FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: January 21, 2009
BSO MUSIC DIRECTOR JAMES LEVINE AND THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCE 2009-10 PROGRAMS AT CARNEGIE HALL
OPENING NIGHT GALA OF CARNEGIE HALL'S 119TH SEASON FEATURES NY PREMIERE OF A NEW WORK BY JOHN WILLIAMS; OTHER PROGRAMS INCLUDE ALL-BEETHOVEN CONCERT AND MENDELSSOHN'S "ELIJAH"
GUEST ARTISTS INCLUDE EVGENY KISSIN, PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD, CHRISTINE BREWER, STEPHANIE BLYTHE, AND ANN HOBSON PILOT
Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine and the orchestra are honored to open Carnegie Hall's 119th season with a gala concert on October 1, 2009. Concert highlights include Evgeny Kissin performing Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor and the New York premiere of John Williams' new On Willows and Birches for harp and orchestra, written for the distinctive talents of BSO principal harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, who will retire from the BSO in August 2009. Also on the program are Debussy's La Mer and Berlioz' Roman Carnival Overture.
Ann Hobson Pilot, principal harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is retiring this year. A
special CHAD Tribute Brunch Cruise is being planned to honor Ms. Pilot on Sunday, October 4, 2009 in Boston, MA. For more information, please go to
www.annhobsonpilot.webs.com -- first set of photos have been loaded from the cruise. Click on "Photo Gallery."
In a e-conversation I had with Ann, I asked if news of her retirement was true. She had this to say, "It is true that I will be retiring as a member of the BSO after the
Tanglewood, 2009 season. I no longer enjoy Boston winters and I wanted to retire while I was still at the "top of my game". The exciting news is that
John Williams has written a harp concerto-type piece to honor my retirement and I will be premiering it with the BSO for the opening of
Symphony Hall on September 23, the opening of
Carnegie Hall on Oct. 2, and then back in Boston on Oct. 3 to perform the Williams' piece, Elliot Carter's "Mosiac" and the
Debussy "Danses" in a concert specifically designed to honor me. I don't know of any other retiring member who has received such an honor so I am extremely flattered. I have also been invited back to South Africa to perform with 3 orchestras there, probably in November. I plan to play the Williams and maybe the Debussy. My husband and I will basically be retired to
Sarasota, Fl. but I will continue teaching at NEC and BU (at least for the short term) and we will continue to go to Stockbridge for the summers.
Link to Ms. Pilot's special South African harp music project:
Musical Journey.
Ann Hobson Pilot , Harp
Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot began her musical education at age six with piano lessons from her mother, a former concert pianist and teacher in the Philadelphia public schools. Ms. Hobson Pilot spent many summers at the Harp Colony in Maine, studying with Alice Chalifoux who became a major influence on the harp. She graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music and received her first professional appointment in 1965 with the Pittsburgh Symphony which employed her as a substitute second harpist, and in the fall of 1966 she became principal harpist for the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. She performed with the National Symphony in Washington, DC for three years, prior to joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1969. Pilot was named principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1980. Pilot has had an extensive solo career. In addition to solo appearances with the BSO and the Boston Pops, she has appeared as guest artist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, Haiti, New Zealand, and South Africa, including the St. Trinity Orchestra of Port-Au-Prince and Boston's Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Pilot is founder of the New England Harp Trio and is on the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She is a member of the contemporary music ensemble Collage and has also performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Marlboro Music Festival, and the Newport Music Festival, to name but a few. In addition to her many recordings with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, she released her first solo recording entitled, “Contrast” on Boston Records. She has several CDs available on Boston Records, and on the Koch International and Denouement labels. In 1999 she traveled to London to record, with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Harp Concerto by the young American composer Kevin Kaska, a work that she commissioned.
Ann Hobson-Pilot Biography in Harp Spectrum
Concerto for Harp and Orchestra by Kevin Kaska and commissioned by Ann Hobson-Pilot (story in Harp Spectrum).
Houston Symphony harpist Paula Page, Dallas Symphony harpist Susan Pejovich, and Boston Symphony harpist Ann Hobson Pilot premiering Knights of the Red Branch at the American Harp Society convention in Philadelphia.