Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Gustavo Dudamel and young superstar pianist Yunchan Lim kick off the NY PHILHARMONIC’s 2025/2026 season

• By drediman
• September 17, 2025
• No Comments

This past week, the New York Philharmonic kicked off its 2025/2026 season with a highly anticipated program led by incoming music director Gustavo Dudamel. The concert commenced with a world premiere, Leilehua Lanzilotti’s of light and stone. The 15-minute piece was a gentle opener, with its easy going references to the natural wonders of her home of Hawaii and more direct references to the music of Wagner (particularly the undulating opening chords of Das Rheingold). As played by the New York forces, the piece floated through the auditorium with a luminous sound.

Sandwiched between the seemingly requisite premiere and the large scale symphony was Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, which featured sensational pianist Yunchan Lim (still only 21, the South Korean pianist was, at the tender age of 18, the youngest winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition). Having experienced his ravishing and highly acclaiimed rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, expectations were high — and he didn’t disappoint. The Bartók concerto has a wild streak that Lim tapped into with instinctual flare, effortless force, and freedom. The piece also has an organic flow, which the young soloist adapted to with patience and precocious maturity. To be sure, it will be fascinating to witness Lim’s artistry further blossom in the many years to come.

Then there was Ives’ Second Symphony, a patchwork of snippets of Americana that concluded the evening in crowd-pleasing manner. Throughout, the ensemble responded beautifully to the maestro’s spirited conducting — which he did from memory, impressively — playing with warmth and personality, and building to a rousing climax that all but lifted those in the sold out auditorium from their seats. Suffice to say, Dudamel and the Philharmonic were greeted with enthusiastic ovations by the audience, whose appetite has been whetted for the superstar conductor’s official arrival next season.

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NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
Classical Music
David Geffen Hall
1 hour, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Closed