American Classical Orchestra Announces 2021-22 Season of Live Performances

The American Classical Orchestra has announced its 2021-22 season of all-live performances, beginning with a full orchestra Reunion program of Baroque music in Damrosch Park on September 22. Season highlights include an all-Mozart program in Alice Tully Hall (December 14); a program of Baroque repertoire featuring selections from the ensemble's highly-acclaimed 2020 film The Chaconne Project in the historic setting of Harlem Parish (February 3); Remember, a concert in tribute to those lost during the pandemic, featuring Mozart's Requiem and the world premiere of ACO Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford's Elegy (February 26, Alice Tully Hall); and Renew, a concert marking the Orchestra's debut performance of Bach's Easter Oratorio (April 5, Alice Tully Hall).

Also of note, the season includes a new collaboration with leading public media producer The WNET Group's Kids' Media and Education Department featuring a digital performance of Prokofiev's much-loved symphonic children's tale, Peter and the Wolf. The film features the work in an original arrangement for chamber ensemble by Thomas Crawford, made for ACO's award-winning Classical Music for Kids (CMK) program. Through PBS LearningMedia, the Orchestra's digital project will be available to the platform's nearly 1.8 million users as a free, high-quality digital learning resource accessible by schools, teachers, parents, and students in every state, starting this fall.

Thomas Crawford said, "Recently, the ACO musicians rehearsed and recorded a chamber concert after fifteen months apart. The playing was better than ever. Our reuniting onstage should reveal artists who have further honed their craft and intensified their passion for music. We chose timeless masterpieces as a way to celebrate our return to live performance through much-loved works that continue to comfort even after difficult times, to showcase our talented members and soloists, and also to underscore the soothing balm that great music provides to musicians and audiences alike."

Subscriptions and tickets

American Classical Orchestra subscription packages for the 2021-22 season are on sale now. Details are available at aconyc.org or by calling ACO at 212.362.2727, ext. 4. Tickets for individual performances go on sale to the general public later this summer or early fall. Visit aconyc.org for tickets to the February 3, 2022 concert at Harlem Parish, and visit lincolncenter.org or call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500 for programs at Lincoln Center.

Public Health and Safety

American Classical Orchestra is taking all precautions to safeguard the health and safety of its musicians and audiences. The Orchestra abides by or exceeds local and state requirements for rehearsals and performances and complies with all distancing protocols, government guidelines, and requirements for public health and safety.

AMERICAN CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA 2021-2022 SEASON

Wednesday, September 22 at 7 pm, Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center

Reunion
Rachell Ellen Wong, violin
Part of the Restart Stages at Lincoln Center
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, "L'Estate" (Summer from The Four Seasons)
Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks and excerpts from Water Music

The opening season event marks the joyous Reunion of the ACO's musicians, audience, and patrons with the Orchestra's first major concert in seventeen months. The program presents a selection of popular Baroque music at the newly renovated bandshell of Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, featuring 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant-winner, violinist Rachell Ellen Wong. The performance takes place on the September equinox, when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal.

Tickets are free, but required. Ticketing and access information will soon be available online at aconyc.org and at Restart Stages at Lincoln Center.

Tuesday, December 14 at 8 pm, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Restore
Parker Ramsay, harp
Emi Ferguson, flute
Aisslinn Nosky, violin
Maureen Murchie, viola
All-Mozart Program:
Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201
Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C Major, K. 299
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E-flat Major, K. 364 (320d)

The Orchestra celebrates its return to indoor concerts with an all-Mozart program in the superior acoustics of Alice Tully Hall, an ideal venue to showcase the composer's substantial masterpiece, the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, notable in that Mozart specified that the solo viola be tuned a half-tone higher to evoke a brighter sound. The performance features accomplished soloists Aisslinn Nosky and Maureen Murchie. The program also includes the Flute and Harp Concerto, K. 299 with the "relentlessly beautiful" music (WQXR) of harpist Parker Ramsay and the Handel and Haydn Society's principal flutist Emi Ferguson, in addition to Mozart's popular Symphony No. 29.

Thursday, February 3 at 7 pm, Harlem Parish, 258 W 118th St.

