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10 unusual facts about New York Philharmonic


Barefoot at the Symphony Tour

The tour featured Menzel performing a diverse repoitore of classic pop, musical theater favorites (including hits from Wicked, Rent), Glee, and songs from album I Stand), all accompanied by major symphony orchestras including New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and more.

Community Arts Music Association

Since the 1950s, the orchestra series has expanded and now includes concerts by a variety of orchestras, from the New York Philharmonic to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Edwina Eustis Dick

She also sang with many of the leading orchestras in the United States, including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Harold C. Schonberg

Schonberg was highly critical of Leonard Bernstein during the composer-conductor's eleven-year tenure (1958–69) as principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

Johanna Fiedler

She left that post to become editor of concert programs for the New York Philharmonic.

Lauri Kennedy

He made his mark in the US in the 1920s, where he became principal cellist with the New York Philharmonic at the personal invitation of Arturo Toscanini.

Martha Lipton

Her recordings with Columbia included Mahler's Third Symphony, featuring Leonard Bernstein leading the New York Philharmonic and Bruckner's Te Deum led by Bruno Walter.

Olav Kielland

He was guest conductor for a number of other orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Saramae Endich

She was also heard in concerts with numerous American symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra among others.

Walter Turnbull

He moved to New York City in 1968, and in addition to continuing his education at the Manhattan School of Music started to perform as a tenor with the New York Philharmonic.


1978 Pulitzer Prize

Deja Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass (Carl Fischer Music)
Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered by that orchestra October 20, 1977.

Alan de Veritch

While maintaining his solo career, he also served ten years as principal violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini, guest principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, and was a member of An die Musik, the Aldanya String Quartet, and the White House Quartet.

Ashley Putnam

Her concert credits include performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw, San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Symphony.

Aunt Phatso vs. Jack Donaghy

Tracy then donates a large amount of money to the New York Philharmonic to have them play the theme song of Sanford and Son for four hours straight, ruining the concert for Jack, who attends the concert that night.

Eugene Istomin

He made his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, playing a concerto by Chopin, and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Artur Rodziński playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the same week in 1943.

Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman

It premiered on May 5, 1991, and was performed by the Empire Brass and members of the New York Philharmonic brass section.

Gächinger Kantorei

In 2009 the Gächinger Kantorei sang under Rilling with the New York Philharmonic Handel's Messiah in Avery Fisher Hall in New York with soloists Annette Dasch, Daniel Taylor, James Taylor and Shenyang.

Giya Kancheli

Championed internationally by the likes of Dennis Russell Davies, Jansug Kakhidze, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Kronos Quartet, Kancheli has seen world premieres of his works in Seattle, as well as with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur.

Hotel St. George

Columbia Records (now Sony Classical) used the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel St. George as a venue for several famous recordings by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic.

Jeffrey Milarsky

His wide-ranging repertoire, which spans Bach to Xenakis, has enabled him to lead such accomplished groups as the American Composers Orchestra, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Columbia Sinfonietta, Speculum Musicae, Cygnus Ensemble, the Fromm Players at Harvard University, the Composers' Ensemble at Princeton University, and the New York Philharmonic chamber music series.

Julius Hegyi

Guest Conductor/violinist, New York Philharmonic (1987), Philadelphia Orchestra (1978), Wichita, KS, Charlotte, NC, Oak Ridge, TN, Troy, NY, Schenectady, NY, Little Red School House, NYC, Sacramento, CA, Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (1985); as well as orchestras in Romania, Puerto Rico and El Salvador.

Katsuya Yokoyama

Yokoyama achieved international attention for his New York City premiere performance in November 1967, of Tōru Takemitsu's composition November Steps, for shakuhachi, biwa, and orchestra, with the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Seiji Ozawa (with biwa player Tsuruta Kinshi).

