For the opening night of its 41st annual
season of Concerts in the Parks – in which the orchestra presents
a week’s worth of performances throughout the five boroughs,
Long Island and New Jersey – the New York Philharmonic performs
July 12 in Prospect Park.
The concert opens with Richard Wagner’s "Flying Dutchman"
overture, always a great orchestral showpiece. Next is Edouard
Lalo’s beloved "Symphonie espagnole," which features
23-year-old Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo (pictured) making
her Philharmonic debut.
The final work on this Romantic-era program is Piotr Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No. 5, unjustly overshadowed by the composer’s sixth
symphony, the celebrated "Pathetique," but an overpowering
experience in its own right.
Conducting the Prospect Park performance (and five of the other
six orchestra concerts in the Parks) is the Philharmonic’s Assistant
Conductor Xian Zhang. (Music Director Lorin Maazel will conduct
the finale of the orchestra’s summer series – a program of music
by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, including his sublime "New
World" Symphony – on July 19 in Central Park.)
As always, the free Concerts in the Parks give New York City
music lovers the chance to hear wonderful, timeless music under
the stars; each evening ends with a fireworks display.
The New York Philharmonic performs Wagner, Lalo and Tchaikovsky
at 8 pm on July 12 in Prospect Park’s Long Meadow, near the Ballfields.
Admission is free; for more information, call (212) 875-5709
or visit www.newyorkphilharmonic.org,
which has a mini-site detailing the orchestra’s entire summer
2005 activities.
