Kimmel's next season: More than 200 events

Suddenly significant Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel makes his first appearance in Philadelphia, the Vienna Philharmonic returns, Daniel Barenboim plays an all-Liszt recital, Cassandra Wilson performs her own tunes, and La La La Human Steps dances its

Swan Lake

- and

Sleeping Beauty

-inspired

Amjad

during the Kimmel Center's 2008-09 season.

Kimmel programming czar Mervon Mehta says the Kimmel Center's own presentations - distinct from those of the Philadelphia Orchestra and seven other resident companies - will remain steady at more than 200 events in the Kimmel's eighth season. (For details on the jazz and pop side of things, see E5.)

"We've been massaging the number of concerts and the variety of concerts and trying to be as diverse as we can be," Mehta said. "So far we've booked 58 concerts, plus another seven to 10 education concerts, then an additional 50 or 60 free-in-the-lobby concerts.

"On the Broadway side, there are just over 100. That's 210 or 220 presentations - by far more concerts being presented by the building than any one of the resident companies."

Broadway shows - critical to the Kimmel's ability to balance its budget - are to include Legally Blonde: The Musical; Happy Days - A New Musical; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Spring Awakening, and (in a collaboration with the owners of the Forrest Theatre) A Chorus Line.

More bookings are likely. Pop concerts, typically signed with less notice, have not been announced.

And if the Kimmel strikes a deal with the University of the Arts to manage the Merriam Theater, more events could show up on the schedule.

"I would suspect we will have a contract if everything goes as planned in the next month or so," said Kimmel president and chief executive officer Anne Ewers. "We're very hopeful. Of course it's not done until the ink is on the page."

The deal would give the Kimmel a medium-size theater (smaller than Verizon's 2,500 seats, and larger than the Perelman's 650), and would provide University of the Arts students with educational opportunities.

Another partnership is in the works. The marketing and public relations departments of the Kimmel and the Philadelphia Orchestra are in the process of merging, the latest in a series of consolidations of operations for the two organizations.

If this season's visiting-orchestra series was slightly less lustrous than in previous seasons, 2008-09 holds considerable news value. Four orchestras are slated to visit, starting with the New York Philharmonic under Lorin Maazel in his final season as music director.

Dudamel, who takes over the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009-10, brings the Israel Philharmonic in a program that includes Brahms' Symphony No. 4. Franz Welser-Möst leads the Cleveland Orchestra in Mozart and Shostakovich. The Vienna Philharmonic with conductor Zubin Mehta perform Schubert's Symphony No. 9 and, with Lang Lang, Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2.

The Kimmel continues to present instrumentalists in recital - pianist Daniel Barenboim, violinists Hilary Hahn and Itzhak Perlman, among them - but will not offer a vocal recital next season.

"It's depressing," said Mervon Mehta. "It's so difficult to put a vocalist in Verizon Hall that has enough of a chance of selling enough seats to make it work. It's not just a financial question. If the hall is half full it makes for a tough afternoon for everyone. If you don't have a Renée [Fleming] or Kiri [Te Kanawa] or some other big name, it's difficult."

Some of the other obvious big names aren't doing recitals, he said. "Anna Netrebko isn't doing any recitals outside of New York next year. We'll hang on for the season after that."

The Merriam, with 1,800 seats, might offer a solution. "But it remains to be seen whether the hall can do a vocal recital," said Mehta. "There's no [acoustical] shell. Do we bring in a shell and hope for the best?"

The Fresh Ink series continues, with Imani Winds performing a new Jason Moran work co-commissioned by the Kimmel, and Alarm Will Sound in its Philadelphia debut.