Thursday, December 31 at 8:00 p.m. on WPBT2

– All-American Favorites Conducted by New Music Director Alan Gilbert; Alec Baldwin Hosts –

The New York Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve gala celebrates all-American favorites conducted by the orchestra’s new music director, Alan Gilbert, with soloist Thomas Hampson — the Philharmonic’s Mary and James G. Wallach Artist in Residence — in music from Gershwin, Copland and Broadway. This glamorous evening rings in the New Year with Gershwin’s beloved “An American in Paris,” Copland’s “Appalachian Spring Suite” and “Old American Songs,” and selections from Broadway musicals. Alec Baldwin hosts.

LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER “New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve: Hampson, Gershwin, Copland & Broadway” airs Thursday, December 31, 2009, 8:00-10:00 p.m. on WPBT2.

Alan Gilbert began his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009-10 season, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season, he has introduced a number of new initiatives: The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, Magnus Lindberg; The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT, the New York Philharmonic’s new-music series. He is also leading the orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi; a European tour in January-February 2010; and performances of world, U.S. and New York premieres. Also in the 2009-10 season. Gilbert becomes the first to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School.

Founded in 1842, the New York Philharmonic is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Since its inception, it has played a leading role in American musical life, championing and commissioning the music of its time and reaching out to audiences with touring that began in 1882; recordings beginning in 1917; and radio broadcasts since 1922, now represented by “The New York Philharmonic This Week,” syndicated nationally 52 weeks a year. The Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 recordings since 1917, with more than 500 currently available.

This season, American baritone Thomas Hampson becomes the first Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, as well as the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence. In these roles, he will perform three programs with the orchestra, appear on the Philharmonic’s European tour, give a recital in Alice Tully Hall and present three lectures entitled “Listening to Thought” as part of the orchestra’s Insights Series. An important interpreter of German romantic song, he is known as a leading proponent of the study of American song through his Hampsong Foundation, which he founded in 2003 to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. Much of Hampson’s 2009-10 season is devoted to his “Song of America” project. In collaboration with the Library of Congress, Hampson is performing recitals and presenting master classes, educational activities, exhibitions and broadcasts across the country and through a new interactive online resource, www.songofamerica.net; as part of the project, he has just released a new album, Wondrous Free — Song of America II, on his own label, Thomas Hampson Media. Other engagements include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, led by Kurt Masur in Leipzig; Verdi’s Ernani and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Zurich Opera; Verdi’s La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera; solo recitals throughout the United States and in many European capitals; and the galas of the Vienna Staatsoper and the new Winspear Opera House in Dallas.

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