Carnegie Hall's 2016-2017 Season

Carnegie Hall has recently announced its upcoming schedule for next season, and the lineup is very impressive to anyone with an interest in classical music.  As a current subscriber, I was already able on Monday morning to place my order for the series I wished to attend.  The four series I chose were all orchestral.

• The International Festival of Orchestras III whose highlights include Simon Rattle conducting Mahler's Seventh with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Daniel Barenboim leading the Staatskapelle Berlin in Bruckner's Third, and Franz Wesler-Möst conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a performance of Schubert's Ninth.

• Concertos Plus featuring Gustavo Dudamel conducting Messiaen's epic Turangalila-symphonie with the Bolivar Symphony, Valery Gergiev leading the Munich Philharmonic in Beethoven's Third, and another Staatskapelle Berlin performance of a Bruckner symphony, this time the Third.

• Great American Orchestras with Rattle conducting another Mahler symphony, the Sixth, this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Andris Nelsons leading another performance of Beethoven's Third.

• The Met Orchestra, once again led by James Levine, will perform three concerts in June after the regular season has ended.  Each of the three will feature the music of single composer - Mahler, Brahms and Sibelius.  Guest artists will include Susan Graham, Maurizio Pollini and Christian Tetzlaff.

At the same time I placed my subscription order I also reserved my seat for October's Opening Night when Dudamel will lead an all-Stravinsky program with the Bolivar Symphony.  The two works on the program are Pétrouchka (1947 version) and Le Sacre du printemps.

In addition to all these, I will also be purchasing single tickets this summer as soon as they go on sale to subscribers.  Here I will focus mainly on piano recitals.  Uchida Mitsuko, Yefim Bronfman, András Schiff and Richard Goode will all be performing on the main stage.  In April, Leif Ove Andsnes and Marc-André Hamelin will appear together to play works for two pianos by Mozart, Stravinsky and Debussy.

These are, of course, only my personal choices.  There are many other outstanding performances that listed on Carnegie Hall's website that are well worth attending.