Live performance is at the heart of Lincoln Center, and the

2012–13 season hummed with the excitement of superb

programming on a resplendent, reimagined campus.

A highlight of the Great Performers season was the New

York premiere of John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by a fiery

Gustavo Dudamel. Keyboard enthusiasts were treated to

virtuoso recitals by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and András Schiff,

and baritone Simon Keenlyside thrilled audiences in the title

role of Berg’s opera Wozzeck.

Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and legendary singer/

songwriter Valerie Simpson headlined a glowing American

Songbook season in The Allen Room. This year, the program

expanded to an adventurous new series of intimate concerts

in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.

The White Light Festival explored the human body as a vehicle

for transcendence with dance premieres from London’s Akram

Khan Company and Ireland’s Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre.

The roster of global artistry included choirs from Latvia and

Georgia as well as repertoire from Mahler to Arvo Pärt. Post-

concert White Light Lounges, where concertgoers mingle and

greet the artists, returned as part of the White Light experience.

Summer at Lincoln Center began with the outdoor dance

party Midsummer Night Swing marking its 25th anniversary

of live music under the stars. For three weeks, top bands from

New York and around the world called thousands of joyful feet

to dance in Damrosch Park. Tango, salsa, and swing were all

part of the revelry, featuring Wynton Marsalis, Arturo O’Farrill,

and the wildly popular Silent Discos, where music can only be

heard through the dancers’ headphones.

The Mostly Mozart Festival’s Renée and Robert Belfer Music

Director Louis Langrée hosted a spectacular lineup of artists,

from renowned pianist Emanuel Ax to violinist and rising star

Isabelle Faust. Continuing the Festival’s broad exploration

of its namesake genius, this year spotlighted Mozart’s

influence on the music of Beethoven, surveyed contemporary

composers with the International Contemporary Ensemble,

and presented such quintessential Mozart evenings as an

inventively staged concert version of Le nozze di Figaro with

the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton and direction

of Iván Fischer.

Lincoln Center Festival’s extraordinary international lineup of

multidisciplinary events unfolded in six venues both on and off

campus, with 62 performances by artists and ensembles from

10 countries. In addition to director Chen Shi-Zheng’s fantastical

production of a Chinese folktale, Monkey: Journey to the West, there were concerts by Sinead O’Connor, John Zorn and the

Mongolian band Hanggai; the North American premiere of

Complicite’s theater work Shun-Kin; and the American premiere

of Stockhausen’s seminal Michaels Reise um die Erde.

In July and August, Lincoln Center Out of Doors filled our

plazas with more than 100 free performances of music, dance,

theater, and commissioned works, including a world premiere

from Mark Dendy Dance & Theater Projects, three New York

debuts as part of Festival au Désert: Caravan for Peace, and a

special week-long Kronos Quartet at 40 anniversary celebration.

An expanded Live From Lincoln Center television series on

PBS welcomed the incomparable five-time Tony-winner Audra

McDonald as its new host, reaching millions of viewers with

enhanced digital platforms. The New York Philharmonic

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, earning Emmy®

nominations, a star-studded New Year’s Eve tribute to Marvin

Hamlisch, and legendary artists including Itzhak Perlman and

Joshua Groban were among the outstanding offerings from our

stages broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center.

“ A triumphant realization of a challenging work…For sheer productions values, Michaels Reise is arresting as anything you will see in an opera house.” —New York Times

Trumpeter Marco Blaauw (Michael) and basset horn player Nicola Jürgenson (Eve) in the North American premiere of Stockhausen’s spectacular Michaels Reise um die Erde at Lincoln Center Festival.

Performance Season

“ A remarkable production…A highlight not just of the Mostly Mozart Festival, but also of the opera season in New York.” —New York Times

Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra gave the Mostly Mozart premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in a jubilant staged concert performance.

“ Monkey: Journey to the West—a dazzling collision of Chinese folklore, spiritual instruction and ethno-digital pop music.“

—Rolling Stone

Green Lotus Maidens spun their plates in “Paradise” for the finale of Monkey: Journey to the West at Lincoln Center Festival.

“ An extraordinary piece of dance theater that manages to be both seamless entertainment and a rich insight into Irish culture.” —Irish Times

Traditional Irish music and passionate contemporary dance shared the stage in Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre’s lively production of Rian during the White Light Festival.

“ The crowd reflects the city in age, ethnicity, size, skill level, personality and fashion sense. There are singles and couples, paired-up strangers and circles of friends. Different bands attract different crowds, so each night has its own character and energy, but there’s always a miscellany, a cross-section of New York mingling to music.”

