The Orchestra Now Continues 10th Season All-Ives Program For Composer's Sesquicentennial

The Orchestra Now (TŌN) performs Charles Ives' America, an all-Ives program celebrating the iconic American composer's 150th anniversary at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, November 21 at 7pm.

In addition to a pre-concert talk featuring noted cultural historian Joseph Horowitz, Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder, music director Leon Botstein, renowned baritone William Sharp, and pianist Donald Berman; Mr. Sharp and Mr. Berman will also perform some of the popular tunes Ives' employed before each work in which they are used in the evening's program.

This Carnegie Hall performance is the culminating concert in the Charles Ives at 150 festival, a sesquicentennial celebration hosted by Bard College and The Orchestra Now, offering performances, cross-disciplinary talks, and conversations that explore Charles Ives and his place in American history and culture. The festival runs from November 9 – 17 at Bard College.

TŌN will also give a free concert led by TŌN Resident conductor Zachary Schwartzman with a New York premiere by Herman Whitfield III and works by Debussy and Prokofiev at Symphony Space on October 27.

Charles Ives' America

Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 7 PM

Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

Pre-concert talk at 6 PM with Leon Botstein, J. Peter Burkholder, Joseph Horowitz, Donald Berman, and William Sharp

Leon Botstein, conductor

William Sharp, baritone

Donald Berman, piano

J. Peter Burkholder, host

All-Ives Program:

The Fourth of July from the Holidays Symphony

Central Park in the Dark

Orchestral Set No. 2

Symphony No. 2

Performances of songs quoted in Ives' music

Leon Botstein and TŌN celebrate the sesquicentennial of one of the most quintessential American composers, Charles Ives. With Grammy Award-winning baritone William Sharp, currently on the vocal faculty of the Peabody Conservatory; pianist Donald Berman, president of The Charles Ives Society; and preeminent Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder; this program explores the way the composer created unique works from familiar tunes. Before each piece, Sharp and the Orchestra will highlight these classic songs, including “Bringing in the Sheaves” and “Wake Nicodemus.” The concert is preceded by a 6 PM talk with Botstein, Sharp, Burkholder, Berman, and cultural historian Joseph Horowitz, free for all ticket holders. This concert is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Tickets, priced at $25–$50, are available online at carnegiehall.org, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800, or the Carnegie Hall box office at 57th & Seventh Avenue.

The Ives concert is also presented at the Fisher Center at Bard on November 16-17, in a program hosted by preeminent Ives scholar J. Peter Burkholder. Click here for all the details and ancillary events at Bard College.

Charles Ives at 150 is one of four Ives sesquicentenary celebrations supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Music Unwound is a consortium of orchestras and educational institutions directed by Joseph Horowitz.

Debussy and Romeo & Juliet

Sunday, October 27, 2024, at 4 PM

Peter Norton Symphony Space

Zachary Schwartzman, conductor

Herman Whitfield III: Scherzo No. 1 (New York Premiere)

Claude Debussy: Nocturnes

Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suite

TŌN Resident Conductor Zachary Schwartzman returns with the Orchestra to Symphony Space as part of its 2024-25 Free Concerts Series. The program comprises Debussy's Nocturnes and selections from Prokofiev's three Romeo & Juliet suites, plus the New York premiere of Scherzo No. 1 of composer Herman Whitfield III, a Black man who died in April 2022 after he was restrained by the police when his parents called 911 because he was having a mental health crisis.

Tickets: This concert is FREE, no tickets necessary, advance RSVP is requested.