American Classical Orchestra Performs Mozart's Requiem & World Premiere Of Crawford's Elegy At Alice Tully, October 28

The American Classical Orchestra (ACO), New York City's leading period instrument orchestra, performs Mozart's Requiem with the ACO Chorus, along with the world premiere of ACO Artistic Director and Founder Thomas Crawford's orchestral work, Elegy. Titled Remember, this second concert of ACO's 38th season takes place at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, October 28, at 8 PM. Originally slated for February 2021, the concert pays tribute to lives lost during the pandemic.

The soloists for the Requiem, considered to be Mozart's choral masterpiece, are Korean-Chinese soprano Yulan Piao, first prize-winner in the Vienna Summer Music Festival Competition; contralto Heather Petrie, founding member of the acclaimed Etherea Vocal Ensemble; tenor Lawrence Jones, praised by Opera News for his "clean, ringing tenor"; and baritone Joseph Charles Beutel, who originated the role of the British Major in the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Silent Night by Kevin Puts.

The Orchestra's following concert, Healing Bach, will offer three of the composer's best-loved cantatas performed at the beautiful Gothic-style church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan (March 2, 2023).

Friday, October 28, 2022, at 8 pm, Alice Tully Hall
Yulan Piao, soprano
Heather Petrie, contralto
Lawrence Jones, tenor
Joseph Charles Beutel, bass
ACO Chorus
Thomas Crawford: Elegy (World Premiere in honor of ACO violinist Judson Griffin)
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626

In 1791, Mozart began to compose his Requiem in response to an anonymous commission. But he died that year, at the age of 35, having completed only the opening "Requiem" and "Kyrie" movements, along with sketches and fragments for the rest of the Requiem. Over the centuries, many composers have written completions of the remaining movements for this work, often considered one of the greatest musical treasures of all time. The ACO will use the esteemed completion by Mozart scholar Robert D. Levin. The ACO's performance of Mozart's Requiem commemorates the lives lost during the pandemic. The world premiere of Thomas Crawford's Elegy was written in tribute to the memory of ACO's Principal Second Violinist Judson Griffin, who passed away in 2020. The work is comprised of slowly layered sonorities that morph from major to minor. The texture is complex, even dense at times, except for a central episode that lashes out in anger.

Tickets, priced at $35, $55, and $75, are available at aconyc.org; by calling ACO at 212.362.2727, ext. 4; and by visiting lincolncenter.org, the box office at Alice Tully Hall, or by calling CenterCharge at 212.721.6500. Ticket holders will need to comply with the venue's health and safety requirements, which can be found here.