Contralto Avery Amereau Joins ACO In Brahms, Ries, And Schubert At Lincoln Center

On Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 8pm, American Classical Orchestra, "the nation's premier orchestra dedicated to period instrument performance" (Vulture), closes out its 2017-2018 season with the return of celebrated contralto Avery Amereau in a program of bright light and visible darkness at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. Amereau takes center stage with ACO Men's Chorus in a performance of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, paired with Schubert's iconic Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" and Gesang der Geister for male chorus and low strings. The program ends with a contrasting symphony by little-known composer Ferdinand Ries, a student of Beethoven in Bonn.

For this event, ACO is supporting the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) by offering a portion of concert ticket proceeds to benefit the organization. Of the collaboration, UNICEF Next Generation Steering Committee member Bryan Klipsch says, "UNICEF's mission is to help save and protect the world's most vulnerable children, and that's inclusive of bringing joy to their lives. Music brings joy to people and fills their hearts, and ACO does this in a magical way. We are touched by ACO's commitment to bringing joy to children and this opportunity for us to come together to bring joy to people's lives, even if for only one evening."

This season, American Classical Orchestra has instituted an innovative Concert Preview program that will bring listeners closer to the music. Before conducting the program, Maestro Crawford delivers an introduction, with the full orchestra on-stage performing excerpts from the evening's program. Crawford's engaging narratives, along with the live music, give audiences greater insights into what they're about to hear, resulting in a more enriched musical experience.
Tickets start at $35. To purchase, please call 212.721.6500 or visit www.lincolncenter.org. Visit www.aconyc.org for more information.

Avery Amereau has garnered much attention for the unique quality of her timbre and sensitive interpretation. The New York Times proclaims she is "a rarity in music."

Highlights of Amereau's 2017-18 season include company and role debuts as Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Ursule in Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict with the Seattle Opera, a debut with the Salzburger Festspiele, and a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Kate Pinkerton in Anthony Minghella's beloved production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. On the concert stage, Amereau debuts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Luke's, appears at the Santa Fe Pro Musica, and performs Handel's Messiah with the Phoenix Symphony, Nashville Symphony and University Musical Society of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Amereau made her Lincoln Center debut in 2016 with the American Classical Orchestra.

The 2016-17 season saw her professional operatic debut with the Metropolitan Opera, at the age of 25, as the Madrigal Singer in Puccini's Manon Lescaut. The New York Times praised her performance as "captivating... [Amereau] stood out for the unusually rich, saturated auburn timbre of her voice." Other recent highlights include the title role in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Olga in Eugene Onegin, the Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, and Narciso in Handel's Agrippina at The Juilliard School; Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the Spoleto Festival; Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Santa Cruz Symphony; the Duruflé Requiem with Voices of Ascension; an evening of Bach Cantatas with the Toledo Symphony; and Martin's Golgotha with the New Amsterdam Singers.

Amereau fosters a love for historical performance, having performed under the batons of renowned early music conductors Helmut Rilling, William Christie, and Maasaki Suzuki. She debuted at the Bachfest Leipzig and the Boston Early Music Festival in an all-Bach tour with Juilliard and the Royal Academy of Music under Maestro Suzuki. An avid recitalist, Amereau has performed recitals in New York, Florida, and Germany.

A native of Jupiter, Florida, Amereau received her Bachelor of Music degree at Mannes College, and her Master of Music and Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School studying under Edith Wiens, where she was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. She has studied at the Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Bavaria, Germany, and was chosen by the Shoshana Foundation as a 2017 Richard. F. Gold Career Grant recipient.

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 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.

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.

Photo Credit: Dario Acosta