ACO presents Premiere of Mozart's Mass in C Minor

The American Classical Orchestra, "the nation's premier orchestra dedicated to period instrument performance (Vulture)," presents its first performance of Mozart's choral masterpiece, Mass in C Minor (Robert Levin edition), on Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, joined by sopranos Hélène Brunet and Clara Rottsolk, tenor Brian Giebler, bass Stephen Eddy, and the ACO Chorus, led by Music Director and ACO founder Thomas Crawford. The program also includes Cherubini's rarely performed Démophoon Overture, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 8.

Considered his finest choral work, Mozart's Mass in C Minor was left unfinished like his Requiem. American pianist-scholar Robert Levin, who also completed an edition of Mozart's Requiem that Gramophone Magazine describes as "arguably the most convincing realisation," was commissioned by Carnegie Hall to complete the Mass, which premiered there in 2006, followed by a worldwide tour. This is the first New York performance using period instruments, such as Mozart heard in his time.

New this season are concert previews with the full orchestra, led by Maestro Crawford, beginning a half hour prior to each concert. Audience members are invited to listen to musical excerpts from the concert and hear insights about the program. Concert previews are free to all ticket-holders.

Additional concerts in the ACO's 2017-18 season include a performance of CPE Bach's Magnificat and the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah on December 4 with the ACO Chorus and soloists at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church; five Baroque concertos with violinist Stephanie Chase at Alice Tully Hall on February 8; and a program of works by Brahms, Schubert, and Ries with contralto Avery Amereau and the ACO Men's Chorus on March 24.

Program Information
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Concert Preview)
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, New York, NY
American Classical Orchestra
Hélène Brunet, soprano
Clara Rottsolk, soprano
Brian Giebler, tenor
Stephen Eddy, bass
ACO Chorus

CHERUBINI - Démophoon Overture
BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 8
MOZART - Mass in C Minor "Great"

Ticket Information
Tickets for the November 7th concert can be purchased at www.lincolncenter.org, by calling Center Charge (212-721-6500) or by visiting the Alice Tully Hall Box Office. $15 student tickets are available at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office with valid student ID. Please visit www.aconyc.org for more information.

About Hélène Brunet
Canadian soprano Hélène Brunet is recognized for her interpretations of the works of Bach, Handel and Mozart, and her repertoire extends from Baroque to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. In recent seasons, Brunet has performed with reputed orchestras, including the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, American Bach Soloists in San Francisco, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and I Musici de Montréal, Arion Baroque Orchestra, as well as Ensemble Caprice, Ensemble Les Boréades, and l'Harmonie des Saisons.

Her distinctions include a Juno Award for the Classical Vocal Album of the Year (2016) with the album Las Ciudades de Oro where she is featured with ensemble l'Harmonie des Saisons (ATMA Classique), and an Opus Prize awarded by the Conseil Québécois de la Musique for the Concert of The Year in the baroque repertoire with ensemble Caprice, where she sang the role of Abra in Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans (2014). Last season, Brunet was a prize winner at the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition at Carnegie Hall as well as a finalist at the Stella Maris International Vocal Competition. Hélène recently sang the role of Hymen in Lully's Persée in Toronto and on tour at the Royal Opera House of the Château de Versailles with the famed Opera Atelier. In Tel Aviv, Israel, she sang the role of Laurette in Bizet's Le Docteur Miracle, and in Montreal, she sang the role of Galatea in Handel's Acis And Galatea.

About Clara Rottsolk
Soprano Clara Rottsolk has been lauded for repertoire extending from the Renaissance to the contemporary, and her solo appearances with orchestras and chamber ensembles have taken her across the United States, the Middle East, Japan and South America. She specializes in historically informed performance practice, singing with ensembles including American Bach Soloists, Tempesta di Mare, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Les Délices, Pacific MusicWorks, St. Thomas Church 5th Avenue, Virginia Symphony, Atlanta Baroque, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Piffaro-The Renaissance Wind Band, Colorado Bach Ensemble, Trinity Wall Street Choir, Seraphic Fire, New Mexico Symphonic Chorus, ARTEK, and the Masterwork Chorus. Rottsolk has performed at the Carmel Bach Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Berkeley Early Music Festival, Philadelphia Bach Festival, Whidbey Island Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, and the Festival de Música Barroca de Barichara (Colombia). Her recordings are Myths and Allegories, French Baroque cantatas with Les Délices, and Scarlatti Cantatas with Tempesta di Mare on the Chandos-Chaconne label. A native of Seattle, Ms. Rottsolk earned her music degrees at Rice University and Westminster Choir College, and was awarded for musical excellence by the Metropolitan Opera National Council (Northwest Region).

