American Symphony Orchestra Announces New Season

The American Symphony Orchestra and music director Leon Botstein return to Carnegie Hall for the ensemble's 55th season of concerts, the Vanguard Series, on October 19, 2016, and continue through May 12, 2017. Four programs of wide-ranging and distinct repertoire will explore notable topics, including an opera and an oratorio, in addition to orchestral works.

Leon Bostein says, "The themes of this season's concerts range across Europe and America. The two one-act operas, though written more than 80 years ago, seem particularly relevant in light of some of today's political developments. Another program focusing on a Boston group of composers celebrates a musical tradition that still influences American composition. The third concert reveals the wide-ranging stylistic idioms of Czech composers in the first part of the 20th century, and finally, we will perform a masterpiece by Edward Elgar, who assumes pride of place in the great tradition of English composers. As always at ASO, our concerts this season try to bring neglected repertoire back to life by presenting it in a thematic context that makes it accessible to the audience."

The American Symphony Orchestra begins its four-concert Carnegie Hall series on Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 8 pm with a program titled Troubled Days of Peace. Music director Leon Botstein leads the orchestra and the Bard Festival Chorale in concert versions of two one-act operas that examine the uneasy and turbulent period between the First and Second World Wars: Ernst Krenek's Der Diktator ("The Dictator") and Richard Strauss's Friedenstag ("Day of Peace"). The works are strikingly different artistic responses to the rise of tyranny in the 20th century: Ernst Krenek's Der Diktator, the work of the young but assured Austrian composer, considers the rise of a charismatic, fascist leader, based loosely on Benito Mussolini. By contrast, Richard Strauss completed Friedenstag, to a libretto by Joseph Gregor, in 1938, when the composer was in his mid-70's. The opera, a thinly veiled anti-war critique set in the 17th century, on the last day of the Thirty Years' War, elicited controversy and the disfavor of the Nazi regime. The history of its reception remains clouded.

The second program in the series, Bernstein and the Bostonians, on Friday, November 18, 2016 at 8 pm, pays tribute to the Boston School, a group of composers who lived, studied, taught, and composed in and around Boston. This circle of friends and colleagues, of whom Leonard Bernstein became the most prominent, were most all associated with the early years of Brandeis University, established in 1948, and enjoyed ties with Aaron Copland, an advocate of the group. The program of orchestral works consists of Leonard Bernstein's CandideOverture, Irving Fine's first Symphony, Harold Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra, Arthur Berger's Ideas of Order, and Richard Wernick's ...and a time for peace(for mezzo-soprano and orchestra). The work of these composers demonstrates a special musical efflorescence in the post-WWII era and their influence extended beyond New England to exert a powerful impact on 20th-century American music.

On Friday, February 10, 2017 at 8 pm, the third program in the ASO Vanguard Series, Prague Central: Great 20th-Century Czech Composers, considers the very particular circumstances of four composers, who proceed geographically from the center of Middle-European musical tradition, yet in some ways cultivated their work at the margins of that development. Notwithstanding this circumstance and partly because of their outlier status, these musicians produced some of the most original, vital, and influential works of the first half of the 20th century. The all-orchestral program ranges from Vít?zslav Novák's tone poem In the Tatras(1902) to Bohuslav Martinu's Symphony No. 3 (1944), Josef Suk's Fantastické scherzo(1903) to the Symphony No. 5 (1938-39) by Erwin Schulhoff, who perished in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942.

The 2016-17 seasons concludes on Friday, May 12, 2017 at 8 pm with Edward Elgar's The Apostles, an oratorio setting of the New Testament, which follows the narrative of the twelve disciples of Jesus and the extraordinary events of their apostleship, including the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The rarely heard, grandly scaled work-for soprano, alto, tenor, three bass soloists and double chorus-follows Elgar's landmark achievements, Enigma Variations (1899) and the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius (1900). The Apostles, like the more well-known Gerontius, is at once sublime and heartbreakingly human. The Bard Festival Chorale joins the American Symphony Orchestra for this performance.

For each of the four concerts, music director Leon Botstein provides the essential context for the programs and shares the background of the music in lively 30-minute Conductor's Notes Q&A sessions. These discussions begin one hour before each concert in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage and are free for all ticket holders.

Subscriptions and Tickets: Subscriptions (starting at $75) will be available on March 21 and can be purchased at americansymphony.org and by phone at 212-868-9276. Single tickets (priced at $29, $39, $54) will go on sale on September 6. Single tickets will also be available atCarnegieHall.org, at the Carnegie box office, or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. The Conductor's Notes Q&A at 7pm in Stern Auditorium is free with a concert ticket.

American Symphony Orchestra

The American Symphony Orchestra 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 audiences would otherwise seldom hear performed live.

The Orchestra has made several tours of Asia and Europe, and performed in countless benefits for organizations including the Jerusalem Foundation and PBS. Many of the world's most accomplished soloists have performed with the ASO, including Yo-Yo Ma, Deborah Voigt, and Sarah Chang. The Orchestra has released several recordings on the Telarc, New World, Bridge, Koch, and Vanguard labels, and numerous live performances are also available for digital download. In many cases, these are the only recordings of some of the rare works that have been rediscovered in ASO performances.

The ASO's recent online-only issue of Weber's Euryanthe, recorded at the 2014 Bard Music Festival, was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal as "Musically rich, lyrical and expansive."

Leon Botstein

Conductor and educator Leon Botstein has been music director of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992, co-artistic director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival since 1990, and president of Bard College since 1975. He is also music director of The Orchestra Now (T?N), a training orchestra and master's degree program founded by Bard College. He was the music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2011, and is now conductor laureate. Mr. Botstein also has an active career as a guest conductor with orchestras around the globe, and has made numerous recordings, as well as being a prolific author and music historian. He is the recipient of numerous honors for his contributions to the music industry.

For more information, please visit www.americansymphonyorchestra.org

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