Live performance is at the heart of Lincoln Center, and the 2012–13 season hummed with the excitement of superb programming on a resplendent, reimagined campus. A highlight of the Great Performers season was the New York premiere of John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by a fiery Gustavo Dudamel. Keyboard enthusiasts were treated to virtuoso recitals by Jean-Yves Thibaudet and András Schiff, and baritone Simon Keenlyside thrilled audiences in the title role of Berg’s opera Wozzeck. Broadway stars Kristin Chenoweth and legendary singer/ songwriter Valerie Simpson headlined a glowing American Songbook season in The Allen Room. This year, the program expanded to an adventurous new series of intimate concerts in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. The White Light Festival explored the human body as a vehicle for transcendence with dance premieres from London’s Akram Khan Company and Ireland’s Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre. The roster of global artistry included choirs from Latvia and Georgia as well as repertoire from Mahler to Arvo Pärt. Post- concert White Light Lounges, where concertgoers mingle and greet the artists, returned as part of the White Light experience. Summer at Lincoln Center began with the outdoor dance party Midsummer Night Swing marking its 25th anniversary of live music under the stars. For three weeks, top bands from New York and around the world called thousands of joyful feet to dance in Damrosch Park. Tango, salsa, and swing were all part of the revelry, featuring Wynton Marsalis, Arturo O’Farrill, and the wildly popular Silent Discos, where music can only be heard through the dancers’ headphones. The Mostly Mozart Festival’s Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée hosted a spectacular lineup of artists, from renowned pianist Emanuel Ax to violinist and rising star Isabelle Faust. Continuing the Festival’s broad exploration of its namesake genius, this year spotlighted Mozart’s influence on the music of Beethoven, surveyed contemporary composers with the International Contemporary Ensemble, and presented such quintessential Mozart evenings as an inventively staged concert version of Le nozze di Figaro with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under the baton and direction of Iván Fischer. Lincoln Center Festival’s extraordinary international lineup of multidisciplinary events unfolded in six venues both on and off campus, with 62 performances by artists and ensembles from 10 countries. In addition to director Chen Shi-Zheng’s fantastical production of a Chinese folktale, Monkey: Journey to the West , there were concerts by Sinead O’Connor, John Zorn and the Mongolian band Hanggai; the North American premiere of Complicite’s theater work Shun-Kin; and the American premiere of Stockhausen’s seminal Michaels Reise um die Erde. In July and August, Lincoln Center Out of Doors filled our plazas with more than 100 free performances of music, dance, theater, and commissioned works, including a world premiere from Mark Dendy Dance & Theater Projects, three New York debuts as part of Festival au Désert: Caravan for Peace , and a special week-long Kronos Quartet at 40 anniversary celebration. An expanded Live From Lincoln Center television series on PBS welcomed the incomparable five-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald as its new host, reaching millions of viewers with enhanced digital platforms. The New York Philharmonic Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel , earning Emmy® nominations, a star-studded New Year’s Eve tribute to Marvin Hamlisch, and legendary artists including Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Groban were among the outstanding offerings from our stages broadcast on Live From Lincoln Center . “A triumphant realization of a challenging work…For sheer productions values, Michaels Reise is arresting as anything you will see in an opera house.” —New York Times Trumpeter Marco Blaauw (Michael) and basset horn player Nicola Jürgenson (Eve) in the North American premiere of Stockhausen’s spectacular Michaels Reise um die Erde at Lincoln Center Festival. Performance Season