Alec Baldwin's New Job: Voice Of The New York Philharmonic

Celebrified 13th Jan 2009 by:

NEW YORK — The New York Philharmonic will perform for the first time in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi next season and is getting Alec Baldwin to host its weekly national radio broadcasts.Alan Gilbert, in his debut season as music director of the nation's oldest orchestra, will lead the musicians in the three-week tour in October, the Philharmonic announced Monday.The orchestra, which made a historic trip to communist North Korea last winter, has performed in 59 countries but never in Vietnam or in Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich Middle Eastern emirate."I think we can actually do a lot to present a wonderful face of America to the world," Gilbert said in a statement. "This was very powerfully demonstrated with the concert in North Korea last year. Other plans we have _ to perform in Vietnam, for example _ can be a great way to show what's best about cultural life in the United States."The 2009-2010 season, the orchestra's 168th, starts Sept. 12 with a free open rehearsal in the morning and an afternoon of chamber music and discussions.The gala opening concert on Sept. 16 will feature soprano Renee Fleming and the world premiere of a work by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The concert will be televised nationally on PBS. The last world premiere at a Philharmonic gala opener was in 1962, when Leonard Bernstein conducted Copland's "Connotations for Orchestra."Lindberg's piece will be on the program during the October tour, which starts in Tokyo, the orchestra said.Gilbert, 41, who is succeeding Lorin Maazel as music director, will also lead world premieres of Lindberg's clarinet concerto and Christopher Rouse's "Zhizn," an orchestral work commissioned by the orchestra celebrating the life of a Russian friend of the American composer.In late April, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will lead a 2 1/2-week festival celebrating the music of Stravinsky.On New Year's Eve, Gilbert will lead a nationally televised concert featuring artist-in-residence Thomas Hampson in an all-American program of music by Copland, Gershwin and selected Broadway favorites.The announcement of Baldwin's selection comes a day after he won a Golden Globe for best comedy actor for NBC's "30 Rock." He took a redeye flight from California to attend the Philharmonic's news conference. His image as "The Bloviator" aside, Baldwin first started working with the orchestra last October by hosting a program at Avery Fisher Hall discussing the works of Dvorak."I'm very, very excited to be here," Baldwin said at the news conference. "I'm a huge fan of classical music."___On the Net:http://www.nyphil.org

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