Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony celebrate the orchestra´s 100th season with a free concert

Photo: MTT by Bill Swerbenski

 MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY INVITE THE CITY TO CELEBRATE THE ORCHESTRA’S 100TH SEASON  WITH A FREE BIRTHDAY BASH CONCERT IN CIVIC CENTER PLAZA SEPTEMBER 8

Guest artist Lang Lang joins the celebrations  Free birthday treats from La Boulange Café & Bakery and Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops. Free SFS Centennial History Exhibition at San Francisco Public Library opens on September 8

SAN FRANCISCO, August 10, 2011 – In celebration of its Centennial Season and as a gift to its city, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) performs during a free Birthday Bash celebration in Civic Center Plaza on Thursday, September 8, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) conducts and pianist Lang Lang joins the 12:00 p.m. concert to help celebrate 100 years of the San Francisco Symphony serving as a Bay Area cultural, educational, and civic institution. The celebration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with Classical KDFC’s Rik Malone hosting pre-concert festivities from the stage. Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops will provide free chocolate squares to attendees, while supplies last, as well as free ice cream sundaes to the first 100 guests. A selection of San Francisco’s iconic Off the Grid food trucks will be on hand for guests to purchase a picnic-style lunch to enjoy during the concert. La Boulange Café & Bakery will also provide surprise birthday treats for Birthday Bash attendees. Neighboring arts organizations will have tents set up around a balloon-lined Civic Center Plaza showcasing the vibrant arts community in the Civic Center area. At the 12:00 p.m. concert, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the San Francisco Symphony in a program that includes Lang Lang performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. The audience will be treated to additional musical and birthday surprises throughout the event.  The concert and pre-concert activities are generously supported by The James Irvine Foundation.  As Birthday Bash Sustainability Partner, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will contribute solar energy to power the sound system, as well as reusable water bottles for attendees, while supplies last.  Also on September 8, a free exhibition titled Music for a City, Music for the World: 100 Years with the San Francisco Symphony opens at the San Francisco Main Library, showcasing historical objects and documents from the Symphony’s first 100 years. Organized by SFS Archivist Joe Evans and on display in the Jewett Gallery, the exhibition tells the story of the Symphony and its role within and impact on its city, from its formative years following the 1906 earthquake to its present position as one of the country’s most respected orchestras. The exhibition presents historic objects and documents drawn from the Symphony’s archival collections, including photos, concert posters, and programs, most exhibited for the first time. Music for a City, Music for the World: 100 Years with the San Francisco Symphony runs from September 8, 2011 through January 9, 2012.

The Centennial Opening Night Gala and these events kick off the San Francisco Symphony’s 2011-2012 Centennial season, an ambitious eleven-month calendar of concerts, programs, events, expanded education programs and Centennial media initiatives. The Orchestra’s 100th season celebrates the American orchestra and its vibrant role in its community as an artistic leader and civic institution.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY FREE CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY BASH  Thursday, September 8 at 11:30 am. Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco. Polk Street between Grove and McAllister Streets

Michael Tilson Thomas conductor

Lang Lang piano

San Francisco Symphony

Program to include:

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major

Britten The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Opus 34

11:30 a.m. Pre-Concert Festivities 12:00 p.m. Free Concert

Celebrations begin at 11:30 a.m., with Classical KDFC’s Rik Malone hosting pre-concert festivities from the stage. Ghirardelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shops and La Boulange Café & Bakery will provide free birthday treats to attendees, while supplies last. A selection of San Francisco’s iconic Off the Grid food trucks will be on hand for guests to purchase lunch. The audience will be treated to additional musical and birthday surprises throughout the event. Neighboring arts organizations will have tents set up around Civic Center Plaza showcasing the vibrant arts community in the Civic Center area. This is a free outdoor concert. No tickets are required. ADA seating will be available.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY FREE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. MUSIC FOR A CITY, MUSIC FOR THE WORLD: 100 YEARS WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY

