Music Director Designate of New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, will be in his native New Yawk this May to lead his (rah rah rah) hometown orchestra in the world premiere of Peter Lieberson's "The World in Flower", a song cycle commissioned three years ago by the New York Philharmonic.
Lieberson, a Buddhist, intended the work to be the last in a series honoring Eastern-religion masters, as well as a spotlight for his late wife Lorraine Hunt Leiberson's mezzo splendor. But after her death in the summer of 2006, he changed the thesis, and the work is a synthesis of various illuminated texts & prayers (in English translation) including poems by Rilke & Whitman & Neruda.
With Gilbert at the helm, the premiere will feature American mezzo Joyce DiDonato and Canadian baritone Russell Braun from May 7-9, 2009 @ Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. In a sweet coincidence, Mr. Lieberson was Mr. Gilbert's composition & theory teacher @ Harvard. Tweeeeee! The student has become -- the master!