Soprano Twyla Robinson To Make NY Philharmonic Debut in Mendelssohn's Elijah

Soprano Twyla Robinson will make her New York Philharmonic debut in Mendelssohn's Elijah, led by Music Director Alan Gilbert, Wednesday, November 10, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, November 13, at 8:00 p.m. Ms. Robinson has graciously agreed to sing in these performances on short notice, replacing Carolyn Sampson, who is unwell and who has been advised by her doctor not to travel for the time being.

Also joining the cast is mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson (Philharmonic debut) and boy sopranos Noah Sadik and Benjamin P. Wenzelberg, both from The Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus. Previously announced soloists are mezzo-soprano Alice Coote; tenor Allan Clayton (Philharmonic debut); bass-baritone Gerald Finley in the title role; joined by the New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director. Mezzo-soprano Teresa Buchholz will step out of the chorus to perform the role of second alto.

These Elijah concerts mark the start of a tribute to Dimitri Mitropoulos, the New York Philharmonic's Music Director from 1949 to 1958, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death, sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Artists

Soprano Twyla Robinson regularly performs with orchestras throughout North America and Europe including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Staatskapelle, The Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, and Houston Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with conductors Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Haitink, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pierre Boulez, and Michael Tilson Thomas. This season she will be heard in performances of Janácek's Glagolitic Mass with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano in Atlanta and at Carnegie Hall, and she joins Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra for Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and David Robertson for Brahms's A German Requiem; and she opened the season with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the New Jersey Symphony.

Ms. Robinson will make her debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection, with Riccardo Chailly, and will be heard in the same work with the Milwaukee Symphony and Edo de Waart. Previous engagements include performances of Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic; Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in Sydney, New Zealand, Bochum, Germany, and with the Orchestre National de Paris. She has performed R. Strauss's Four Last Songs with The Cleveland Orchestra and at Opéra National de Paris in a tribute to famed choreographer Maurice Béjart. On the opera stage, Ms. Robinson is recognized for her portrayal of Mozart heroines, including Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and she made her Wagnerian debut in the summer of 2010 as Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Cincinnati Opera. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Robinson has been heard on the stages of Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, and Spivey Hall in Atlanta. She is a winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and was a member of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program with San Francisco Opera.
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson, a first-prize winner in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, makes recital debuts this season in New York, sponsored by the Peter P. Marino Prize, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Equally at home in the worlds of opera, Lieder, and chamber music, she appears as Ludmila in Smetana's The Bartered Bride and as Wellgunde in Wagner's Das Rheingold at The Metropolitan Opera; returns to the Chicago Opera Theater to sing Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben; and tours with Musicians from Marlboro. Ms. Johnson performs recital and outreach activities with the Brownville Concert Series and at the Strauss Performing Arts Center in Omaha, and appears at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Macomb Center for the Performing Arts in Michigan, and Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania.

In the 2009-10 season, Ms. Johnson returned for her second year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera. She made her Met debut as a Bridesmaid in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and The Sandman in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and performed a concert with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. She made her the Chicago Opera Theater as Kate Julian in Britten's Owen Wingrave in 2009. Concerts have included Handel's Messiah and Haydn's Creation Mass with the DuPage Chorale in Illinois, and Pergolesi's Stabat
Mater with the New York City Ballet. She made her Opera Theatre of St. Louis principal artist debut in 2009 as The Muse/Nicklausse in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, and Ms. Johnson obtained her bachelor's degree in music from Webster University in St. Louis, and a master's degree from Rice University in Houston, Texas. This is her New York Philharmonic debut.

Nine-year-old boy soprano Noah Sadik attends the United Nations International School. He started training with The Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus in September 2009, under the vocal coaching of director Anthony Piccolo. Since then he has performed in Verdi's Stiffelio, conducted by Plácido Domingo; Verdi's Attila, under conductors Riccardo Muti and Marco Armiliato; and Musorgsky's Boris Godunov, conducted by Valery Gergiev. He was invited to attend the Crested Butte Music Festival, where he trained with opera conductor David Syrus and performed in Puccini's La bohème. Since 2005 he has been a member of the children's chorus for Calvary Baptist Church. He continues to study piano and cello privately, and has consistently received outstanding scores for Vocal Solo from the New York State School Music Association. This is his New York Philharmonic debut.

Boy soprano Benjamin P. Wenzelberg is currently in his second season with The Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, is performing in Musorgsky's Boris Godunov and Bizet's Carmen, and will cover the role of Yniold in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. In his first season with The Met he covered the roles of First Spirit in Mozart's The Magic Flute and Gheradino in Puccini's Gianni Schicci, and performed in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Bizet's Carmen, and Puccini's Tosca and La bohème. Also an accomplished composer and pianist, he was accepted into The Juilliard School of Music's pre-college program for composition in 2009, and has won several awards for composition and piano performance. He recently made his debut and performed an original song at the opening gala for The Children's Tree and Art Foundation. He has studied jazz piano on scholarship at the 92nd Street Y School of Music since 2008, and has received honors with distinction for the past three years at The Princeton Festival Piano Competition for classical piano performance. He receives vocal training from Anthony Piccolo. This is his New York Philharmonic debut.

Repertoire
Mendelssohn composed his oratorio Elijah to a German libretto by his friend, Julius Schubring, but immediately had the work translated into English for its premiere in Birmingham, England, in 1846. In composing Elijah, he wove elements of his family's Jewish heritage together with those of his own Lutheran faith by retelling the Old Testament story of the prophet. Taking inspiration from the sacred oratorios of Bach and Handel, Elijah is a display both of Mendelssohn's great affection for the music of the Baroque and of his own masterful Romantic lyricism. The New York Philharmonic first performed the complete Elijah in May 1891, with Walter Damrosch leading the New York Symphony (which merged with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today's New York Philharmonic); the complete version was performed most recently in December 1997, led by Kurt Masur.

Single tickets for these performances start at $32. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $18.
Pre-Concert Talks are $7.00; discounts are available for multiple concerts, students, and groups (visit nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). All other tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or the Alice Tully Hall Box Office at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $12.50 tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10 days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic's Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]