The NY Phil Story: Made in New York

WQXR, The New York Philharmonic•www.wqxr.org

For more than 180 years, the New York Philharmonic has been making history here in the city we call home. The NY Phil Story: Made in New York is a podcast about the people, the music, and the city behind America’s oldest orchestra. Host Jamie Bernstein takes you backstage and into the archives to hear the untold stories of the Philharmonic–right from the very beginning. Each episode, we’ll go behind the scenes of an iconic performance, speak to current Philharmonic musicians about how they carry on the orchestra’s legacy, and hear the music that inspired it all.

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Episodes

Coming Home

After almost three years of pop-up outdoor performances and playing in venues around the city, the NY Phil came home to a newly renovated David Geffen Hall in October of 2022. Part of Lincoln Center, the hall originally opened in 1962 to acclaim and controversy on the former site of the San Juan Hill Neighborhood. In this first season back, the NY Phil and Lincoln Center paid tribute to a lost community with a new commission by Etienne Charles. Learn more about David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Cente...

May 03, 2023•54 min•Ep. 5

Beyond These Walls

The story is a classic in the gilded halls of symphonic music: someone falls ill and a young performer must step in at the last moment. For Leonard Bernstein, that happened live on the radio. During his career as the director of the New York Philharmonic, he advanced the orchestra’s legacy of providing first-rate music to New Yorkers, and eventually to the nation through the televised broadcasts of his Young People’s Concerts. The Phil continues that tradition today with their summer events play...

Apr 26, 2023•35 min•Ep. 4

From the New World

Do we know when we’re living through history? In 1893, New Yorkers gathered outside Carnegie Hall to hear the ground-breaking premiere of composer Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, better known as the “New World Symphony.” One of the most hotly anticipated premieres in musical history, it was delivered in the midst of a national debate over what a distinctly “American” classical music should sound like — and it was destined to become one of the most beloved works in Western classical repertoire. ...

Apr 19, 2023•41 min•Ep. 3

A Time to Mourn

April 29th, 1865: Fifteen days after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Philharmonic paid tribute to the late president with the Funeral March from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3. Beethoven intended this work to honor Napoleon — but ripped out the dedication page when Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France. Now, the symphony merely known as “Eroica” (or “heroic”) is fitting music to honor any national leader or heroic figure. Later, in the wake of an all-too-familiar tragedy, students at...

Apr 12, 2023•40 min•Ep. 2

The Founding

On December 7, 1842, a group of musicians gathered in the Apollo Rooms in Lower Manhattan and performed – for the first time – as the Philharmonic Society of New York. The first piece they played? Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In this episode, we try to listen to that most famous of famous symphonies as our 1842 audience would have: as if for the very first time. And, host Jamie Bernstein follows the twists and turns on the journey an early musician, Solidor Milon, took to get to that stage. Even ...

Apr 05, 2023•39 min•Ep. 1

Introducing “The NY Phil Story: Made in New York”

For more than 180 years, the New York Philharmonic has been making history in one of the world’s cultural capitals. The NY Phil Story: Made in New York is a podcast about the people, the music, and the city behind America’s oldest orchestra. Host Jamie Bernstein takes you backstage and into the archives to hear the untold stories of the Philharmonic — right from the very beginning. Each episode, we’ll go behind the scenes of an iconic performance, speak to current Philharmonic musicians about ho...

Mar 27, 2023•3 min