Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony to Premiere KEEPING SCORE: MAHLER on KQED Television in April 2011

-- Orchestra’s acclaimed Keeping Score Project Also Features New Interactive Companion Web Site, National Public Radio Series, Home Video on DVD and Blu-Ray --

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (January 20, 2011) – The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas will premiere new episodes of their acclaimed Keeping Score television series on KQED Television April 14 and 21, 2011, with documentary-style and concert programs on the life and music of Gustav Mahler. In a year marking the centenary of both the death of Gustav Mahler and the birth of the San Francisco Symphony, the Orchestra’s acclaimed Keeping Score project focuses on the enigmatic composer with two one-hour documentary-style episodes, two live-performance programs, new Mahler-related content at http://www.keepingscore.org and a 13-part national radio series. The Keeping Score project is a natural outgrowth of the San Francisco Symphony’s almost century-long commitment to make classical music more accessible and meaningful to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. Additional national PBS broadcast dates will be announced later this spring.

“Gustav Mahler was a visionary musician,” said Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. “In his compositions he made reference to many styles, building his huge symphonies from materials abstracted from songs, dances and marches from many cultures. His symphonies, or worlds, as he called them, represent the many ways that people make music and why they make music. In Keeping Score: Mahler, we walk in his footsteps, visit the places and sounds that influenced his life.”

“There is no better team right now to bring the music and life story of Gustav Mahler to a global audience than Michael Tilson Thomas, the San Francisco Symphony, and SFS Media,” said John D. Goldman, President of the San Francisco Symphony. “With MTT and the Orchestra firmly established among the leading interpreters of Mahler’s music, we hope that this collective passion for the works of Mahler, and our commitment to sharing music with the widest possible audience, helps inspire the next generation to appreciate and embrace some of the most powerful music ever written. These programs will be a fitting capstone to the decade-long Mahler project that MTT and the SFS have undertaken, and we hope they serve as a lasting inspiration for audiences throughout the world.”

Unlike any other orchestra initiative in scope or complexity, the national Keeping Score program provides innovative, thought-provoking classical music content via integrated multimedia including public television, public radio and interactive web content at www.keepingscore.org, and materials, training, and lesson plans for teachers using Keeping Score content and media. More than six million viewers have tuned into the critically-acclaimed episodes of Keeping Score on PBS, with previous programs about composers Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Copland, Berlioz, Shostakovich, and Charles Ives. The Keeping Score: Mahler television episodes, concert programs and online interactive content is designed to engage, educate and entertain viewers of all musical backgrounds, from classical music enthusiasts to those experiencing Mahler’s compositions for the first time. The two new documentary episodes and both concert programs are offered in high definition and surround-sound.

Keeping Score: Mahler is part of the San Francisco Symphony’s commemoration of the centenary of Mahler’s death and completes its ten-year exploration of the composer’s music through its Grammy Award-winning Mahler recording cycle on SFS Media. In May 2011, after two weeks of programs featuring the Mahler symphonies in San Francisco, the Orchestra will embark on a three-week European tour performing Mahler’s works in Prague, Vienna, Brussels, Luxembourg, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon. MTT and the SFS will be in Prague on the 100th anniversary of Mahler’s death (May 18) for commemorative celebrations followed by a four-concert Vienna residency performing the works of Mahler at the Konzerthaus. The SFS is the only American orchestra invited as part of the city’s celebration of Mahler. Keeping Score: Mahler will be screened in Vienna and Prague as part of the commemoration.

TELEVISION SERIES

Keeping Score: Mahler presents two one-hour documentary-style episodes and two live concert programs to air on KQED at 9 p.m. on April 14 and 21, 2011. The documentaries were shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria, and New York, and along with concert footage shot in San Francisco reveal the life and music of this emotionally charged composer, providing viewers with an unprecedented journey through his music and the influences that shaped it. Each episode is followed by a one-hour San Francisco Symphony concert program. The first concert features a complete performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Titan, and the second, A Mahler Journey, traces the origins and influences of his music in a variety of orchestral and vocal works. Producers/directors for the documentaries are David Kennard and Joan Saffa of InCA Productions, and the concert programs are directed by Gary Halvorson. The programs are presented nationally by KQED, with national airdates in summer 2011. Full episode streaming begins at video.pbs.org in April 2011. To view the trailers, click here.

