"One of the situations that we've had to contend with was the restructuring ... with a more revenue-based model," said Matt Wolf, vice president of programming. "We're aggressively in the process of finding funding for that kind of programming ... but it will take time to figure out how to make that work in the current environment. We're a seven-union building, so anything you do costs a significant amount of money."
New and new-ish works will be large scale and presented in collaborative circumstances. A world premiere by Hannibal Lokumbe titled Can You Hear God Crying? brings together the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church Mass Choir and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia on Dec. 13. Curtis Opera Theatre, Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Kimmel Center join forces for Hans Werner Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers March 14-18, 2012.
Yet to be announced are community-oriented events, some inspired by the success of the recent Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts. "We are reaching out to our local communities with more education programs and more Free at the Kimmel offerings," said Kimmel president and CEO Anne Ewers.
New wrinkles in classical presentations include what might be called value-added programming. Violinist Joshua Bell, who would normally have a solo recital, leads the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields April 16, 2012, in a Mozart/Beethoven program.
The New York Philharmonic, a frequent guest, arrives Feb. 24, 2012, with star mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato singing Berlioz's Les nuits d'ete. The Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, a British ensemble formed by conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner to perform romantic-era works with period instruments, plays an all-Beethoven program Nov. 15 and will be the largest group of its kind to play here.
