MAYOR GIULIANI NAMES NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC MAESTRO KURT MASUR AS "NEW YORK CITY CULTURAL AMBASSADOR"
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today named New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur "Cultural Ambassador for New York City" in a ceremony at City Hall. Next week Maestro Masur will lead the New York Philharmonic on a seven city, thirteen concert tour of Puerto Rico and Central and South America. The tour, which runs from June 3 to June 24, is sponsored by Citibank.
"New York City is fortunate to have such a great Philharmonic, which has flourished under the leadership of Maestro Masur," Mayor Giuliani said. "In honor of his incredible talent, I name Kurt Masur 'Cultural Ambassador for New York City.' As the Philharmonic embarks on its second tour of Latin America, I wish Maestro Masur and the Philharmonic great success. They will certainly touch the hearts of our neighbors in Latin America, uniting us with the common, beautiful language of music."
The tour opens with a concert at the forty-first annual Festival Casals de Puerto Rico at the Luis A. Ferre Performing Arts Center in San Juan on June 3 and 4 and marks the New York Philharmonic's first-ever trip to Puerto Rico. Other stops include Miami, Florida; Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Mexico City, Mexico. The soloist for the Latin American tour is New York Philharmonic Principal Cello Carter Brey.
Citibank is sponsoring the event in keeping with its philosophy that strong cultural institutions and flourishing artistic traditions go hand in hand with good business.
Before the ceremony, Maestro Masur joined Mayor Giuliani in greeting traditional Irish music's legendary Tulla Ceili Band from County Clare, Ireland. The band, which is on a 50th anniversary tour of the United States, performed a free lunch time concert in front of City Hall.
Joining the Mayor were Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Schuyler Chapin, New York Philharmonic Chairman Paul Guenther, New York Philharmonic Executive Director Deborah Borda, New York City Philharmonic General Manager Catherine Cahill, New York Philharmonic Director of Marketing Lois Cohen, Citibank Director of Corporate Communications Nathaniel Sutton and Citibank Vice President Geri Schachner.
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