Beethoven Festival to Kick Off NSO Season By Tim Page Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 18, 1999; Page C05

The regular subscription season will begin Sept. 23, when Slatkin will lead music by Mozart, Ravel, Britten and John Adams in a program with pianist Emanuel Ax. Other pianists who will be appearing as guests this season include Ivo Pogorelich (in his NSO debut), Yefim Bronfman, Terrence Wilson, Peter Serkin and the duo-piano team of Katia and Marielle Labeque.

In all, there will be 18 subscription weeks. Among the violinists who will be playing with the NSO this season are the former Nigel Kennedy (who now prefers to be known only by his last name--an apt one for the center), Joshua Bell, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Kyung-Wha Chung and Sarah Chang. Slatkin is particularly excited about a young violinist named Yura Lee who will make her debut in January 2000. Other soloists include soprano Linda Hohenfeld, the Guarneri Quartet, guitarist Sharon Isbin, NSO bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa and the vocal ensembles the Washington Chorus, the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Washington Bach Consort.

Guest appearances by several conductors--including Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Paavo Berglund, Roberto Abbado, Gerard Schwarz, Eri Klas, the highly praised young Finnish maestro Osmo Vanska, and NSO Conductor in Residence Anthony Aibel and Assistant Conductor Takao Kanayama--are promised for next season.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma will play two concerts on two successive evenings with the NSO. On Oct. 1 Ma will offer works by Arvo Paert and Antonin Dvorak as well as a new cello concerto by film composer John Williams. The next night, Ma will play a recent concerto by Richard Danielpour, John Tavener's celebrated "The Protecting Veil" and the complete "William Tell" Overture by Rossini, which features a gorgeous and generally unfamiliar prologue that makes judicious (and juicy) use of the instrument.

Danielpour has also been commissioned to write a work for string quartet and orchestra by the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund (which gave us all those intriguing fanfares three seasons back). On the same evening, there will be another new commission, this one by Michael Kamen, now chiefly known for his work in film music, but also for collaborations with Kate Bush and the once-celebrated New York Rock and Roll Ensemble. These two premieres will be led by Slatkin in performances on Jan. 13, 14 and 15, 2000. And a work by Robert Kapilow, "Citypiece: D.C. Monuments," has been commissioned by the Kreeger Museum, to be presented by the NSO sometime during 2000.

A "2000 Vivaldi" festival will feature no fewer than 21 of the composer's works over the course of nine days next March. Christopher Warren-Green will conduct and play the violin. The festival will feature concertos, chamber works and large pieces for chorus and orchestra.

"Piano 2000," slated for June of next year, will celebrate the 300th anniversary of the invention of the piano. The concerts will include an opening program devoted to Bach's works for multiple keyboards; an evening of double and triple concertos by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Poulenc and the composer-author Paul Bowles; and a spectacular "Grand Piano Extravaganza" with the Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals," the Liszt "Hexameron," and an arrangement by the late Morton Gould of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" for six pianos and orchestra. The final night will also include works for up to six pianos but also a quieter surprise--John Cage's Suite for Toy Piano, which Slatkin will play himself.

The NSO also will embark on its first U.S. tour since early 1997. The orchestra will spend the last two weeks of October playing in cities ranging from Ames, Iowa, to San Francisco. There will be nine concerts in all.

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