American Classical Orchestra Announces 2018-2019 Season

American Classical Orchestra (ACO) today announces its programming for the 2018-19 season, the orchestra's 34th year of presenting historically accurate, engaging, and educational concerts led by Artistic Director and Founder Thomas Crawford. ACO performs four concerts presented in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and two salon concerts in a private venue. ACO is joined this season by an illustrious group of acclaimed period-performance soloists including violinists Krista Bennion Feeney and Aisslinn Nosky, pianist Christian De Luca, and flutist Sandra Miller.

American Classical Orchestra continues its innovative Concert Preview that brings listeners closer to the music. Before conducting the programmed works, Maestro Crawford delivers an introduction, using the full orchestra on-stage to illustrate and perform 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.

ACO kicks off its 2018-19 season on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 8:00pm in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center with Mozart Serenade, featuring festive music by Mozart. ACO is joined by violinist Krista Bennion Feeney in Mozart's Haffner Serenade, an hour-long work performed interspersed throughout the evening, as it would have been done in the 1700s. Pianist Christian De Luca, a virtuosic Juilliard historical performance masters student, makes his Lincoln Center debut on fortepiano in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major.

On Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 8:00pm, ACO presents Imperial Haydn in Alice Tully Hall, featuring the orchestra's first performances of both Haydn's Symphony No. 53 "L'Impériale" and his Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat Major with soloists Aisslinn Nosky (violin), Marc Schachman (oboe), Andrew Schwartz (bassoon), and Myron Lutzke (cello). The concert also includes a rare performance of Beethoven contemporary Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda's Symphony No. 5 in B minor.

ACO's season continues on Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 8:00pm with Joyous Bach, a celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach, at Alice Tully Hall. Flutist Sandra Miller joins the orchestra for Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 2, BWV 1067 for Flute and Strings, followed by Bach's Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 and Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 with the acclaimed ACO Chorus.

ACO closes its season at Lincoln Center on Friday, May 17, 2019 at 8:00pm with a performance of Beethoven's monumental Symphony No. 3, "Eroica," preceded by his Coriolan Overture, Op. 62.

In addition to its Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center concerts this season, ACO also presents two salon concerts in a private venue: Bass on Thursday, January 24, 2019 featuring revelatory use of the bass in classical music by bassist John Feeney and A Ladies' Journey 1876 on Thursday, June 6, 2019 featuring Alex Cook (horn), Christina Kay (soprano), and Gwendolyn Toth (fortepiano).

Artistic Director Tom Crawford says, "The 34th season offers New York audiences the opportunity to hear many works for the first time on period instruments. The first-ever ACO performances of the Mozart Haffner Serenade and famous 21st Piano Concerto, Haydn's zippy Sinfonia Concertante, and spiritually profound Bach works promise engaging concerts."

Program Information
Mozart Serenade
Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at 8:00pm
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, New York, NY
Tickets: Single tickets start at $35 and are on sale beginning August 1, 2018 at www.lincolncenter.org. To purchase an ACO subscription, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727.

Mozart: Haffner Serenade
Krista Bennion Feeney, violin
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major
Christian De Luca, fortepiano

Imperial Haydn
Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 8:00pm
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, New York, NY
Tickets: Single tickets start at $35 and are on sale beginning August 1, 2018 at www.lincolncenter.org. To purchase an ACO subscription, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727.

Haydn: Symphony No. 53 "L'Impériale"
Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat Major
Aisslinn Nosky, violin; Marc Schachman, oboe; Andrew Schwartz, bassoon; Myron Lutzke, cello
Kalliwoda: Symphony No. 5 in B minor

Bass
Thursday, January 24, 2019 at 8:00pm, with a 7:00pm Reception
Private Venue
Tickets: General Admission: $100. For tickets and information, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727

A chamber program highlighting the revelatory use of the bass in classical music
John Feeney, bass

Joyous Bach
Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 8:00pm
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, New York, NY
Tickets: Single tickets start at $35 and are on sale beginning August 1, 2018 at www.lincolncenter.org. To purchase an ACO subscription, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727.

Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067
Sandra Miller, flute
Bach: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147
Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106
ACO Chorus

Eroica
Friday, May 17, 2019 at 8:00pm
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center | 1941 Broadway, New York, NY
Tickets: Single tickets start at $35 and are on sale beginning August 1, 2018 at www.lincolncenter.org. To purchase an ACO subscription, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727.

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"

A Ladies' Journey 1876
Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 8:00pm, with a 7:00pm Reception
Private Venue
Tickets: General Admission: $100. For tickets and information, please call the ACO office at 212.362.2727.

Offenbach: La Voyage dans La Lune
Kely: Home on the Range
Foster: Beautiful Dreamer
Alex Cook, horn; Christina Kay, soprano; Gwendolyn Toth, fortepiano

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.

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