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The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert on WRTI: Yannick Conducts Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and Muhly's 'Register' Organ Concerto

Ana Cuba
Composer Nico Muhly

Join us on Sunday, Oct. 17th at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, Oct. 18th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 to hear The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast from 2019, showcasing the “King of Instruments” in all its glory. And where better to hear it than in Verizon Hall with the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ and the Philadelphians? Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

We bring you the East Coast 2019 premiere of Nico Muhly’s new organ concerto, a co-commission from the Philadelphians, LA Philharmonic, and London's Southbank Center. Muhly dedicated the work, Register, Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, to his good friend James McVinnie, who is the soloist in this performance.

The title refers to the many possibilities for the selection and combination of stops on an organ that produce the instrument’s marvelous kaleidoscopic palette of tone colors.

The organ also makes an appearance in Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, which falls between his 4th and 5th symphonies. Tchaikovsky was inspired by Lord Byron’s poem about a tormented antihero in the Swiss Alps looking back on his wayward life, and it’s a powerfully dramatic work, not often performed because of its length, complex structure, and need for the organ at the very end.

Credit Magnus Andersen
Organist James McVinnie

POIC190414McVinnie.mp3
Organist James McVinnie chats with WRTI's Susan Lewis.

During intermission, WRTI’s Susan Lewis has backstage conversations with James McVinnie, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

PROGRAM:

Muhly: Register, Concerto for Organ and Orchestra

James McVinnie, organ

INTERMISSION

Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestrain Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, streaming online at WRTI.org, and on the WRTI mobile app. Listen again on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.

Gregg was the host of WRTI's morning drive show from 2012 until his retirement from WRTI in January, 2021. He began producing and hosting The Philadelphia Orchestra In Concert broadcasts in 2013, joining the Orchestra in Hong Kong for the first-ever live international radio broadcasts from that island in 2016, and in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for two historic broadcasts in 2018. You can still hear Gregg as host of the Orchestra broadcasts every Sunday and Monday on WRTI.