THE MARY AND JAMES G. WALLACH ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ERIC OWENS
IN BRIEF
The New York Philharmonic has named bass-baritone Eric Owens The Mary and James G.
Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the 2015–16 season. In addition to appearing as soloist
throughout the season, Mr. Owens will expand the role of the Philharmonic’s Artist-in-Residence
by curating programs and participating in educational activities.
Biography
Eric Owens began his 2014–15 season by rejoining Simon Rattle, Peter Sellars, and the Berlin
Philharmonic for J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Lucerne Festival and BBC Proms, as
well as at Park Avenue Armory as part of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival. He performs
the Verdi Requiem with the New York Philharmonic and with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra,
the latter conducted by Andrew Davis. Mr. Owens’s other orchestral appearances include
Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the Swedish Radio Symphony led by Esa-Pekka Salonen,
whom he will join again with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the same opera as well as for
Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, in which Mr. Owens makes his role debut as Golaud. Eric
Owens also joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti for Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony. Mr. Owens opened his operatic season by returning to Lyric Opera of Chicago,
where he has been appointed their community ambassador, for performances of Gershwin’s
Porgy and Bess, directed by Francesca Zambello. He also appears in his title role debut of
Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer with Washington National Opera conducted by Phillipe
Auguin. This season Mr. Owens makes additional role debuts as King Philip II in Verdi’s Don
Carlo at Opera Philadelphia, Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, and the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Glimmerglass Festival, where
he returns as an artist-in-residence.
New York Philharmonic Highlights
Eric Owens made his New York Philharmonic debut in June 2003 singing selections from
Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, led by then Philharmonic Music Director Lorin Maazel, during the
Orchestra’s residency at Sardinia’s Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. Since Alan Gilbert became Music
director this relationship has grown through the Giants Are Small productions of Ligeti’s Le
Grand Macabre, in which he appeared as Nekrotzar (May 2010), and A Dancer’s Dream (as The
Moor in the prerecorded video component, June 2013), as well as in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis
(June 2010), J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor (March 2013), and the Verdi Requiem (January 2015).
CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF ERIC OWENS’S 2015–16 SEASON
IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS: GREAT AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGERS AND THEIR LEGACY
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 15, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Thomas Wilkins*, conductor
Eric Owens, host and curator
Soloists tba
The program will include works linked to groundbreaking vocalists William Warfield, Betty Allen,
George Shirley, and Marian Anderson, focusing on the history many of these artists had with the
Philharmonic and their influence on the generations of African American vocalists that followed; the
program will also include orchestral selections by composers such as William Grant Still.
HOLIDAYS WITH THE PHILHARMONIC
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Friday, December 18, 2015, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 19, 2015, 2:00 p.m.
Conductor tba
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
New York City Gay Men’s Chorus
Program to include:
HAGUE & DR. SEUSS/Arr. and
Orch. T. Firth
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
ALAN GILBERT CONDUCTS: ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ERIC OWENS SINGS STRAUSS
AND WAGNER
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Thursday, January 7, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, January 8, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 9, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Heidi Melton*, soprano
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
SIBELIUS
R. STRAUSS
WAGNER
* New York Philharmonic debut
En Saga
Songs
Ride of the Valkyries and Final Scene from
Act III of Die Walküre
JOHN STORGÅRDS AND ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ERIC OWENS
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Thursday, May 12, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 13, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 14, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
John Storgårds*, conductor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
SCHUMANN
MAHLER
SIBELIUS
Genoveva Overture
Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Symphony No. 2
YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERT
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center
Once Upon a Time: “Story and Song”
Saturday, May 14, 2016, 2:00 p.m.
Conductor tba
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Program to include music by Gershwin and Mahler
* New York Philharmonic debut
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ALL PROGRAMS SUBJECT TO CHANGE