About Brian Giebler
Tenor Brian Giebler's engagements have spanned from the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the GRAMMY-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street under Julian Wachner to Stravinsky with The Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst, and he has been a soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra (Severance Hall), Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival (2017 Vocal Fellow), New York City Chamber Orchestra (Carnegie Hall), Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, Seraphic Fire, GRAMMY Award winning Conspirare, Handel & Haydn Society, TENET, New York Baroque Incorporated, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and the Saginaw Bay Orchestra. Recent engagements have included Bach's B Minor Mass with Trinity Wall Street, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with Green Mountain Project, Bach's Magnificat with Seraphic Fire, and the Carmel Bach Festival, where he was a Virginia Best Adams Fellow. Giebler was a finalist in the Tafelmusik International Vocal Competition, the Handel Aria Competition, a semi-finalist in the American Traditions Competition, and received Honorable Mention at the Biennial Bach Vocal Competition sponsored by the American Bach Society and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

About Stephen Eddy
Bass-baritone Steven Eddy is a versatile young performer with a broad repertoire spanning opera, oratorio, and art song. An avid concert performer and Baroque music specialist, Eddy recently made his Carnegie Hall début in Mozart's Solemn Vespers, K. 339 with the Masterworks Festival Chorus under the baton of Jo-Michael Scheibe. He has appeared with Seraphic Fire, American Classical Orchestra, Choral Arts Philadelphia, American Symphony Orchestra, Handel Choir of Baltimore, New York Virtuoso Singers, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, The Choralis Foundation, Columbia Pro Cantare, Ensemble VIII, Saginaw Choral Society and Kalamazoo Bach Festival. ?Equally adept on the opera stage, Eddy has performed with such companies and festivals as Fort Worth Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Birmingham, LoftOpera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, Tanglewood Music Center, American Lyric Theater, Center for Contemporary Opera, Arbor Opera Theater, and the Seagle Music Colony. Eddy made his New York recital début in October 2015 as a winner of the 2015 Joy in Singing Debut Artist Award. Prior to this, he was a Vocal Arts Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center in 2012 and 2013. ?Winner of the 2015 Joy in Singing Debut Artist Award, Eddy also received prizes from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Oratorio Society of New York's Lyndon Woodside competition, the Howard County Arts Council Rising Star, and the University of Michigan Friends of Opera competitions. He was also the recipient of the Earl V. Moore Award in Music from the University of Michigan and has been a finalist in the Dallas Opera Guild and Connecticut Opera Guild competitions. Eddy completed his Specialist of Music in Voice degree at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, and he received his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

About Thomas Crawford
Artistic Director and Founder of the American Classical Orchestra, Thomas Crawford is a champion of historically accurate performance styles in Baroque, Classical and Early Romantic music. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with renowned soloists including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, André Watts, Dawn Upshaw, Richard Goode, and Vladimir Feltsman; and has produced recordings with great American pianists Malcolm Bilson and Keith Jarrett.

A passionate activist determined to bring the beauty of period music to a wider audience, Crawford has been recognized for the ACO's dynamic music outreach to New York City schoolchildren. He holds a Bachelor of Music in composition and organ performance from Eastman School of Music, where he studied choral and orchestral conducting under Samuel Adler. After graduation, he went on to train with Hugo Fiorato, conductor of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and to earn a Master of Arts in composition from Columbia University.

About the American Classical Orchestra
Described as "simply splendid" by The New York Times, the American Classical Orchestra (ACO) is a leader in the field of historically accurate performance. A period instrument ensemble devoted to preserving and performing the repertoire of 17th, 18th, and 19th century composers, ACO recreates the sound world of the masters using priceless historic instruments, as well as era-specific performance techniques. Comprised of the world's top period instrumentalists, the ACO provides audiences with the opportunity to experience classical music in the specific way it was intended to be heard.

Highlights of the ACO's history include a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with the Museum's exhibition Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825 - 1861, a debut concert on the Lincoln Center Great Performers Series, a sold-out 25th Anniversary performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and a staged performance of Handel's opera Alceste as part of the ACO's Handelfest 2014.

The ACO has numerous recordings, including the complete wind concerti by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart featuring ACO's principal players as soloists, Mozart's Symphony No. 14, K.144, and Mozart's three Piano Concerti, K.107, and can be heard with renowned artists such as pianist Malcolm Bilson and horn virtuoso R.J. Kelley. In 2010, the ACO released a recording of Baroque oboe concerti with oboist Marc Schachman on the Centaur label.

Founded by Artistic Director Thomas Crawford in 1984 as The Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy in Fairfield, Connecticut, the American Classical Orchestra moved to New York City in 2005, emerging as the City's premier period instrument ensemble.

The ACO is dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of classical music through educational programs, and spreading historically-informed performance practices to new generations. In order to provide audiences with first-hand insight into the music, Music Director Thomas Crawford gives informative concert previews with live musical examples from the orchestra prior to each concert. Through its immersive in-school program, Classical Music for Kids, the orchestra has inspired hundreds of thousands of young students and musicians. For this work, the ACO was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant and Early Music America prize. For more information, visit www.aconyc.org.