Revisit
Karen Dekker and Chloe Fedor, Baroque violin
Maureen Murchie, viola
Arnie Tanimoto, viola da gamba and cello
Charles Weaver, theorbo and Baroque guitar
Guadalupe Peraza, mezzo soprano
Thomas Crawford, harpsichord
Juan Arañés: Chacona a la vida bona
Nicola Francesco Haym: Ciaccona in E Major
Barbara Strozzi: L'Eraclito amoroso
Marin Marais: Chaconne in A Major, from Pièces de Viole, Book 4
Santiago de Murcia: Marionas
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata, Op. 2, No. 12
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita for Solo Violin, BWV 1004
François Couperin: La Favorite
Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento della Ninfa
Henry Purcell: Chaconne from King Arthur

The title of this salon concert-Revisit­-refers to the ACO's highly-praised video launched in fall 2020, The Chaconne Project, which was filmed and recorded in Harlem. Thomas Crawford returns to the Parish for a live performance with the original film cast in a lively program of Baroque repertoire focusing on the chaconne, a musical genre characterized by its repeating bass line. From bawdy Spanish 16th-century dances to Bach's masterful Chaconne for Solo Violin, this vibrant concert in the stunning setting of New York City's Neo-Gothic Harlem Parish showcases ten examples of the chaconne and includes strings, plucked instruments, and harpsichord with voice and percussion. Acclaimed Mexican mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Peraza is featured.

Saturday, February 26 at 8 pm, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Remember
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Crawford: Elegy for Strings (World Premiere) In Memoriam Judson Griffin

Mozart's Requiem is the best known of all requiems, revered for its soaring 'Lacrimosa' chorus. The Orchestra's acclaimed Chorus returns to the stage-post Covid restrictions and guidelines-for the first time in two years as we Remember the many souls lost during the pandemic. The ACO's Principal Second Violinist Judson Griffin (1951-2020) was also lost during that time (but not to Covid), and Thomas Crawford's Elegy for Strings was written to honor him.

Tuesday, April 5 at 8 pm, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Renew
All J.S. Bach Program
Easter Oratorio, BWV 249
Mass in G Minor, BWV 235
Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069

Easter renewal drives the joyous occasion of ACO's first-ever performance of J.S. Bach's Easter Oratorio and its rise from the ashes of dark stages. Written when Bach was at the height of his musical powers, the work includes such biblical roles as John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene, performed by solo singers without the extensive narration found in other large-scale Bach works. Also on the program are the Overture to Bach's jubilant Orchestral Suite No. 4 and an outstanding example of the composer's unparalleled counterpoint technique, his Mass in G Minor.

Digital Production of Peter and the Wolf on PBS LearningMedia (Planned for Fall 2021)
Thomas Crawford, narrator
Chloe Fedor, violin
Kathleen Nester, flute
Sarah Davol, oboe
Mitch Kriegler, clarinet
Stephanie Corwin, bassoon
R.J. Kelley, horn
Dan Haskins, percussion
Tony Falanga, bass
Bill Bowers and Catherine Gasta, mimes
Nick Morgulis, Director and Producer
Scott Illingworth, choreography
Andrew Halley, animation
Jeremy Teran, director of photography
Chris Sulit, audio

The ACO and its award-winning Classical Music for Kids (CMK) program is producing a filmed performance of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, in an original arrangement by founder Thomas Crawford, to mark a newly launched collaboration with The WNET Group's Kids' Media and Education Department. The WNET Group plans to premiere classroom resources from CMK on PBS LearningMedia, a free online site that reaches nearly 1.8 million users nationwide with tens of thousands of high-quality, research-based, and standards-aligned resources drawn from critically acclaimed PBS programs such as Great Performances and American Masters, and from expert content contributors like The National Archives and Library of Congress. The Orchestra's production of Peter and the Wolf is performed by an ACO chamber ensemble with two professional mimes-the acclaimed Bill Bowers and Catherine Gasta-enacting the story. Attached to the video, but presented separately, are interviews with Thomas Crawford, the musicians, and the two mimes, giving students an opportunity to hear the performers talk about their careers, their inspirations, and their choice of instrument.