Performance Thursday, May 19, 2016 | 8 PM
The MET Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
It’s an evening abundant with passion, melodic splendor, and dazzling color—elements that make Russian music thrilling. Glinka’s energetic Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila sets the stage for his festive grand opera. Superstar pianist Evgeny Kissin is on hand for one of most beloved concertos in all music: Rachmaninoff’s famous Piano Concerto No. 2. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s impassioned Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique.”
Performers
The MET Orchestra
James Levine, Music Director and Conductor
Evgeny Kissin, Piano
Program
GLINKA Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”
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Performance Sunday, May 22, 2016 | 3 PM
The MET Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
With concerts that are “richly rewarding” and feature “pulsing, beautiful playing” (The New York Times), The MET Orchestra and Music Director James Levine make each Carnegie Hall appearance unforgettable. Together, they perform an all-Strauss program that includes a suite from the incidental music for Der Bürger als Edelmann—an adaptation of Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme—and the witty, brilliantly orchestrated tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. Velvet-voiced soprano Renée Fleming joins the orchestra for additional selections by the composer, including the beautiful and deeply nostalgic Four Last Songs.
Performers
The MET Orchestra
James Levine, Music Director and Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Program
ALL-R. STRAUSS PROGRAM
Le bourgeois gentilhomme Suite, Op. 60
Four Last Songs
“Meinem Kinde”
“Das Bächlein”
“Ruhe, meine Seele”
‘”Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland”
“Liebeshymnus”
Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
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Performance Thursday, May 26, 2016 | 8 PM
The MET Orchestra
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
One of the great Wagnerians, James Levine conducts The MET Orchestra in selections from Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wagner’s epic operatic tetralogy tells a tale of gods and men in music of tremendous power, tenderness, and exquisite color. Wagner’s Ring features spectacular depictions of nature, lumbering giants, flying warrior maidens, all-consuming fire, and more in strikingly vivid music. Soprano Christine Goerke, called “a beacon of brilliance” (The New Yorker), and Johan Botha, “a true Wagnerian tenor” (The Telegraph), join the orchestra for Wagner’s brilliant music.
Performers
The MET Orchestra
James Levine, Music Director and Conductor
Christine Goerke, Soprano
Johan Botha, Tenor
Program
WAGNER Excerpts from Der Ring des Nibelungen