For music lovers based in and around New York City, the next few weeks offer a bonanza of Hampson events including a lecture this evening at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, a recital at Alice Tully Hall on April 11, and two CONTACT! concerts with the New York Philharmonic on April 16 and 17, all part of Hampson’s year-long residency with the orchestra. And for listeners across the world, newly-released recordings from the New York Philharmonic offer the opportunity to hear Hampson with the Philharmonic  and its music director, Alan Gilbert, in two diverse programs, available for download at iTunes and and at other on-line retailers.

The first program, recorded live – and broadcast nationally on public television – on December 31, 2009, features Hampson in a New Year’s Eve Gala concert singing selections from both Copland’s Old American Songs and Cole Porter’s musicals.  The other features Hampson singing John Adams’s heart-wrenching, Whitman-inspired The Wound-Dresser, which Hampson performed both in New York and on tour with the orchestra in Europe earlier this year.  Additional information about these downloads is available at the New York Philharmonic website.