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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

NY Philharmonic Orchestra comes to ND

There are few people who have not at least heard of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. However, the number of people who have actually had the privilege of seeing the world-famous orchestra is sizably smaller. This unique opportunity is available to the Notre Dame community tonight as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performs a concert in the Leighton Concert Hall at the Debartolo Performing Arts Center. The orchestra was originally founded by Ureli Corelli Hill in 1842, making the New York Philharmonic by far the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States. The renowned Orchestra will play its 14,002nd show in the Leighton Concert Hall. Known for the difficulty of its pieces and high quality of its performance, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra promises to be a memorable experience for any that are fortunate enough to attend.The New York Philharmonic is currently conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel, who has been conducting the Orchestra since Sept. of 2002. Even Maazel spoke of the powerful experience of listening to the Orchestra in a press conference on Jan. 26, 2005: "The collaboration with the musicians of the New York Philharmonic is sheer joy. The Orchestra is so professional, so prepared, so motivated. I float from day to day, concert to concert, masterpiece to masterpiece, supported by the sound of the New York Philharmonic." Few people are able to live such a life, but each audience member in the Leighton Concert Hall will experience the near musical perfection that the New York Philharmonic is composed of for at least one night this Thursday. Maazel follows in a long legacy of conductors of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the most famous of these being Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein began conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1943 and became the Laureate Conductor from that point until 1990 when he died. An advocate of American composers from the beginning of his career, Bernstein is one of the most famous names associated with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.The Orchestra itself is composed of 106 musicians playing instruments as common as the flute and trumpet to ones that are much lesser known such as the contrabassoon, harpsichord and the timpani. The extensive list of instruments is necessary for the complicated music the New York Philharmonic plays. The orchestra has been trusted in giving the first performance of a number of famous works, such as Gershwin's Concerto in F; Dyorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"; Copeland's "Connotations" and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concert No. 3 with the composer at the keyboard. The orchestra also played the first United States debut of Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and 9. For the concert at the Debartolo Center for the Performing Arts the orchestra will play Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" and Bela Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra."It is not often that one will have the opportunity to see the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, but for those that do not yet have tickets, the opportunity is not going to arrive this Thursday night. The show is sold out and only those with the foresight to join the ticket lottery weeks ago will have the chance to see this world famous orchestra quite literally playing in Notre Dame's own backyard.