Montebello Joins Met Concert Series
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's outgoing director, Philippe de Montebello, will narrate Saint-Saën's "Carnival of the Animals" for a performance by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which will open the museum's 2008-09 season of concerts. Mr. de Montebello's reading will be the first event in a series called Triptych, opening September 26, which honors the director's last year with the Met. For the series, Mr. de Montebello will participate as well in a conversation with critic Robert Hughes and a reading, with actress Isabella Rossellini, of poems from the Renaissance on the theme of love.
The season also includes pianist Itzhak Perlman in a PianoForte series concert with alumni of the Perlman Music Program. Ten other pianists will perform in the series, including the Austrian Till Fellner, whose appearance at the Met will be the first of seven concerts featuring Beethoven's complete sonatas.
A selection of chamber-music concerts will include performances by pianist Menahem Pressler, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Capuçon-Angelich Trio, and the Met's resident chamber ensemble, MMArtists in Concert.
The Met will also present a host of performers from other countries, such as the Djoliba Ensemble of Mali, the Compañia Flamenco de Madrid, the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, and the Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano of Mexico.
