NPR's Year 2000 Symphonic Celebration

NPR is ringing out the century in grand style with a series of live broadcasts on New Year's Eve, Friday, December 31, 1999. We're calling it NPR's "Century to Century" and it will feature live gala performances by some of the nation's greatest orchestras. NPR's Year 2000 Symphonic Celebration will feature live broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. Each of these orchestras has programmed a unique New Year's Eve program for 1999, and we have timed them to follow each other on the air, one after the other, in unprecedented style. "Century to Century: NPR's Year 2000 Symphonic Celebration" will be on the air, live, from 7 pm ET on December 31st until 6 am ET on January 1st, 2000.

Live coverage will be hosted from "Symphony Central" in Washington, DC, with Martin Goldsmith (NPR Senior Commentator) and Suzanne Bona (host of NPR's Sunday Baroque). Throughout the evening they will provide New Year's Eve information from around the country and world, special music performances and previews of upcoming segments.

NOTE: Listeners are encouraged to check with local NPR member stations to find exact program schedules and availability in their area.

Symphonic Celebration Schedule

7:00 PM ET, New Year's Eve

NPR's "Symphony Central" commences the festivities, as hosts Martin Goldsmith and Suzanne Bona billboard the evenings great events.

7:30 PM ET (Live with the New York Philharmonic)

The evening will begin in New York, with a performance by the New York Philharmonic. Music Director Kurt Masur conducts the Philharmonic and special guest violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in a program that will include the Violin Concerto in E by Bach, followed by Beethoven's 9th Symphony (beginning at 8:00 PM ET). New York's host will be John Schaefer, of NPR member station WNYC in New York, one of the most familiar voices to public-radio listeners in the city.

9:00 PM ET (The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)

After the conclusion of Beethoven's Ninth in New York, we will join a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Robert Spano will lead a mostly American program - we know so far of the Bernstein: Candide Overture and the Candide Suite, plus Gershwin's "American in Paris."

10:30 PM ET (on to Philadelphia)

From Atlanta we join the Philadelphia Orchestra and Academy of Music. After a greeting from the mayor, the orchestra, under the baton of André Raphel Smith, will present an All-American program of works from Duke Ellington, Leroy Anderson, and Aaron Copland. Then, legendary Broadway star Barbara Cook takes to the stage for a medley culminating in a champagne toast and a roaring sing-along rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight.

12:00 MIDNIGHT ET (out to San Francisco)

We leave Philadelphia's grand party for conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony with guest artists Audra MacDonald, soprano, Frederica Von Stade, mezzo-soprano, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

2:00 - 4:00 AM ET

We rebroadcast the full Atlanta Symphony presentation from 2:00 to 4:00.

4:00 - 6:00 AM ET

San Francisco Symphony performance rebroadcasts from 4:00 to 6:00.

Have you checked out our Jazz Party?--another marathon of midnights with live music.