The 2019–2020 season marked the National Symphony Orchestra’s 89th and Gianandrea Noseda’s third as its music director. The Italian conductor serves as the Orchestra’s seventh music director, joining the NSO's legacy of such distinguished leaders as Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Antal Doráti, Howard Mitchell, and Hans Kindler. Its artistic leadership also includes Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke and Artistic Advisor Ben Folds.

 

Since assuming the leadership of the NSO, Gianandrea Noseda has brought a renewed sense of energy and focus to the orchestra, which has resulted in wide-ranging recognition from local, national, and international publications, increases in subscription and single ticket sales, and the expansion of the Orchestra’s reach through live-streamed concerts and recordings. The New York Times called the NSO and Noseda’s recent Carnegie Hall appearance “Spectacular,” while the Washington Post wrote that “There’s a certain flair going on at the National Symphony Orchestra,” consistently reinforcing that this artistic partnership continues to gain momentum.

 

Founded in 1931, the Orchestra has always been committed to artistic excellence and music education. In 1986, the National Symphony became an artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where it has performed a full season of subscription concerts since the Center opened in 1971. The 96-member NSO regularly participates in events of national and international importance, including official holiday celebrations through its regularly televised appearances on PBS on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol for Capital Concerts, live-streamed performances from the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on medici.tv, and local radio broadcasts on Classical WETA 90.9FM, making the NSO one of the most-heard orchestras in the country.

 

Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda
Gianandrea Noseda is one of the world’s most sought-after conductors, equally recognized for his artistry in both the concert hall and opera house. He was named the National Symphony Orchestra’s seventh music director in January 2016 and began his four-year term with the 2017– 2018 season. In September 2018, his contract was extended for four more years, through the 2024–2025 season.

 

In May 2019, Noseda and the NSO earned rave reviews at their first concert together at Carnegie Hall in New York. The 2019–2020 season sees their partnership continue to flourish in 12 weeks of concerts at the Kennedy Centre, which include performances and live recordings of Beethoven’s nine symphonies over 2 and a half weeks, their first appearance together at Lincoln Centre in November 2019, and their first overseas tour together in March 2020 to Japan and China.

 

In addition to his position with the NSO, Noseda also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Orquestra de Cadaqués, and Artistic Director of the Stresa Festival in Italy. In July 2018, the Zurich Opera House appointed him the next General Music Director beginning in the 2021–2022 season where the centerpiece of his tenure will be a new Ring Cycle directed by Andreas Homoki, the opera house’s artistic director.

 

Nurturing the next generation of artists is important to Noseda, as evidenced by his ongoing work in masterclasses and tours with youth orchestras, including the European Union Youth Orchestra, and with his recent appointment as music director of the newly-created Tsinandali Festival and Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra in the village of Tsinandali, Georgia, which began in 2019.

 

 

Pianist: Zhang Haochen 
Since his gold medal win at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, ZHANG Haochen has captivated audiences in the United States, Europe, and Asia with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination, and spectacular virtuosity. In 2017, Haochen received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, which recognizes talented musicians with the potential for a major career in music.

 

Haochen has already appeared with many of the world’s leading festivals and orchestras including the BBC Proms with YU Long and the China Philharmonic; the Munich Philharmonic with the late Lorin Maazel in a sold-out tour in Munich and China; the Easter Festival in Moscow by special invitation of Maestro Valery Gergiev; the Sydney Symphony and David Robertson in a China tour; and the NDR Hamburg and Thomas Hengelbrock in a tour of Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai.

 

Samuel Barber
Essay No.1, Op.12

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Concerto No.3 in D Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op.30
Allegro ma non tanto
Intermezzo (Adagio)
Finale (Alla breve)
Pianist: Zhang Haochen

- Intermission -

Antonín Dvorák
Symphony No.9 in E Minor, Op.95, "From the New World"
Adagio - Allegro molto
Largo
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro con fuoco

Program for March 14th

Franz Schubert
Symphony No.8 in B Minor, D.759, "Unfinished"
Allegro moderato
Andante con moto

- Intermission - 

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No.5 in C-sharp Minor
Part I:
1. Trauermarsch. In gemessenem Schritt. Streng. Wie ein Kondukt
2. Stürmisch bewegt, mit grösster Vehemenz
Part II:
3. Scherzo: Kräftig, nicht zu schnell
Part III:
4. Adagietto, sehr langsam
5. Rondo - Finale: Allegro