Documentary Episode One — “Gustav Mahler: Origins”

April 14 at 9 p.m. on KQED

The first of two episodes explores the roots of Gustav Mahler’s music. SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas journeys to rural Bohemia to rediscover the inspirations of Mahler’s music, and traces Mahler’s life through the premiere of his first symphony in 1888. It shocked the contemporary audience, but as MTT and the San Francisco Symphony reveal, on location and in performance, this ground-breaking symphony contains elements of everything else that Mahler composed. Shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and in performance in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall.

Concert Program One — “Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major in Concert”

April 14 at 10 p.m. on KQED

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony perform Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Titan. The program was taped as part of the SFS’s Mahler Festival in Davies Symphony Hall in September and October of 2009.

Documentary Episode Two — “Gustav Mahler: Legacy”

April 21 at 9 p.m. on KQED

In part two of Keeping Score: Mahler, MTT examines Mahler’s creative growth, from the 1890s to his death at the age of 51 on May 18, 1911, including his symphonies, the Rückert songs and Das Lied von der Erde. The show charts Mahler’s mercurial career as a conductor, from the Vienna Opera to Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as his tempestuous relationship with his wife Alma. At Mahler’s simple grave in a Grinzing cemetery, MTT explains why Mahler has so profoundly affected his own life. Shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria, New York, and in performance in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall.

Concert Program Two – “A Mahler Journey”

April 21 at 10 p.m. on KQED

This concert includes the pivotal repertoire explored in Documentary Episode Two. World-renowned baritone Thomas Hampson, a noted interpreter of Mahler’s songs, is featured performing Songs of a Wayfarer. The program also includes Mahler’s famous and poignant love song, Adagietto from Symphony No. 5, the Scherzo from Symphony No. 7 in E minor and the Rondo Burleske from Symphony No. 9 in D major. The program was taped as part of the SFS’s Mahler Festival in Davies Symphony Hall in September and October of 2009.

WEB SITE: www.keepingscore.org

The Keeping Score web site, www.keepingscore.org, is designed to give people of all musical backgrounds an opportunity to explore the music and life of composer Gustav Mahler in depth, and at their own pace. The site offers an interactive area which traces the musical influences found in Mahler’s works. Extensive audio and video material explores the composer’s scores and pertinent musical techniques as well as the personal and historical stories behind them. The site is designed to particularly appeal to high school, college and university music appreciation students and their teachers, and its interactive learning tools offer a unique and in-depth online learning experience. Keepingscore.org includes groundbreaking and user-friendly interactives and content on all of the composers featured in the series. The site also includes a historical timeline that takes users deeper into the seven individual composers’ political, social, and cultural milieus, as well as downloadable lesson plans created by teachers who have experienced the Keeping Score Education program. The interactive Mahler section on www.keepingscore.org will launch in March.

RADIO SERIES

Keeping Score’s new radio series, 13 Days When Music Changed Forever, debuts this spring with 13 one-hour episodes that explore composers, compositions or musical movements that changed the way people heard or thought about music. Each program will explore the historical backdrop and musical precursors to the revolutionary change, as well as examine the aftershock and the lasting influence of that moment in music history. Producer Tom Voegli and host Suzanne Vega return to join Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. The team collaborated on the Peabody Award-winning The MTT Files and American Mavericks radio programs, some of the most listened-to classical music programs of all time. Script writers include acclaimed music writers Justin Davidson, Tim Page, and Pierre Ruhe, among others. Broadcasts across the country will begin in spring/summer 2011.

