American Classical Orchestra Performs Season Finale on May 5 at Alice Tully Hall

American Classical Orchestra Performs Season Finale Featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 And Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica” At Alice Tully Hall on May 5

Soloist is Pianist Matthew Figel in his Lincoln Center Debut

Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford leads the American Classical Orchestra (ACO), New York City’s foremost period instrument orchestra, in its final concert this season at Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, May 5. The program begins with soloist Matthew Figel, making his Lincoln Center debut, in a fortepiano performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 17. Winner of the Eastman Concerto Competition, he is one of the youngest students to solo with the Eastman Philharmonia in the school’s 100-year history. The evening closes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, considered as the composer’s first truly Romantic symphony and recognized as a revolutionary work in symphonic literature.
Heroic
Tuesday, May 5, 2026, 7:30 PM
Alice Tully Hall
American Classical Orchestra
Thomas Crawford, conductor
Matthew Figel, fortepiano (Lincoln Center debut)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K. 453
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, “Eroica”
Mozart’s Concerto No. 17 was written for Mozart’s student, Barbara Ployer. Soon after the work’s popular first performance, Mozart came across a bird-seller with a starling that sang something like the theme of the finale. He purchased the bird as a pet and honored it with a funeral when it died. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 is a work that not only challenged every convention of Classical symphony writing but also laid the foundation for the passionate sounds of the Romantic era to come. Originally titled “Bonaparte” in honor of Napoleon as First Consul, Beethoven changed the title of the final published score to “Sinfonia Eroica,” a memorial to the heroic ideal rather than any individual.

Tickets, priced at $75, $55, and $35, are available at aconyc.org, by calling ACO at (212) 362-2727, ext.4, or by visiting lincolncenter.org or calling CenterCharge at 212.721.6500.