20 July 2009

Thomas Hampson Named Leonard Bernstein Scholar-In-Residence for 2009-10 New York Philharmonic Season

American baritone Thomas Hampson has been selected as the third Leonard Bernstein scholar-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic, Theodore Wiprud, the orchestra's director of education, announced today. The title comes as an additional appointment at the Philharmonic for Hampson: during the 2009-10 season the baritone will also serve as the company's first Mary and James G. Wallach artist-in-residence.

As scholar-in-residence, Hampson will give three lectures in a series titled "Listening to Thought." The first "Vienna's Paradigm Shift" (Nov. 2) will be presented in tandem with Hampson's performances of Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony. The second "Awakening of the American Voice" (Jan. 11) elaborates on Walt Whitman and the subsequent Philharmonic performances of John Adams's The Wound-Dresser, set to Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The third lecture (Apr. 5) will expound on German lieder, entitled "A Guide to German Romanticism."

The scholar-in-residence program was instituted in 2005, in recognition of the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Bernstein, the Philharmonic's music director from 1958 to 1969. Conductor Charles Zachary Bornstein held the position through 2008, program annotator James M. Keller during the 2008-09 season.

As artist-in-residence, Hampson will perform three programs with the Philharmonic, join the orchestra on its European tour, and present three additional recitals in Alice Tully Hall.