Jonathon Heyward: For me, being able to find that link of relatability between new compositional works and our traditional warhorses of works is so crucial to my general mission of what I'm trying to, to achieve with the Festival Orchestra.

Terrance McKnight: That's conductor Jonathon Heyward. He's the new music director and conductor of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, discussing his goals for his new post. Now, previously known as the Mostly Mozart Festival, the newly named Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center is an ensemble of some of the city's best classical musicians.

And they are continuing this long-standing tradition of bringing music to New Yorkers all summer long. I'm Terrance McKnight, and in this broadcast, we'll hear one of their concerts recorded earlier this summer. In addition to this new post, Jonathon Heyward also leads the Baltimore Symphony and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Europe.

This concert was recorded this past July at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center, and it includes two works based on the outdoors. In the second half of the concert, we'll hear Beethoven's famous depiction of the natural world, his sixth symphony, that Pastoral Symphony. But to start, we're going to hear the North American debut of a new work by composer Huang Ruo. It's called City of Floating Sounds. Conductor Jonathon Heyward.

Jonathon Heyward: I was interested in a piece that really reflected our surroundings in this amazing city. It was very obvious that this piece always was going to be paired with Beethoven 6, so he sort of knew that, you know, it was a piece that needed to be a reflection of our nature, whatever that nature looks like.

And for me, what's so beautiful about the work is that it's incredibly inspired by two things, which I think really resemble Beethoven 6. This idea of the inspiration of our surroundings, but also this idea that how, when one unifies together, you create this incredible perspective.

Terrance McKnight: Conductor Jonathon Heyward.

A little bit about the composer, Huang Ruo. Huang Ruo was born in 1976 in Hainan Island, China. He received both Chinese and Western training at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He then moved to the United States. studied at Oberlin and the Juilliard School. He's now a composition teacher at the Mannes School of Music here in New York, and Huang Ruo has a diverse catalog of work. He's written for orchestra, he's written operas, chamber music, and for dance performances. The piece we'll hear tonight to get started is called City of Floating Sounds. Now, this is not just a piece performed in a concert hall. It's also an interactive work that involves inviting concertgoers to download an app to their phones and meeting up at suggested spots around the city before the concert. Then an hour before performance in the hall begins, fragments from the symphony play on the participants' phones.

Now, the night of the concert, we met up with the composer and a group of audience members at the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park. With phone in hand and speakers turned up loud, we each heard different instruments from the symphony through the app.

Together with the composer, Huang Ruo, we all walked towards David Geffen Hall.

Huang Ruo: Don't worry, it will play. Like it or not, it will play.

We'll play the track which you have automatically, and so it's quite a magical moment, because we're all gathering and suddenly there's a sound, and everybody's mobile phones start sounding and ringing. So for example, if I have a oboe track, and my entire track would be the oboe, and you come in with a violin and someone come in with a flute, and someone come in with a tuba. So then you have all these instruments putting together, putting the entire symphony together by movements of people. And when we are walking in different pace, in different journey, then the symphony starts moving. So it starts channeling, channeling around the city. So I think it's a piece really, Written for the entire city, and everyone is part of it.

Open the app, you're not here to take photos.

Unknown female voice: I told you, I guess I got it.

Huang Ruo: I wanna blur the line between what is the symphony, what is the concert piece, what is outdoor piece? What, what is life, what is sound? So we, we get rid of all those definitions and, and and we all come together to celebrate.

Terrance McKnight: Composer Huang Ruo and sounds of a walk to Lincoln Center, listening to fragments of his new symphony, City of Floating Sounds. We'll hear the complete piece, now performed by the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, with their new music director, Jonathon Heyward, recorded live at David Geffen Hall as part of the Summer for the City Festival.

MUSIC: RUO: CITY OF FLOATING SOUNDS

Terrance McKnight: That was the North American premiere of a new work by composer Huang Ruo, called City of Floating Sounds, performed by the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and their new music director, Jonathon Heyward. The work was recorded live this past July at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall.

Coming up in the second half of this program, another work that celebrates the outdoors. We're talking about, of course, Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, his Pastoral.

This is a special program from WQXR. I'm Terrance McKnight.

This is Classical New York, WQXR 105. 9 FM and HD Newark, 90. 3 FM WQXW Ossining, and WNYC FM HD 2 New York.

