New York Philharmonic

Askonas Holt has a long association with the New York Philharmonic stretching back many decades.

In 2007 we presented the Orchestra for two concerts at the Barbican with their then music director, Kurt Masur. In 2008, the Philharmonic returned to the UK, this time for performances at the BBC Proms with Lorin Maazel. Subsequently Askonas Holt brought the New York Philharmonic many times to the UK and organised several tours to Asia.

The New York Philharmonic plays a leading cultural role in New York City, the United States, and the world. Each season the Orchestra connects with millions of music lovers through live concerts in New York and around the world, as well as broadcasts, recordings, and education programs.

The 2022–23 season marks a new chapter in the life of America’s longest living orchestra with the opening of the new David Geffen Hall and programming that engages with today’s cultural conversations.

The NY Phil explores its newly renovated home’s potential through repertoire that activates the new performance spaces and by launching new presentations, including at the intimate Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio. The season began with HOME, a monthlong festival introducing the hall and its new spaces. Later, the Philharmonic examines Liberation, a response to cries for social justice; Spirit, a reflection on humanity’s relationship with the cosmos; and Earth, which reflects on the climate crisis. Over the season the Orchestra gives World, US, and New York Premieres of 16 works and collaborates with Community Partners-in-Residence, building on impactful collaborations forged over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic through the launch of NY Phil Bandwagon — free, outdoor, “pull-up” concerts that brought live music back to New York City.

The New York Philharmonic has commissioned and / or premiered works by leading composers from every era since its founding in 1842, from Dvořák’s New World Symphony and Gershwin’s Concerto in F to two Pulitzer Prize winners: John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls and Tania León’s Stride, commissioned through Project 19, which marks the centennial of the 19th Amendment with commissions by 19 women composers.

The Orchestra has made more than 2,000 recordings since 1917; the most recent include Julia Wolfe’s Grammy-nominated Fire in my mouth and David Lang’s prisoner of the state. Concerts are available on NYPhil+, a state-of-the-art streaming platform, and the Orchestra’s extensive history is available free online through the New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives.

A resource for its community and the world, the Orchestra complements annual free concerts across the city with education projects, including the famed Young People’s Concerts and Very Young Composers Program. The Orchestra has appeared in 436 cities in 63 countries, including Pyongyang, DPRK, in 2008, the first visit there by an American orchestra.

Founded in 1842 by local musicians, the New York Philharmonic is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Notable figures who have conducted the Philharmonic include Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, and Copland. Jaap van Zweden became Music Director in 2018–19, succeeding musical leaders including Bernstein, Toscanini, and Mahler.