Thursday, September 8, 2011 through Monday, January 9, 2012

San Francisco Public Library - Jewett Gallery

100 Larkin Street, San Francisco

Free admission

Organized by San Francisco Symphony Archivist Joe Evans and on display in the Jewett Gallery at the Main Library, Music for a City, Music for the World: 100 Years with the San Francisco Symphony tells the story of the Symphony and its role within and impact on its city, from its formative years following the 1906 earthquake to its present position as one of the country’s most respected orchestras. The exhibition presents historic objects and documents drawn from the Symphony’s archival collections, including photos, concert posters, and programs, most exhibited for the first time.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents piano superstar Lang Lang

Photo: Lang Lang

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents piano superstar  Lang Lang  at the Civic Opera House May 12, 2012,  in his only Chicago-area appearance in the 2011-12 season. Tickets go on sale to subscribers July 22, to general public August 1

The internationally acclaimed Chinese pianist Lang Lang has chosen the Civic Opera House, home to Lyric Opera of Chicago, for his only Chicago-area concert in the 2011-12 season.  Not that he will be playing operatic transcriptions or collaborating with singers; Lang Lang’s May 12 solo recital will comprise Bach’s Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, Schubert’s Last Sonata in B-Flat Major, and a dozen Chopin études. The performance will take place a month before the pianist’s 30th birthday.  Tickets for Lang Lang’s May 12 evening recital go on sale to Lyric subscribers July 22 and to the general public August 1. They can be purchased online (www.lyricopera.org) or by calling Lyric’s ticket office (312-332-2244, ext. 5600), and will also be available at Lyric’s box office starting Mon., Sept. 19 at noon.

Regular-priced tickets range from $25 to $125, with premium-priced tickets available for $500, including a post-concert reception with the artist. In addition to the regular theater seating, limited onstage seating will be available to the public for $95 and $125, for which reservations can be made only by calling Lyric’s ticket office (312-332-2244, ext. 5600).  A video camera positioned above the keyboard will enable concertgoers seated in the theater to view the pianist’s hands throughout the recital on a large screen above the stage.

Lang Lang has dazzled Chicago-area audiences (and the world) since his 1999 surprise debut here at age 17, when he replaced an ailing colleague in a Tchaikovsky piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach at the Ravinia Festival’s “Gala of the Century.” He has performed in countless prestigious venues, before numerous heads of state, and for a television audience of four billion during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.  Lang Lang’s management approached Lyric Opera about engaging the pianist, and a mutually agreeable date was decided.

“I am honored and thrilled to have an opportunity to perform at the Civic Opera House, the home of the legendary Lyric Opera of Chicago,” Lang Lang said. “My longtime fascination with opera and its power to transform reality has, in a way, informed my own piano playing. I have been trying to channel the same degree of passion and intensity into my performances, and I see this recital as my tribute to this highly compelling genre. It is also a pleasure to play in front of a new audience and I hope that they will enjoy the experience.”

“Having this brilliant pianist play on the stage of the Ardis Krainik Theatre next spring is just the sort of event that Lyric Opera seeks to present outside the regular opera season and repertoire,” said Anthony Freud, general director designate. “Offering exceptional non-operatic performances by the world’s finest artists to our audience fits the larger vision for this company shared by Lyric’s creative consultant Renée Fleming, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and myself.”

When the Renée Fleming Initiative was unveiled in December 2010, Fleming stated, “Lyric’s Civic Opera House is an architectural treasure; one of the most beautiful theaters in the world. The company is also in the advantageous position of owning the theater, which opens up the possibility of non-operatic programming. This type of presenting is occurring in many major theaters today as a way to bring in audiences who might not otherwise be familiar with the theater or the opera, and who might as a result be less intimidated about expanding their musical horizons. Such concerts also serve to increase revenue during Lyric’s off-season.”

Heralded as the “hottest artist on the classical music planet” by The New York Times and as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” (2009), virtuoso pianist Lang Lang, 29, has played sold-out recitals and concerts in every major city in the world. He has collaborated with world-renowned conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, and Seiji Ozawa, among others.

