic is more than an orchestra. ‘I aspire for the New York Philharmonic to be central in the cultural and intellectual life of the city,’ he said.” — San Diego Union-Tribune

Were You There?

Did you see the Philharmonic come to Japan in 1961 with Leonard Bernstein? Do you know the others in this photo with him? Let us know! The Philharmonic’s Digital Archives invites you to tag the photos, to add to our knowledge of our own history. This photo and more than 12,000 others from The International Era, 1943-1970 — a pivotal time when the Philharmonic became a worldwide touring orchestra and moved to its new home at Lincoln Center — are now available to the public for the very first time.

Who’s That Guy?

This contact sheet shows Judy Garland backstage after the Philharmonic’s Opening Night Concert in 1961, but who is with her in the picture? If you know, you can supply the answer when the next installment of the Digital Archives is launched on Thursday, March 22, 10:30am (Eastern) via Google Hangout, and join scholars from Tokyo to Boston, who will discuss the wonders of the 10,000 photos, tens of thousands of business records, and more being added to the site. Send your questions and comments through Twitter @nyphil, using the hashtag #nyphistory.