American Classical Orchestra Presents REVISIT: THE CHACONNE PROJECT At Harlem Parish

The American Classical Orchestra returns to the historic Harlem Parish, the stunning location of its highly-praised 2020 digital production of The Chaconne Project, for an intimate, creatively staged live performance of the program.

The Thursday, February 3 concert, led by ACO Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford, features renowned Mexican mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Peraza in a lively program of Baroque repertoire featuring the chaconne, a musical genre that began as bawdy 16th-century dances in Spanish culture.

After Revisit, the Orchestra's next concert is Remember, on February 26, featuring Mozart's Requiem in D minor, coupled with the world premiere of Thomas Crawford's Elegy for Strings. This concert marks the return to the stage of the acclaimed ACO Chorus.

The title of this salon concert-Revisit­-refers to the ACO's much-praised fall 2020 digital release of The Chaconne Project, filmed at one of the City's prime examples of Neo-Gothic architecture, the Harlem Parish. With Revisit, the original cast of musicians reassembles in the same gorgeous setting and performs the program live.

This vibrant concert offers ten examples of the chaconne-a musical genre characterized by its repeating bass line-and sheds light on its evolution as it passed from street to salon to concert hall. Thomas Crawford leads the chamber ensemble comprised of strings and plucked instruments, with voice and percussion. It showcases Mexican mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Peraza, who appeared as featured soloist with the New York Virtuoso Singers and at the majestic Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in Mexico City.

Tickets, priced at $35 and $55, are available at aconyc.org or by calling ACO at 212.362.2727, ext. 4. Ticket holders will need to follow the venue's guidelines and show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 in order to enter the building. About Thomas Crawford The American Classical Orchestra's Artistic Director and Founder Thomas Crawford is a champion of historically accurate performance styles in Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic music. He founded two Connecticut orchestras: the Fairfield Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy, the period instrument offshoot of the Fairfield Orchestra, renamed the American Classical Orchestra in 1999. With the Fairfield Orchestra, Crawford commissioned numerous works by composers, including John Corigliano and William Thomas McKinley, and collaborated with artists such as Joshua Bell, John Corigliano, Vladimir Feltsman, Richard Goode, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, André Watts, and Dawn Upshaw. He also conducted the world premiere of Keith Jarrett's Bridge of Light at Alice Tully Hall, subsequently recorded on the ECM label. An accomplished composer, organist, and choirmaster, Crawford won the prestigious BMI composition award for his organ work Ashes of Rose, premiered at the American Guild of Organists. A passionate activist determined to bring the beauty of period music to a wider audience, Mr. Crawford's educational activities with the Orchestra received a Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth award from the National Endowment for the Arts, recognizing the ACO's dynamic music outreach to New York City schoolchildren. A Pennsylvania native, he holds degrees in organ performance and composition from the Eastman School of Music and Columbia University.

For more information, visit aconyc.org.