American Symphony Orchestra To Perform BERNSTEIN AND THE BOSTONIANS At Carnegie Hall, Today

American Symphony Orchestra will present Bernstein and The Bostonians, the second program in its four-concert Vanguard series at Carnegie Hall, on Friday, November 18 at 8 PM. Music Director Leon Botstein will lead the ASO in a performance that pays tribute to the Boston School, a group of composers who lived, studied, taught, and composed in and around the Boston area. American mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht, dubbed by Opera News magazine as "a mezzo of extraordinary range and color," will be joining for Richard Wernick's ...and a time for peace.

This circle of friends and colleagues-of whom Leonard Bernstein became the most prominent-were almost all associated with the early years of Brandeis University, and enjoyed ties to Aaron Copland, who was an advocate of the group. The evening of orchestral pieces will offer Leonard Bernstein's ever-popular Candide Overture; Boston native Irving Fine's First Symphony, which premiered at Tanglewood only weeks before his death in 1962; Harold Shapero's exuberant four-movement Symphony for Classical Orchestra, premiered by Bernstein with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1948; Arthur Berger's Ideas of Order, a polyphonic piece for wind instruments commissioned by Dimitri Mitropoulos for the New York Philharmonic; and a work by another Boston native, Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Wernick, whose ...and a time for peace is partially based on the Hebrewbiblical Book of Ecclesiastes. The output of these composers had an influence that extended far beyond New England and made a powerful impact on 20th-century American music.

Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the music in a lively 30-minute Conductor's Notes Q&A at 7 PM in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Free for all ticket holders.

ASO: Bernstein and The Bostonians

Fri, Nov 18, 2016 8 PM, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage

Conductor's Notes Q&A at 7 PM

American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, conductor

Mezzo-soprano, Katherine Pracht

Leonard Bernstein: Candide Overture

Arthur Berger: Ideas of Order

Harold Shapero: Symphony for Classical Orchestra

Richard Wernick:...and a time for peace

Irving Fine: Symphony

Subscriptions and Tickets: Subscriptions (starting at $75) can be purchased at americansymphony.org and by phone at 212-868-9276. Single tickets, priced at $29, $39, $54, are available at CarnegieHall.org, at the Carnegie box office, or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. The Conductor's Notes Q&A at 7pm in Stern Auditorium is free with a concert ticket.

American Symphony Orchestra

Now in its 55th season, the American Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski with a mission of making orchestral music accessible and affordable for everyone. Music Director Leon Botstein expanded that mission when he joined the ASO in 1992, creating thematic concerts that explore music from the perspective of the visual arts, literature, religion, and history, and reviving rarely-performed works audiences would otherwise seldom hear performed live.

The Orchestra has made several tours of Asia and Europe, and performed in countless benefits for organizations including the Jerusalem Foundation and PBS. Many of the world's most accomplished soloists have performed with the ASO, including Yo-Yo Ma, Deborah Voigt, and Sarah Chang. The Orchestra has released several recordings on the Telarc, New World, Bridge, Koch, and Vanguard labels, and numerous live performances are also available for digital download. In many cases, these are the only recordings of some of the rare works that have been rediscovered in ASO performances.

The ASO's recent online-only issue of Weber's Euryanthe, recorded at the 2014 Bard Music Festival, was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal as "Musically rich, lyrical and expansive."

Leon Botstein

Conductor and educator Leon Botstein has been music director of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992, co-artistic director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival since 1990, and president of Bard College since 1975. He is also music director of The Orchestra Now (T?N), a pre-professional orchestra and master's degree program founded by Bard College, and will assume the artistic directorship of Grafenegg, Austria in 2018. He was the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2011, and is now conductor laureate. Mr. Botstein also has an active career as a guest conductor with orchestras around the globe, and has made numerous recordings, as well as being a prolific author and music historian. He is the recipient of numerous honors for his contributions to the music industry.

For more information, please visit www.americansymphonyorchestra.org