Atlanta Symphony Announces Christmas Concerts

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is proud to bring live music into the lives of its community, and the coming holiday season will be no different. From Classical to Pops! to the traditional, family-friendly Messiah and "Christmas with the ASO," the ASO will be bringing holiday cheer all season long.

During the month of December, members of the ASO will be performing free concerts throughout Midtown Atlanta as part of the Orchestra's "Midtown Takeover."

November Concerts:

• November 20, 2014, 8:00 p.m., November 22, 7:30 p.m. and November 23, 2:00 p.m. - "Spano Conducts Prior Symphony": ASO Music Director Robert Spano takes the podium to lead the Orchestra and ASO Principal Clarinet Laura Ardan in Debussy's Première rhapsodie and Emory University composer Richard Prior's ASO premiere of his Symphony No. 3. Mr. Spano and the Orchestra will round off the night with Beethoven's massively popular Symphony No. 5.
  
• November 28 & 29, 2014, 8:00 p.m. - "Sci-Fi Spectacular": The ASO takes the stage to perform a concert that's out of this world! Jack Everly leads the ASO and Soprano Kristen Plumley in a night of sci-fi classics, featuring music from "Star Wars," "E.T.," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and more! George Takei (you may know him as Mr. Sulu from "Star Trek") will narrate the night with his unmistakable voice.
  December Concerts:
  
• December 4 & 5, 2014, 8:00 p.m. - "Handel's Messiah": An Atlanta tradition, ASO Director of Choruses Norman Mackenzie conducts the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in Part I of Handel's Messiah. The performance will feature soprano Jessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wor, tenor Grant Knox and bass Gerard Sundberg.
  
• December 11, 2014, 8:00 p.m., December 13, 2014, 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (three performances) - "Christmas with the ASO": For more than four decades, these classic concerts have featured the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Morehouse College Glee Club and Gwinnett Young Singers, conducted by the ASO's Norman Mackenzie. This year, special guest soloist, tenor Russell Thomas, will join the cast. Capture the spirit of the holidays with the Orchestra's iconic story of Christmas, created by the legendary Robert Shaw.
  
• December 19, 2014, 8:00 p.m., December 20, 2014, 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (three performances) - "A Very Merry Holiday Pops": Michael Krajewski conducts this annual, anything-goes holiday variety show that stars the Orchestra, vocalist Reginald Smith Jr., a gleeful youth chorus comprised of Atlanta's finest high school vocalists, the season's merriest songs and a jitterbugging Santa.

All concerts will take place in Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. Additional concert details are available at www.aso.org.

Holiday concerts are sponsored by Coca-Cola with support from the Livingston Foundation Endowment in memory of Leslie Livingston Kellar.

Community Holiday Performances By Atlanta Symphony Musicians

Celebrate the season in the heart of Atlanta with your ASO! Orchestra members will give free holiday performances around Midtown Atlanta throughout December as part of the Midtown Takeover. The ASO Midtown Takeover is made possible by the Community Engagement Program of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in partnership with the Midtown Alliance.