KUAT-FM

The broadcast schedule consists of playlists announced by local hosts, as well as nationally syndicated broadcasts, including those from the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera during their seasons, the Exploring Music program with host Bill McGlaughlin, and the Radio Netherlands Live! at the Concertgebouw series.

Le cygne

In Leonard Bernstein's famous recording of the piece with the New York Philharmonic the melody is performed on double bass by a 20 year old Gary Karr.

Lewisohn Stadium

Besides sporting events, the stadium was used for performances by Ella Fitzgerald, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic (sometimes called the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra"), Marian Anderson, and Eugene Ormandy.

Manhattan Center

In 1926, Warner Bros rented the ballroon to set up a studio for the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system to record the New York Philharmonic orchestra for the film Don Juan.

Maurice Peress

After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand as leader of the orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1962.

Michael Bunn

His former teachers include David Bragunier (former Principal Tubist, National Symphony Orchestra), Warren Deck (former Principal Tubist, New York Philharmonic), Paul Kryzwicki (former Principal Tubist, Philadelphia Orchestra), and Arnold Jacobs (former Principal Tubist, Chicago Symphony Orchestra).

Nathan Milstein

In 1948, his recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, with Bruno Walter conducting the New York Philharmonic, had the distinction of being the first catalogue item in Columbia's newly introduced long-playing twelve-inch 33 rpm vinyl records, Columbia ML 4001.

Navona Records

Notable artists whose work appears on Navona include Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan, New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, and Emmy-winning conductor Gerard Schwarz.

Orin O'Brien

She was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California to actors George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill, and began her studies with Milton Kestenbaum, former principal bass of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Fritz Reiner and member of the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, and with Herman Reinshagen, assistant-principal bass of the New York Philharmonic under Gustav Mahler and Arturo Toscanini at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Scott Lindroth

Lindroth’s music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Ciompi Quartet.

Simon Trpčeski

Building on his exposure as a member of the BBC New Generation Scheme 2001-2003, Trpčeski has since 2005 made a rapid series of debuts with orchestras worldwide—including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Toronto Symphony—and has made recital tours in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Teatro Caupolicán

The list of artists who have performed on its stage includes Louis Armstrong, Caterina Valente, Duke Ellington, Bill Haley & His Comets, Jorge Negrete, Lucho Gatica, Raphael, Lola Flores, Maurice Chevalier, Juliette Gréco, Chito Faró, the New York Philharmonic, and Claudio Arrau.

The Five Sacred Trees

John Williams composed The Five Sacred Trees for Judith LeClair, the principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic in 1995, to honor the orchestra's 150th anniversary.

Theodore Eisfeld

Theodore Eisfeld (April 11, 1816, Wolfenbüttel, Braunschweig, Germany – 16 September 1882, Wiesbaden) was a conductor, most notably of the New York Philharmonic Society, which became the New York Philharmonic.

Thomas Frost

1978, Best Classical Album for Concert of the Century, with Leonard Bernstein (conductor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Lyndon Woodside and the New York Philharmonic.

Timothy Hutchins

As guest principal he has performed and toured with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Kurt Masur.

United States Coast Guard Band

In March 1925, the Coast Guard Band was organized with the assistance of Lt. Charles Benter, leader of the U.S. Navy Band, Dr. Walter Damrosch, conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and "American March King" John Philip Sousa, former director of the U.S. Marine Band.

Walter Hendl

An advocate of contemporary music, he conducted the premieres of Peter Mennin's Symphony No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1947, Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Rudolf Firkušný and the Dallas Symphony in 1949, Villa-Lobos's Cello Concerto No. 2 with Aldo Parisot and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1954, and the American premiere of Kabalevsky's Requiem with students of the Eastman School in 1965.

Zoellner Arts Center

The venue has had a wide array of performers, including: the New York Philharmonic and Itzhak Perlman, the Tuvan throat singers Huun-Huur-Tu and Laurie Anderson, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, MOMIX, the Aquila Theatre Company, Lily Tomlin, Bernadette Peters and Queen Latifah.