David Robertson’s 2019-2020 Season Highlights

David Robertson opened The Metropolitan Opera’s 2019-20 season conducting a premiere production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, directed by James Robinson and starring Eric Owens and Angel Blue. The New York Times raved that “David Robertson led a vigorous yet nuanced performance, the finest conducting of “Porgy” I’ve heard. From the start, with the bustling orchestral introduction, he never tried to jazz up the score superficially, plumbing the music for inner voices, pungent harmonies, layered orchestral strands and rhythmic complexities. Every note in the opening’s jumpy string lines was clear; the syncopated accents had extra punch.”

Robertson will conduct all 14 performances of Porgy and Bess which is a co-production with the Dutch National Opera and the English National Opera.

Robertson’s valedictory season as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra culminates November 21 – 30 with performances of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, and American Harmonies: works by John Adams, Christopher Rouse, and Aaron Copland.

Deepening his role as Director of Conducting Studies, Distinguished Visiting Faculty of The Juilliard School, which began with the 2018-19 academic year, Robertson has been invited to join the Tianjin Juilliard Advisory Council. The international body will advise and guide Juilliard’s new Chinese campus. As teacher of the art and practice of conducting, David Robertson uses a wide range of repertoire from the 19th – 21st centuries to draw aspiring conductors into the rapidly evolving sensibility of orchestral vision and leadership. Preparation for a significant public performance is a key part of the program, and students will participate in the process for Robertson’s February 25, 2020, performance with The Juilliard Orchestra of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, and the New York premiere of Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing for Violin and Orchestra.

Additional season highlights include conducting John Adams’ El Niño with the Houston Symphony, returns to the Staatskapelle Dreden and Czech Philharmonic, and the release of two final recordings with the St. Louis Symphony including Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Mozart Piano Concertos, Nos. 17 and 24 in C Minor K.491, with Orli Shaham.

Find out more details about David Robertson’s exciting upcoming season here.