Robert Spano & Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Opens 2013-14 Season Tonight

Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the 2013-14 Season opening weekend performances tonight, September 26 and 27, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.,and September 28, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. These concerts will mark the beginning of the Orchestra's 69th season and the 13th year of artistic partnership between Mr. Spano and Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.

The program will include Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, Brahms's Symphony No. 3, and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with frequent guest and longtime friend of the Orchestra André Watts. Additional concert details are available at aso.org/opening.

This season, the Atlanta Symphony will perform four world premieres. Mr. Spano will lead the Orchestra in the world premiere of ...of shadow and light... (incantations for orchestra), an ASO commission by Richard Prior, Director of Orchestra Studies at Emory University, October 3-5, 2013; also on that program is the ASO premiere ofAmerican Symphony by Atlanta School of Composers member Adam Schoenberg. Later that month, October 17 and 19, 2013, guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya will lead the Orchestra in the world premiere of Philip Lasser's piano concerto, The Circle and the Child, with Simone Dinnerstein as soloist.

Mr. Spano will also lead the Orchestra in the ASO-commissioned Fire Angels by Mark Grey, March 20 and 21, 2014; and the world premiere of a work by Charles Zoll, winner of the third Rapido! National Composition Contest, May 29-31, 2014. Five additional Atlanta Symphony premieres will also be performed throughout the year. Complete details about the ASO's 2013-14 season are available at aso.org/1314.

Also new this season, the Orchestra will offer five "First Friday" classical concerts to be held at 6:30 p.m. in Atlanta Symphony Hall. These concerts, which will last approximately one hour without intermission, will feature abbreviated versions of the week's subscription performances. The inaugural "First Friday" concert will take place on Friday, November 1, 2013.

"With guest artists known and beloved at the ASO, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Garrick Ohlsson, and André Watts; with our continued association with our illustrious principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles; with programs ranging from masterpieces like Aida, to the newest voices in American music such as Jonathan Leshnoff, Mark Grey, and Adam Schoenberg - all presented in performances with the extraordinary group of musicians that constitute the ASO - the 2013-14 season promises to be one season of unprecedented excitement," said Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano. "It's amazing to think I've been here 13 years and that our musical adventure continues at such a fresh and inspiring level."