The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced several events celebrating the 100th anniversary of Leopold Stokowski’s inaugural concert with the orchestra on October 11, 1912. Beginning with three concerts in June, the orchestra will return to the Academy of Music, its home for its first 100 years. In a nod to Stokowski’s innovations with the orchestra, performances will be enhanced by live effects and high-definition visuals known as Symphony 5.0, designed by opera and theater director James Alexander. Music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the orchestra in four June programs, including an audience-choice program; a family concert featuring repertoire from the Disney film Fantasia; and a program including three works from Stokowski’s first concert in Philadelphia: Brahms’s Symphony No. 1, Ippolitov-Ivanov’s Caucasian Sketches, and Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser. The orchestra is accepting suggestions for its June audience-choice program through April 18, 2012; on April 23 top submissions will be announced, and the public may vote for the final concert pieces through May 19, with the final program to be chosen by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Audiences may vote online at http://www.philorch.org/vote or fill out submission forms at Verizon Hall, mail in entries, or call the Audience Choice hotline at 215-893-1974. On October 11, 2012, the orchestra will stage a near-recreation of Stokowski’s inaugural concert of October 11, 1912.

Posted April 5, 2012