CELEBRITY SERIES OF BOSTON PRESENTS
THE BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
SIR SIMON RATTLE, CONDUCTOR
WITH BASS BARITONE THOMAS QUASTHOFF AND TENOR BEN HEPPNER
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 AT SYMPHONY HALL

Quasthoff and Heppner Join Orchestra as Soloists in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde

(BOSTON)—Celebrity Series of Boston, Martha H. Jones, President and Executive Director, presents the
Berlin Philharmonic led by Sir Simon Rattle on Monday, November 19 at 8:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall,
301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. The program includes György Kurtág’s Stele, Opus 33, and Gustav Mahler’s symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde with bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff and tenor Ben Heppner as soloists. The concert is sponsored by Foley and Lardner LLP. Media partner is WGBH 89.7.

This performance marks the 10th Celebrity Series of Boston appearance for the Berlin Philharmonic, and the orchestra’s first Boston appearance under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. The orchestra made its Celebrity Series debut in March 1955 led by Wilhelm Furtwängler, and last appeared in Boston presented by the Series in October 2001 led by Claudio Abbado. This marks the first Celebrity Series appearance for Thomas Quasthoff since his Series debut in 2002. Ben Heppner made his Celebrity Series debut in 1999, and makes his fourth Series appearance with this engagement.

The Berlin Philharmonic was founded in 1882 and has long been considered one of the world’s finest orchestras. Its current artistic director, Sir Simon Rattle, was appointed in September 2002. Preceding Sir Simon Rattle is a long history of esteemed musical leadership beginning with Ludwig von Brenner in 1882 who was appointed by the musicians themselves. Following von Brenner was Hans von Bülow, who strengthened the orchestra and firmly established it as one of the leading ensembles in Germany. Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Herbert von Karajan followed and, over the course of several decades, developed the orchestra’s unique tonal quality and performing style, expanded its repertoire to include works by 20th-century composers, and made several recordings. In October 1989 the players appointed Claudio Abbado their new principal conductor. Maestro Abbado devised a new type of programming for the orchestra featuring thematic cycles that placed classical works alongside contemporary ones. With the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle, the orchestra succeeded in obtaining the services of one of today’s most successful conductors. The Berlin Philharmonic’s change of status to a charitable foundation (the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker) has created new opportunities, and ensured the economic future of the orchestra, currently comprised of 129 full-time members.

Born in Liverpool in 1955, Sir Simon Rattle was appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Berlin Philharmonic in September 2002. He began conducting orchestras in Europe and the United States after studying at London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 1980, at the age of 25, he was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), and became the orchestra’s Music Director in 1990–a position he would hold until 1998. He served simultaneously as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning in 1981, and continued to conduct other leading orchestras in the US and Europe engaging in long-term collaborations with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Prior to his current appointment with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon had collaborated with the orchestra for 15 years, making his debut in 1987 and regularly appearing on the conductor’s podium in the years that followed. Also an accomplished conductor of opera, Sir Simon has appeared at opera houses in Paris, Amsterdam, and London performing the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Britten, and Debussy among others. He is an exclusive EMI recording artist and has made more than 60 recordings with the CBSO, the Berlin Philharmonic, and other orchestras. Sir Simon was knighted by the Queen of England in 1994.

Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff began his vocal studies with Professor Charlotte Lehmann and Professor Huber-Contwig in Hannover, Germany. His international career was launched when he was awarded First Prize in the 1988 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Today he is considered one of the world’s most remarkable singers. Since making his United States debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1995, he has performed with numerous American orchestras under the batons of conductors Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Loren Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Franz Welser-Möst among others. Mr. Quasthoff also performs regularly throughout Europe both in recital and with distinguished orchestras such as the Vienna and London Philharmonics, and the London Symphony Orchestra. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 1999, Mr. Quasthoff’s recent projects include Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer with Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic, and recital discs of lieder by Brahms, Liszt and Schubert. His first recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Berlin Philharmonic, received the 1999 Grammy Award for best vocal performance. A dedicated teacher and advocate for young vocalists, Mr. Quasthoff was a professor at the Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, from 1996–2004 and is currently Professor of Music at the Hanns Eisler School for Music in Berlin.

Ben Heppner is recognized worldwide as one of today’s finest tenors, and excels in roles from Wagner’s Tristan and Lohengrin to Verdi’s Otello and Berlioz’ Aeneas. The 2007-2008 season finds Mr. Heppner making concert appearances throughout Europe and North America in some of the most famous venues in the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Metropolitan Opera. At the Metropolitan Opera he will join Maestro James Levine for an unprecedented performance of Tristan und Isolde that will be simulcast in movie theatres throughout North America and the UK. A native of Canada, Mr. Heppner studied music at the University of British Columbia, and first gained national attention in 1979 as the winner of the Canadian Broadcasting Company Talent Festival. He is a 1988 winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and is both a Grammy Award winner and a Juno Award recipient. In 2002, Mr. Heppner was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Monday, November 19 at 8:00 PM
Symphony Hall
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone
Ben Heppner, tenor

KURTÁG
Stele, Opus 33

MAHLER
Das Lied von der Erde

TICKETING INFORMATION
Remaining tickets, priced at $187, $147, and $87, are available by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; online at www.celebrityseries.org; or at the Symphony Hall box office, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston.

About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston is New England's leading presenter of music, dance, and the performing arts from around the world. Founded in 1938, the Series incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in 1989. Each year, the Celebrity Series brings to Boston's major concert halls performances by instrumental and vocal soloists, symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance companies, jazz and popular music performers, folk and ethnic performance groups, and other performing artists. The Celebrity Series' Arts, Education and Community program was initiated in 1984. The program reaches thousands of students annually in Boston area schools and communities. The program includes the award-winning AileyCamp Boston, a six-week summer dance program for Boston middle school students, and ACT 2, an after-school initiative for former participants of AileyCamp Boston. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series receives major annual support from two anonymous donors; The Little Family Foundation; The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; Bank of America; The Linde Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Talbots Charitable Foundation; Foley & Lardner LLP; Charlesbank Capital Partners; Comcast; Morgan Stanley; BDO Seidman; PTC; Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation; Steven and Joan Belkin Foundation; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; The Consolate General of Canada; The Collings Foundation; The Esther B. Kahn Charitable Foundation; The Red Sox Foundation; Massachusetts Cultural Council; National Endowment for the Arts; New England Foundation for the Arts; Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Foundation; The Harris A. Berman and Ruth E. Nemzoff Family Foundation; Amy and Joshua Boger; DeMoulas Foundation; Margaret Eagle and Eli Rapaport; Kathleen and Steven Haley; Cerise and Charles Jacobs; Paul L. King; Jann E. Leeming and Arthur D. Little; Paul F. and Barbara A. Levy; Frank and Eleanor Pao; Spring Sirkin and Arthur Frank; Dorothy and Stephen Weber; Nancy Richmond Winsten and Dr. Joseph Winsten; Charles O. Wood, III and Miriam M. Wood; Ellen and Arnold Zetcher.

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