Late Night with Alan Gilbert and Kirill Gerstein

Alan Gilbert is not only a conductor, but also a trained violinist. The New York native, chief conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and music director of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, enjoys an outstanding reputation on the international music scene as a passionate interpreter of a wide repertoire ranging from the Baroque period to the present. From 2009 to 2017 he served as music director of the New York Philharmonic, where his parents were members of the violin section. Gilbert studied violin and composition at Harvard, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School in New York. Before focussing on a career as a conductor, he was a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

Kirill Gerstein grew up in two musical worlds: classical and jazz, but in the end he finally chose classical music. The Russian-born musician studied in New York, Madrid and Budapest. Hie international career was launched in 2000 with a concert debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. In 2001, he won the Arthur Rubinstein International Competition in Tel Aviv. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras throughout the world, including the Berliner Philharmoniker. Chamber music and jazz are also very important to him: “In jazz I learned that music is more than the printed dots on the page. To some extent, my experience with improvisation and timing in jazz influences the way I play classical music.”