Welcome back to a special broadcast of a concert recorded this past July as part of Lincoln Center's Summer for the City Festival. The mission of the festival is to expand audiences for classical music by presenting inviting repertoire, educational initiatives, and affordable ticket pricing. As we heard in the beginning of the program, Music Director Jonathon Heyward also wants to present programs that pair new works along with the celebrated music of the classical canon.

So we just heard a premiere by composer Huang Ruo, about flowing sounds in the city. And now we take a trip to the countryside with one of the most famous and evocative compositions about nature, Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. We asked conductor Jonathon Heyward if he had a favorite passage in this iconic Beethoven symphony.

Jonathon Heyward: You know, the last movement is this incredible modulation towards the very, very end that just sort of opens up the sound in a way that I always feel so moved. And I think it's because of the amazing build up. I think that this is, this is the joy of this symphony. He's able to capture some of the greatest sense of line, I think, than in any other symphony I think he's ever composed.

It's this journey that you truly feel like you're on. Some people say maybe it's a bit too repetitive in some sections. Actually, it's never, when it's repeated, it's never the same. There's always another layer. There's always another influence of his surroundings. And I think that that's what makes this symphony so remarkable.

The architecture is amazing. And you finally, when you get to this arrival point, you feel like you deserve it because you've gone through this glorious journey and then finally you're there and it's, yeah, I have to say in general what I love about this piece is the architecture. It's phenomenal.

Terrance McKnight: We'll hear that symphony now. Beethoven's No. 6 with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, recorded live at David Geffen Hall with conductor Jonathon Heyward.

MUSIC – BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 6 “PASTORAL”

Terrance McKnight: Great applause for the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and their performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. It was conducted by their new music director, Jonathon Heyward, recorded live at David Geffen Hall. This concert was part of Lincoln Center's Summer for the City Festival.

Our great thanks to recording engineer Ian Reilly.

We've got some time left in this hour, so let's stay in summer mode and take a trip over to the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. Now, this is located just south of the Bethesda Terrace. The Naumburg Orchestral Concerts have been offering free performances in the city at the iconic bandshell since 1905. And for many years, WQXR has broadcast these concerts to radio listeners around the world. This past summer, one of their regular performers, the chamber ensemble called The Knights, presented a program of Mozart, Beethoven, and a lesser known composer. They decided to shine a light on, it's a French woman by the name of Louise Farrenc.

Knight co-founder and conductor Eric Jacobsen told the crowd at the Bandshell a little more about this 19th century composer.

Eric Jacobsen: Louise Farrenc, incredible composer, remarkable French composer, from born in 1804, so just a few years before Beethoven wrote his Pastoral Symphony, and like every composer after Beethoven, how could you not be absorbed and, and, and love all the music? She knew all of his music so well and was so influenced by his love of nature, the colors that were created by sun and trees and everything that you'll hear on the second half. She was a wildly virtuosic pianist and a legendary teacher. First female composer, appointed to the Paris Conservatory as a professor, and about 15 years into her tenure, she had a premiere of a chamber work that had a huge response. A rave review, greatest violinist of the time, Joachim, performed, and it was after that concert, we're doing a little timeline thing going on right now, after that concert, she went to the administrators at the Paris Conservatory and said, Hey, can I have equal pay to my male colleagues? And she got it!

Terrance McKnight: Conductor and Knights co-founder Eric Jacobsen, on stage at the Naumburg Bandshell. Let's hear Louise Farrenc's Symphony No. 3, performed by The Knights from this past summer at the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in Central Park.

MUSIC – FARRENC: SYMPHONY NO. 3 EXCERPT

Terrance McKnight: Excerpt from the Symphony No. 3 by French composer Louise Ferrenc. Performed by the chamber ensemble, The Knights, and recorded live by WQXR at the Naumburg Bandshell this summer in Central Park. The conductor was Eric Jacobsen.

That concludes our special broadcast tonight, featuring music from two New York summer concert series. We started with the newly named Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, with works by Huang Ruo and Beethoven, and concluded this hour with our friends, The Knights, from the Naumburg Orchestral Concert Series.

The WQXR engineering team includes Edward Haber, Irene Trudel, George Wellington, Noriko Okabe, and Neal Shaw.

The program was produced by Eileen Delahunty. WQXR will continue to bring you live music throughout all of the seasons from our many partners around this great city. I'm Terrance McKnight. This program is a production of WQXR in New York.