Conductor Roberto Abbado leads the Juilliard Orchestra in works by Busoni, Bartok, and Mahler on Monday, March 31 at 8 PM in Avery Fisher Hall

Italian conductor Roberto Abbado leads the Juilliard Orchestra for the first time on Monday, March 31 at 8 PM in Avery Fisher Hall in a program featuring Busoni’s Berceuse élégiaque, Op. 42; Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in E Major with Juilliard pianist, Icelandic native Vikingur Olafsson; and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major. The program that Mr. Abbado selected is based on three composers that lived or worked in New York. Busoni came to New York to perform and teach piano and was at that time considered one of the greatest pianists. Bartók spent more time living in New York than Busoni and Mahler, and his piano concerto was composed in New York. Mahler is here because of the New York connection, although his Symphony No. 1 was not premiered in New York, but in Budapest. Mr. Abbado returns to New York at the end of March to Lincoln Center to conduct the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Verdi’s Ernani.

Ferruccio Busoni’s Berceuse élégiaque (Elegiac Lullaby), Op. 42 is one of Busoni’s most performed works. The work was composed in London not long after the composer’s mother had passed away. Busoni adored his mother and poured his feelings into the work. The subtitle of the work is Des Mannes Wiegenlied am Sarge seiner Mutter (The Man’s Lullaby at his Mother’s Coffin). Busoni took his time perfecting the score and did not let the piece be published until after he had run-throughs in London and Berlin. The official premiere of the work took place in NYC on February 21, 1911 with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Gustav Mahler in the last concert he would ever conduct anywhere.

Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in E Major from 1945 was the last major work he completed. His health failing, Bartók had hoped to present the concerto to his pianist-wife, Ditta Pásztory-Bartók for her 42nd birthday on October 31, 1945, so she might use it as a vehicle for future concert bookings. He nearly completed the work, but his health became worse, and he died in New York City that year (1945) without finishing the orchestration. The final measures of his orchestration were completed by his pupil and friend Tibor Serly. The work was premiered instead by pianist György Sándor and The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy, on February 8, 1946. Sándor, who was a member of the Juilliard faculty from 1982 until his death in 2005, had studied with Bartók at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and became a lifelong friend.

Gustave Mahler was a well-known conductor when he introduced his Symphony No. 1. He held directorships at musical organizations in Ljubljana, Olomuoc, Kassel, Prague, Leipzig, and Budapest and had assumed the directorship of the Royal Hungarian Opera. It was there that his Symphony No. 1 had its premiere, near the end of 1889. The premiere was far from successful. The work played in 1889 was different from the symphony as it is heard today. Then, it was presented as a five-movement symphonic poem in two sections. He introduced the new version in Hamburg on October 27, 1893, and it was received with more success than the Budapest premiere.  
 
Born into a family of musicians, Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson received his first piano lessons at age four from his mother and quickly took to the instrument. He entered Reykjavik College of Music in his early teens and graduated with a soloist diploma in 2001. He made his debut that year with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, with which he a since appeared annually. He has made solo appearances with all of the major orchestras and ensembles of his country and made his conducting debut directing Mozart’s Piano Concerto, K. 503 from the keyboard at the Reykjavik Art Festival in 2006. A dedicated performer of new music, Mr. Olafsson tries to commission at least one major work every season. In 2007, he premiered Ólafur Axelsson’s Piano Suite and for the 2008-09 season, he has commissioned two piano concertos from leading Icelandic composers Haukur Tómasson and Daniel Bjarnason. In 2006, he gave the world premiere of Snorri Sigfus Birgisson’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Caput Ensemble at the Nordic Music Days Festival. In October 2007, he was invited to perform at a meeting of Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde and the Italian Minister for International Trade, Emma Bonino, in Rome. In June, he will represent Iceland at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts in Brussels, as well as giving numerous solo and chamber music performances in his home country. He earned his bachelor of music degree at Juilliard as a student of Jerome Lowenthal, and currently is working toward his master of music degree as a student of Robert McDonald.

Roberto Abbado has performed regularly with such orchestras as the Boston Symphony and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and maintains continuing relationships with the San Francisco, St. Louis, Atlanta and Houston symphony orchestras, as well as New York City’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Notably, his most extensive relationship is currently with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, where he is one of its first Artistic Partners, a position that was recently extended into a second, three-year term. As Artistic Partner, he is in residence with the Orchestra for three weeks per season. Born into a dynastic musical family, his grandfather was a famous pedagogue of violin, his father was director of the Milan Conservatory, and his uncle is Claudio Abbado, the world-renowned maestro. Roberto Abbado studied with famed conducting teacher Franco Ferrara at Venice’s La Fenice and Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where he was the only student in Accademia history to be invited to conduct the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia. Well-known for his work in opera, Mr. Abbado has led many new productions and world premieres, including the Fedora at the Metropolitan Opera, I Vespri Siciliani at the Vienna Staatsoper, La Gioconda, and Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro alla Scala (Milan), L’Amour des Trois Oranges, Aida, and La Traviata for the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich), Simon Boccanegra with the Teatro Regio Di Torino and Le Comte Ory, Attila, and I Lombardi for the Maggio Musical Fiorentino. He has made several recordings for BMG (RCA Red Seal). On DVD, Deutsche Grammophon recently has released Fedora with Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo from the Metropolitan Opera.

Stefan Sanderling conducts the next Juilliard Orchestra concert on Thursday, April 17 at 8 PM in Avery Fisher Hall. The program features Penderecki’s Viola Concerto with Juilliard violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird. Tickets are $20 and 10 and available beginning March 13 at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or through CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500. FREE tickets for students and seniors are available only at the Box Office.