Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos Conducts New York Philharmonic in Carmina Burana, Atlantida, Now thru 6/2

Spanish conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos returns to the New York Philharmonic to conduct music from two secular cantatas: selections from Falla's Atlantida, and Orff's complete Carmina burana - which the Orchestra has not performed since 1995 - tonight, May 31, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, June 1, at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, June 2, at 8:00 p.m. The international cast that Mr. Fruhbeck has assembled for these performances features American soprano Erin Morley, American tenor Nicholas Phan (in his Philharmonic debut), South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo (debut), the Spanish chorus Orpheo?n Pamplone?s, Igor Ijurra Ferna?ndez, director (debut), and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, director.

The program features works by two composers who together reflect both sides of Mr. Fruhbeck's heritage: he was born in Spain, the homeland of Manuel De Falla (whose music is a specialty of this conductor), and his father's family hailed from Germany, where Carl Orff lived. Atlantida explores Spanish national mythologies, while Carmina burana sets 24 medieval poems on eternal subjects such as the fickleness of fate and the pleasures of Spring, food, drink, and lust. Although composed at roughly the same time, these compositions have had very different histories, with Orff's being so popular as to have become a mainstay of film and commercial sound tracks while Falla's is rarely performed - in fact, these concerts mark the first time that the Philharmonic has ever performed music from Atlantida.

Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. They take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656.

Violinist and violist David Wallace, a faculty member of The Juilliard School and a Senior Teaching Artist at the New York Philharmonic, will introduce the program.

On the Music: The New York Philharmonic Podcast New York Philharmonic Audio Producer Mark Travis is the producer and host of this program. Formerly with the WFMT Radio Network, he is the producer of the 52- week-per-year nationally and internationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at nyphil.org/podcast and from iTunes.

This program will be broadcast the week of June 25, 2012,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic's corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. *Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

A regular guest with North America's top orchestras, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos is returning to the New York Philharmonic for the fourth time since 2005. This season he also conducts the Cincinnati, Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Montreal symphony orchestras, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He appears regularly with the National, Chicago, and Toronto symphony orchestras, and at the Tanglewood Music Festival.

Born in Burgos, Spain, in 1933, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos studied violin, piano, music theory, and composition at the conservatories in Bilbao and Madrid, and conducting at Munich's Hochschule fu?r Musik, where he graduated summa cum laude and was awarded the Richard Strauss Prize. From 2004 to 2011 he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Dresden Philharmonic, and in the 2012–13 season will begin his post as chief conductor of the Danish National Orchestra.
Mr. Fruhbeck has toured extensively with such ensembles as the Philharmonia of London, London Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Madrid, and Swedish Radio Orchestra. He has toured North America with the Vienna Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, and Dresden Philharmonic. He has recorded extensively for EMI, Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, Spanish Columbia, and Orfeo. Several of his recordings are considered to be classics, including his interpretations of Mendelssohn's Elijah and St. Paul, Mozart's Requiem, Orff's Carmina burana, Bizet's Carmen, and the complete works of Manual de Falla.

Named Conductor of the Year by Musical America in 2011, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos has been awarded numerous other honors and distinctions, including the Gold Medal of the City of Vienna, Bundesverdienstkreutz of the Republic of Austria and Germany, Gold Medal from the Gustav Mahler International Society, and Jacinto Guerrero Prize, Spain's most important musical award; he has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Navarra in Spain. In 1998 Mr. Fruhbeck was named emeritus conductor of the Spanish National Orchestra. Since 1975 he has been a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

This season soprano Erin Morley - a graduate of The Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program - returns to her home company, The Met, for the Ring cycle, in which she is singing Woglinde in Wagner's Das Rheingold and Go?tterda?mmerung and the Forest Bird in Siegfried. She also returns to Santa Fe Opera as Roxana in Szymanowski's King Roger. She performs Bach cantatas with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is joined by pianist Vlad Iftinca in recitals for Salt Lake City's Virtuoso Series and at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall. Future engagements include leading roles at The Met, Ope?ra National de Paris, Vienna Staatsoper, and the Bavarian Staatsoper.

Ms. Morley's recent roles engagements include Mozart's The Magic Flute with Santa Fe Opera (as The Queen of the Night); Brahms's A German Requiem with James Bagwell and The Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall; and Satie's Socrate with James Levine and the Met Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie's Zankel Hall (as Phe?don). Her concert appearances as soloist have included the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Utah Symphony, Salt Lake Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Chamber Artists, and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as engagements in China and Italy.

A native of Salt Lake City, Erin Morley completed her artist diploma at The Juilliard Opera Center in 2007, and was a recipient of the Florence and Paul DeRosa Prize. She earned her master of music degree from Juilliard, and received her bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music. She won first place in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition in 2006, and third place in the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in 2009. She made her Philharmonic debut on October 14, 2006, in a Young People's Concert conducted by Delta David Gier, and appeared in the Orchestra's production of Camelot in May 2008, conducted Paul Gemignani.
American tenor Nicholas Phan began the 2011–12 season with performances of Lurcanio in Handel's Ariodante with Il Complesso Barocco in Turin and Bucharest, followed by his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in Mozart's Requiem. Other highlights include performances with the Baltimore, St. Louis, and National symphony orchestras; a concert tour of Ariodante that included stops at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Vienna's Theater an der Wien, and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid; a solo recital for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society; and a return to the Atlanta Opera as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He also returns twice to Carnegie Hall in the season, for Bach's Magnificat with Robert Spano and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and for Bach's St. John Passion with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy.

An avid proponent of vocal chamber music, Mr. Phan has collaborated with pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, and Cecile Licad, as well as Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Horn Jennifer Montone, among others. He is also the artistic director of the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, a Chicago-based organization devoted to promoting the teaching, performance, and development of vocal chamber music repertoire. Mr. Phan's first solo album, Winter Words, was released in the fall of 2011 by AVIE. His growing discography includes the Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinsky's Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO Resound) and the world premiere recording of Evan Chambers's orchestral song cycle The Old Burying Ground (Dorian).