His performance at the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 was viewed by more than 4 billion people, which inspired more than 40 million Chinese children to take up classical piano – the so-called “Lang Lang effect,” as it was dubbed by NBC’s “The Today Show.”

At the beginning of the 2011-12 season, Lang Lang will perform at the San Francisco Symphony’s 100th Anniversary Gala concert and at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Also this season, he will be creative director of the Ascent Series at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he will tour with the Concertgebouw, Vienna Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic.

In 2010-11, Lang Lang performed at the opening night of Christoph Eschenbach’s inaugural season with the National Symphony Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall’s season opener with the Vienna Philharmonic. The Salle Pleyel in Paris presented the “Lang Lang Festival,” which included a joint concert between Lang Lang and tenor Roberto Alagna. London’s Southbank Center presented “Lang Lang Inspires,” which included the “Massed Piano Project,” during which he played with 100 young pianists on 51 pianos. In addition, he performed on the New Year’s Eve concert with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center, and also held residencies in Milan, Madrid and Sydney.

During the summer of 2009 Lang Lang gave a world tour with jazz legend Herbie Hancock, following their performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Also that year he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for President Barack Obama, and at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo. (He’d been a guest soloist at the 2007 Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm.) His autobiographies Journey of A Thousand Miles: My Story and Playing with Flying Keys (for children) were published to critical acclaim by Random House in 2009.

Additional highlights of 2009-10 included performing in the Carnegie Hall festival “Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture,” where he premiered Chen Qigang’s new piano concerto, “Er Huang,” and closed the festival with a performance of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He presented “Lang Lang and Friends,” a concert featuring rising talent from the United States and China, performing works by Western and Chinese composers. The Musikverein in Vienna presented the “Lang Lang Fest,” which included a joint concert between Lang Lang and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. He was the youngest instrumentalist ever invited for a residency with the Berlin Philharmonic, which comprised several concerts, including one with 100 schoolchildren.

In 2008 he launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation in New York (with support from the Grammys and UNICEF), with the mission of inspiring the next generation of classical music lovers and performers by cultivating tomorrow’s top pianists, championing music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience through live music experiences. Through the strategic work of his new foundation, which is committed to children and music education, Lang Lang works with exceptional partners to inspire young people to believe that music can make life better. The Financial Times has called him “evangelical in his efforts to spread the popularity of classical music.”

He gives master classes regularly at top international conservatories and has held music residencies in numerous cities around the world. Lang Lang is the first ambassador of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, a project created by YouTube and Google devoted to building new audiences and bringing classical music to young people globally.

Lang Lang began playing piano at the age of three. His interest was spurred by his first contact with Western music, an episode of the classic Tom and Jerry cartoon series entitled “The Cat Concerto,” which features Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. By the age of five, Lang Lang had won the Shenyang Competition and had given his first public recital. Entering Beijing’s Central Music Conservatory at age nine, he won first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition and played the complete 24 Chopin études at the Beijing Concert Hall at age 13.

Since 2010 Lang Lang has recorded exclusively with Sony Music Entertainment. He is the featured soloist on the Golden Globe-winning score of The Painted Veil (Alexandre Desplat, composer) and can be heard on the soundtrack of The Banquet (Tan Dun, composer). All of his albums have entered the top classical charts as well as many pop charts around the globe. His album of Beethoven’s piano concertos No. 1 and No. 4 with L’Orchestre de Paris (Christoph Eschenbach, conductor) debuted at the top of Billboard’s classical chart. Lang Lang also appeared on Billboard’s new-artist chart at the highest position ever for a classical artist.

In 2007, Lang Lang was nominated for a Grammy Award (the first Chinese artist to be nominated for best instrumental soloist). He has recorded the movie soundtrack of the Japanese blockbuster film Nodame Cantabile, Chopin’s 24 études for “Project Chopin” (the largest project in honor of Chopin’s bicentenary) ,”Nuit De Mai” with tenor Plácido Domingo, and performed the opening sequence for Gran Turismo, the highly successful video game.