HOME VIDEO, DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION & STREAMING

Keeping Score: Mahler will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray High Definition formats through SFS Media, the San Francisco Symphony’s own label. Each of the two DVDs features a one-hour documentary episode coupled with the corresponding concert performance, with Michael Tilson Thomas leading the San Francisco Symphony. Both the documentary and the concert performances are captured in full HD, with the San Francisco Symphony the first orchestra to distribute its product on Blu-Ray disc. DVD sales begin in April 2011 at the San Francisco Symphony’s online store at www.sfsymphony.org/store and retail outlets worldwide. After the first 2011 broadcast, PBS will begin streaming the full episodes Keeping Score: Mahler at video.pbs.org. The programs will also be available on download-to-own channels such as iTunes, Zune, and others.

Funding

Lead funding for Keeping Score is provided by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund with generous support from Nan Tucker McEvoy, The James Irvine Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Marcia and John Goldman, Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, William and Gretchen Kimball Fund, Lisa and John Pritzker, Mrs. Alfred S. Wilsey, Koret Foundation Funds, Lynn and Tom Kiley, Anita and Ronald Wornick, Roselyne Chroman Swig, Margaret Liu Collins and Edward B. Collins, the Acacia Foundation, Matt Cohler, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Betty and Jack Schafer, Felipe R. Santiago and Barry T. Joseph, Mary C. Falvey, Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey P. Hays, Mark Heising and Liz Simons, David and Janyce Hoyt, Laurence and Michèle Corash, Helen Berggruen, and others.

About The San Francisco Symphony

Founded in 1911, the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) celebrates its Centennial Season in 2011-12 and is widely considered to be among the country’s most artistically adventurous and innovative arts institutions. The Orchestra’s distinguished history is marked by artistic excellence, innovative programming, broad educational initiatives, and acclaimed recordings and media projects. Now in their sixteenth season together, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the SFS have formed a musical partnership hailed for its revitalization of the classical music experience, performing and presenting more than 220 concerts annually for an audience of 600,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall, in other Bay Area venues, and through an active national and international touring program. The Orchestra reaches millions more around the world with its music through its Keeping Score project, educational websites and recordings. The first Orchestra to feature national symphonic radio broadcasts in 1926, the SFS remains a leader in the field of electronic media with endeavors such as the Grammy Award-winning Mahler recording cycle for the Orchestra’s own SFS Media label on SACD, the Peabody Award-winning American Mavericks and The MTT Files radio series, and the Emmy Award-winning PBS/KQED Public Television production of the SFS' Sweeney Todd in Concert. The Orchestra’s commitment to education, begun in 1919 with the development of Concerts for Kids, is today recognized nationally and internationally for programs including Keeping Score, Adventures in Music, the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, Music for Families, and www.sfskids.org. For additional information, please visit www.sfsymphony.org.

About KQED

KQED has served Northern California for more than 50 years and is affiliated with NPR and PBS. KQED owns and operates public television stations KQED 9 (San Francisco/Bay Area), KTEH 54 (San Jose/Bay Area), and KQET 25 (Watsonville/Monterey); KQED Public Radio (88.5FM San Francisco and 89.3FM Sacramento); the interactive platforms kqed.org, kteh.org, and KQEDnews.org; and Education Network. KQED and KTEH Public Television combined are the nation’s most-watched public television stations, and produce local and national series such as QUEST; Check, Please! Bay Area; This Week in Northern California; Truly CA; and Jacques Pepin: Essentials. KQED's digital television channels include 9HD, Life, World, Kids, and V-me, and are available 24/7 on Comcast. Visit www.kqed.org for more information.

 

Photos, videos, and press materials are available at www.sfspressroom.org/keepingscore.

To view the trailers, click here.

 

Press Contacts:

Deanna Decker at Landis Communications (415) 561-0888 x2318 deanna@landispr.com

Jennifer Scott at Shuman Associates (212) 315-1300 jscott@shumanassociates.net

Oliver Theil at San Francisco Symphony (415) 503-5426 otheil@sfsymphony.org