The ASO 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 that audiences would otherwise never have a chance to hear performed live. The mission of the ASO is to renew live orchestral music as a vital force in contemporary American culture. To this end, the ASO presents thematic programming, in which musical works are curated around ideas drawn from a variety of disciplines such as history, visual arts, science, politics and literature. ASO pursues innovation in concert presentation and is devoted to the promotion of musical education.
For the United States of America’s 250th anniversary, the American Symphony Orchestra celebrates the forging of an American musical identity in the 19th century with a diverse program of seldom performed scores. The concert’s centerpiece is George Bristow’s massive “Niagara Symphony” in its first performance since the work’s world premiere. The program begins with two scores of joyful, exuberant celebration, each one rhythmically propulsive and highly entertaining: the Festival Overture on the American National Air by Dudley Buck and Richard Wagner’s American Centennial March, which he wrote for the opening of the Declaration of Independence’s centennial celebration in 1876 in Philadelphia. Featured on the program are three spirituals—“Go Down, Moses,” “Behold that Star,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”—arranged and orchestrated by innovative composer Harry Burleigh, America’s first prominent Black composer, whose momentous legacy is honored here for his important influence and major contributions to American concert music and the history of American art song. Acclaimed vocal soloists and the astounding Bard Festival Chorale join the orchestra onstage at Carnegie Hall for this one-night-only performance.
For the United States of America’s 250th anniversary, the American Symphony Orchestra celebrates the forging of an American musical identity in the 19th century with a diverse program of seldom performed scores. The concert’s centerpiece is George Bristow’s massive “Niagara Symphony” in its first performance since the work’s world premiere. The program begins with two scores of joyful, exuberant celebration, each one rhythmically propulsive and highly entertaining: the Festival Overture on the American National Air by Dudley Buck and Richard Wagner’s American Centennial March, which he wrote for the opening of the Declaration of Independence’s centennial celebration in 1876 in Philadelphia. Featured on the program are three spirituals—“Go Down, Moses,” “Behold that Star,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”—arranged and orchestrated by innovative composer Harry Burleigh, America’s first prominent Black composer, whose momentous legacy is honored here for his important influence and major contributions to American concert music and the history of American art song. Acclaimed vocal soloists and the astounding Bard Festival Chorale join the orchestra onstage at Carnegie Hall for this one-night-only performance.
Completed in 1893, Richard Strauss’s very first opera is rarely performed today. The ASO’s presentation marks its first performance in New York City in this century. A riveting story of love, guilt and renunciation, Guntram reveals a young Strauss positioning himself as the successor to Wagner. In his very first opera, Strauss’s mastery of orchestral writing combines with the ethereal melodic arcs that anticipate his later, famous operas, from Salome and Elektra to Der Rosenkavalier. Following a 2023 presentation of Strauss’s Daphne, the ASO brings another operatic rarity by Richard Strauss to center stage.
Performance Time: approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission