On Saturday night, I headed to Carnegie Hall to see Trey Anastasio, lead singer and guitarist of Phish, perform with the New York Philharmonic. But that—more on that later—was a sort of a tangent to the orchestra’s main event, which occurs four nights later. The Philharmonic’s opening-night gala will be on September 16, when they play for the first time with Alan Gilbert officially at the helm as music director—a starry affair with Renee Fleming, who will sing Messiaen’s Poèmes pour Mì. on a concert that also includes a EXPO, a premiere by composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

It’s customary for orchestras to welcome new music directors with a fair amount of hoopla. Gilbert is no exception, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s young and doesn’t mind digging into the full spectrum of duties required by the modern-day music director of a symphony orchestra. Gilbert also has an especially strong connection to the Philharmonic; he grew up in the city, and his parents have both been violinists in the orchestra (his father retired in 2001, and his mother, Yoko Takebe, still plays in the Phil). The orchestra’s first international tour under Gilbert will be to Asia this October—a nice connection for Gilbert, since his mother is Japanese.

Wednesday night at the Philharmonic will be the kind of event that’s impossible to avoid if you have even the slightest interest in the arts. A certain number of exalted New Yorkers will attend the concert in person, of course, but you’ll also be able to watch it on TV on Live from Lincoln Center, and which will be simulcast on the soon-to-be-late-lamented WXQR radio (whose programming will move to WNYC at FM 105.9 on October 8, the same day the Philharmonic departs for Asia). For those that miss the Wednesday the 16th broadcast, this concert will also air for SundayArts September 20th at noon. read more