American Classical Orchestra Presents Final Concert, 5/11

The closing concert of the season on Thursday, May 11, at 8:00PM at Alice Tully Hall will be featuring two of Rossini's famous overtures, The Barber of Seville and William Tell; Clementi's Symphony No. 4; Paganini's 'La Campanella' from Concerto No. 2and Nardini's Violin Concerto in e minor with violinist Krista Bennion Feeney. Italian music of the Classical Era continued a long tradition of virtuosity in stringed instruments. By the beginning of the 19th century, Italian violins, violinist-composers and the violin repertoire had advanced to levels of flamboyance unrivaled anywhere else in Europe. Muzio Clementi's rarely heard symphony features virtuoso string passages unlike those of his contemporaries. Rossini's ebullient overtures complement the sentimental NardiniViolin Concerto in e minor and the fiery Paganini La Campanella. This concert will be conducted by Thomas Crawford.

PRE - CONCERT LECTURE

Maestro Thomas Crawford will present a Pre-Concert Lecture at 7:00PM on May 11.

QUOTE BY MUSIC DIRECTOR THOMAS CRAWFORD:

"Rossini's rousing overtures bring smiles to the faces of every audience. Our season finale concert offers two of the best known gems, Barber of Seville and William Tell. These works push the limits of string technique, a feature owned by the Italians for three centuries. Krista Bennion Feeney brings blazing fingers to the Nardini Violin Concerto and Paganini's 'La Campanella'. Muzio Clementi rounds out this virtuoso Italian program with a rarely heard symphony", says Thomas Crawford.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

THOMAS CRAWFORD, Conductor

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.

Mr. Crawford 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 an MA in composition from Columbia University.

During the 1980s, Mr. Crawford founded and led two Connecticut orchestras: the Fairfield Orchestra and the period instrument Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy. In 1999 Mr. Crawford founded the American Classical Orchestra, bringing along the internationally recognized period musicians already performing in his Connecticut ensembles.

Over the years, Thomas Crawford has attracted top guest artists including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, André Watts, Dawn Upshaw, Richard Goode, Monica Huggett and Vladimir Feltsman; and Mr, Crawford has produced recordings with - among others - the great American pianists Malcolm Bilson and Keith Jarrett.

A passionate activist determined to bring the beauty of period music to a wider audience, Mr. Crawford has been recognized for the orchestra's dynamic music outreach to New York City schoolchildren, and for the lively and informative talks he gives, that precede each ACO concert.

KRISTA BENNION FENNEY, Violin

Krista Bennion Feeney is concertmaster of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and a member of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. She has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, where she debuted in the Mendelssohn Concerto at age fifteen, the St. Louis Symphony, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart, American Classical Orchestra, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

Ms. Feeney is the founding 1st violinist of the DNA Quintet, Loma Mar Quartet, and Ridge String Quartet. With pianist Rudolf Firkusny, the Ridge won the Diapason D/Or and a Grammy nomination in 1992 for the RCA recording of Dvorak's Piano Quintets. The Loma Mar Quartet recorded original works written for them by Paul McCartney for EMI. The DNA Quintet has been releasing world premiere recordings of the unpublished chamber works of Domenico Dragonetti.

Krista Bennion Feeney is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and the Curtis Institute.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA

American Classical Orchestra, New York's Leading Period Instrument Orchestra, enriches the cultural landscape of the City through inspired performances of 17th, 18th, and 19th century music on the instruments for which it was composed. Sitting in a church, salon or great concert hall, ACO audiences experience music history coming to life, and feel closer to the sound world of composers they love - of the Classical, Baroque and early Romantic periods.

Founded by Artistic Director Thomas Crawford in 1984 as the Old Fairfield Academy in Fairfield, Connecticut, the American Classical Orchestra has made its permanent home in New York City. Since moving to New York in 2005, the ACO has established itself as a leading orchestra in Manhattan, with performances at Alice Tully Hall, St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Geffen Hall, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and more.

Some highlights of the orchestra's past thirty-one years include the Lincoln Center Great Performers Series, a sold-out 25th Anniversary performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, staged performances of Handel's opera Alceste and Haydn's opera L'Isola disabitata at Alice Tully Hall, and internationally acclaimed commercial recordings. The American Classical Orchestra programs pieces ranging from audience favorites, such as Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and Bach's B Minor Mass, to rarely heard gems such as George Philipp Teleman's Der Tag des Gerichts and British composer Cipriani Potter's Symphony No. 10.

During the American Classical Orchestra's 2016-2017 season, the Lincoln Center Series featured performances at Alice Tully Hall, and a premiere performance at David Geffen Hall of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The Orchestra's new organization of young professionals, the American Classical Orchestra's Cadenza Circle, has scheduled monthly social programs and live performances for New Yorkers under 45 who enjoy classical music.

MISSION STATEMENT

The American Classical Orchestra recreates the sound world of the master composers.

The ACO is devoted to preserving and performing the repertoire of 17th, 18th and 19th century composers. By playing the music on original instruments and using historic performance technique, we attempt to recreate the sounds an audience would have experienced when the music was written and first performed. We pass along skills and appreciation for this practice to future generations through concert performances and educational programs.

Because period instruments were made of different materials, they produce a profoundly different sound from the 20th century instruments used in modern orchestras. Historical instruments, with their softer and more transparent, yet sometimes edgier tone, produce a delicacy in the gentler phrases and a pungent bite in the stronger passages. Using period instruments, the ACO can, in the 21st century, bring audiences closer to the musical genius of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and other master composers.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets can be purchased on www.aconyc.org, lincolncenter.org or by calling Center Charge (212-721-6500), by calling the Alice Tully Hall Box Office (212-671-4050) or in person at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office.

$95 Prime I, $75 Prime II, $55 Standard I, $35 Standard II and $15 Student (only at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office with proper student ID).

WEBSITE

www.americanclassicalorchestra.org