—New York Times

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis made a joyful noise at the opening of Midsummer Night Swing.

“ Langrée sustained compelling passion. His attentive players [the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra] responded with gutsy bravura.” —Financial Times

Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée led nine concerts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra on the Festival’s specially-constructed stage in Avery Fisher Hall.

“ Alban Berg’s compact shocker of an opera is about cruelty and despair, but the Philharmonic's concert performance…was a celebratory event. Rare as it is to experience the score in the flesh, it’s rarer still to hear it done with such a volatile mixture of vitriol and love.” —New York Magazine

Simon Keenlyside (right) starred in the title role of Wozzeck, with Joshua Ellicott (left) as Andres and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra for Lincoln Center’s Great Performers.

“ There’s a good reason that Panamanian singer, songwriter and bandleader Rubén Blades is one of salsa’s most durable icons: Simply put, few other performers can speak to your mind, touch your heart quite so reliably…as this brilliant performer does.”

—Time Out New York

Latin superstar and nine-time Grammy Award–winner Rubén Blades thrilled the crowds at a free Lincoln Center Out of Doors concert.

“ More than half a century of American social history is embodied in the warm, earthy voice of the great R&B gospel singer Mavis Staples, who appeared at The Allen Room on Thursday evening as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series.”

—New York Times

At Lincoln Center’s American Songbook, Mavis Staples—one of the 100 greatest singers of all time (Rolling Stone)—rocked the house at a sold-out concert in The Allen Room.

Fun and learning combined: the Meet the Artist School Series engaged thousands of young people in specially created programs offering personal interaction with artists and live performance.

Education and community engagement are vital elements of Lincoln Center’s mission, and the 2012–13 season witnessed a significant number of new programs in these areas.

Lincoln Center Institute (LCI), our educational cornerstone, welcomed Russell Granet as its new Executive Director in 2012. Following his arrival, Lincoln Center’s many educational activities were consolidated as the Lincoln Center Education (LCE) family of programs. LCE initiatives include such projects as the Arts in the Middle pilot, which takes the arts to underserved City middle schools; an LCE-CUNY Learning Lab for teacher candidates; the establishment of a Lincoln Center Arts Teacher Award in conjunction with the New York City Department of Education; and a teaching artist certification program.

Also under the LCE umbrella is Lincoln Center Local, which took 15 performances to seven Queens libraries reaching thousands of neighborhood residents in 2012–13, and live-streamed viewing parties in 21 Queens and Brooklyn locations this past summer. The Meet the Artist School Series hosted more than 15,000 students and introduced a student artist continued partnership with The Juilliard School. Lincoln Center Institute continues its valued work in the schools with teaching artists, and is expanding its thought leadership in arts education.

The David Rubenstein Atrium visitors center greeted its 1 millionth visitor this year, and added two more programs to its wide-ranging free performance series. The first Poet-Linc saw teenagers from all five boroughs compete in a lively poetry slam. Their works were published in Lincoln Center’s first-ever poetry book, Poet-Linc. JustFilms at AtriumFlix, a monthly series of film screenings and interviews with

filmmakers like John Sayles and Mira Nair, was also launched in partnership with the Ford Foundation and presented in collaborationwith the Film Society of Lincoln Center. And weekly Target® Free Thursdays and monthly Meet the Artist Saturdays performances reached more than 22,000 people.

More free programming took place with Young Music Makers in the spring, when school ensembles from across the nation performed on our plazas, and continued with world-class Lincoln Center Out of Doors performances in July and August for hundreds of thousands of people. The Atrium’s Zucker Box Office continues to make the best of the performing arts available at discounted prices.

An exciting Lincoln Center Digital initiative took a giant step on the path to making Lincoln Center a digital destination for performing arts content. In July 2013, a video portal viewable at LincolnCenter.org/watch was launched, offering access to video interviews with and performances by renowned Lincoln Center artists. The video portal also features on-demand excerpts from our flagship Live From Lincoln Center television series and includes such live-stream events as the recent all-star Lincoln Center Out of Doors Red Hot + FELA LIVE! concert.

Lincoln Center’s Programs and Services for People with Disabilities (PSPD) remains dedicated to ensuring that the campus is accessible to guests with physical disability. In 2013, PSPD reached more than 6,000 disabled children and adults with live performances through the combined efforts of its Community Engagement and Family Passport Programs, in addition to providing nearly 120,000 Large Print and Braille programs for audiences.

Education, Community, and Free Programming

The world premiere of Mark Dendy’s Ritual Cyclical, a site-specific work for 80 dancers, took place on Hearst Plaza and the Paul Milstein Pool and Terrace during Lincoln Center Out of Doors.