Carlos Kalmar to fill in for ailing James Levine

Hot new item: Oregon Symphony's MD Carlos Kalmar will direct the Boston Symphony's concerts April 8-10. Kalmar will conduct the world premier of John Harbison's Double Concerto and Mahler's 7th Symphony. Here's an excerpt from the press release, which you can find here on the BSO web site:

Carlos Kalmar will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra and husband and wife soloists, Mira Wang, violin, and Jan Vogler, cello, in the world premiere of John Harbison’s Double Concerto for violin and cello, April 8-10 at Symphony Hall. The Double Concerto, the seventh piece the BSO has commissioned from Harbison, is the latest product of a longstanding relationship between the orchestra and the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer that dates back to the premiere of his First Symphony in 1984. The new Harbison work was commissioned by the Friends of Dresden Music Foundation for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Levine, Mira Wang, and Jan Vogler in honor of Ms. Wang’s most influential teacher, 99-year-old Roman Totenberg, who made his BSO debut as soloist in 1955 and continues teaching at Boston University today. Mira Wang, who lived with Mr. Totenberg and his wife during her student days in Boston, remains close to the Totenberg family, often joining them for visits and vacations with her own family.

Joining the Double Concerto on the program will be Mahler’s kaleidoscopic Symphony No. 7. Carlos Kalmar fills in for BSO Music Director James Levine who had to withdraw from his final three weeks of the 2009-10 season due to ongoing back problems.