Interchanging Idioms

with Atlantic Symphony June 3rd eighth blackbird play like musicians possessed … They take wing, soaring on an upthrust of precision-tooled virtuosity.” — BBC Music eighth blackbird spent the first weekend of May in New York City, presenting its “Meanwhile” program at the historic People’s Symphony Concert series and headlining a program of premieres at the innovative Look & Listen Festival; the New York Times ’s Steve Smith commented: “Watching eighth blackbird in action … you envied a composer’s opportunity to challenge these versatile, expressive performers.” Latest in the long line of leading contemporary composers to do so is Pulitzer Prize-winning Jennifer Higdon , whose highly anticipated new Concerto for Sextet and Orchestra, On a Wire , was written expressly for the group. The new work forms the cornerstone of eighth blackbird ’s summer schedule: after giving its world premiere and three subsequent performances at its debut with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (June...

The 24-week season celebrates the partnership of Mr. Spano and Mr. Runnicles, and features several musicians from the Orchestra, including newly appointed Concertmaster David Coucheron. The season opens on Thursday, September 23, 2009 with Robert Spano leading the Orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jeunehomme,” with André Watts as soloist. Also on the program is Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. The new season will offer two world premieres, and 13 Atlanta premieres, including the new ASO commission from Alvin Singleton, and the world premiere of James Oliverio’s Double Timpani Concerto. Mr. Spano and the Orchestra have been invited to return to Carnegie Hall October 30, 2010, to perform the great Janáček masterwork, Glagolitic Mass. In January 2011, Mr. Runnicles will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis featuring soprano Christine Brewer, plus Mozart’s Piano Concert No 20 in D minor with Mr. Spano as soloist. Mr. Spano will close the ...

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Board Chair Ben Johnson announced today that the contract for Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles will be extended for one year, through the 2011-12 season. Following the end of his contract, Mr. Runnicles will continue to appear as a guest conductor with the Orchestra for two weeks annually — he currently appears four weeks each season. “The excitement and fulfillment of working with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra deepens for me each year. I have such confidence in both this Orchestra and Robert’s leadership, and look forward to continuing our musical partnership.” - Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles Music Director Robert Spano and Mr. Runnicles, whose tenures with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra began in the 2001-02 season, are currently in their ninth season with the Orchestra. At the end of Mr. Runnicles’s contract, they will have shared more than a decade of shaping the Orchestra’s musical direction. “Robert Spano and Donal...

Music Director Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra today announced the appointment of violinist David Coucheron as ASO Concertmaster, effective September 2010. Mr. Coucheron’s chair is endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Howard R. Peevy. He succeeds Cecylia Arzewski, who completed her tenure with the Atlanta Symphony at the end of the 2007-08 season. Originally from Oslo , Norway , Mr. Coucheron began playing violin at the age of three. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music, his Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and his Master of Musical Performance from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with teachers including Igor Ozim, Aaron Rosand, Lewis Kaplan, and David Takeno Mr. Coucheron has worked with conductors such as Robert Spano, Alan Gilbert, Michael Tilson Thomas, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, David Zinman, Roger Norrington, Simone Young, and Charles Dutoit, and performed as a soloist with orchestras including t...

Live webcast of the Dec. 20 concert through the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus with ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles and Director of Chorus Norman Mackenzie will perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the third time in six years in December at the Berlin Philharmonie. They will travel to Berlin for three performances of Brahms’s A German Requiem on Friday, December 18, Saturday, December 19 and Sunday, December 20, 2009. Soprano Genia Kühmeier and bass-baritone Gerald Finley will be the soloists. The concert on Sunday, December 20 will be webcast live through the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall 2PM EST / 11AM PST. Tickets for the live webcast cost 9.90 euros, approx US$15. Tickets and more information about the Digital Concert Hall are available at www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/dch . Mr. Runnicles and the ASO Chorus made their debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2003 per...

Complete Work To Be Performed At Annual King Celebration At Morehouse College On January 14, 2010 Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will now premiere selected movements of composer-performer Wynton Marsalis’s new symphonic work, Blues Symphony , November 19-22, 2009 in Atlanta Symphony Hall. This programming change was made in order to give the Orchestra an adequate amount of time to fully realize the composer’s expanded vision for the piece. The new work, celebrating the blues through the prism of different moments in American history, will be presented as part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Annual King Celebration on January 14, 2010. Now in its 18th year, the King Celebration commemorates the life and work of the celebrated civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., and takes place in the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse College. The concert will be broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today on January 1...

Concert To Also Feature Pianist Olli Mustonen Performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto, Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs , And Gershwin’s An American in Paris Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the World Premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer-musician Wynton Marsalis’s new symphonic work, Blues Symphony . The new work celebrates the blues through the prism of different moments in American history, and will be the first work by Marsalis composed exclusively for symphony orchestra. Mr. Marsalis will not be playing on this piece. The evening’s performance will also include Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with guest pianist Olli Mustonen, Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs featuring the ASO’s Principal Clarinetist Laura Ardan, and Gershwin’s An American in Paris , on November 19 and 20, 2009, at 8:00 p.m. and November 22, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. at Atlanta Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. Ticket Prices: $25 - $80 Thu, Nov 19, 2009 | 8:00 PM F...

“To everything, Hampson brings his signature mellifluous warmth and grace… . There is much here to treasure.” – San Francisco Classical Voice, review of Wondrous Free “If American song needs an evangelist, no one is better equipped to do the right job than Thomas Hampson,” says the Chicago Tribune . The American baritone’s commitment to the songs of his home country is well known, and his frequent “Song of America” concerts help prove the point. Now Hampson has recorded and released Wondrous Free , a 22-track selection of American songs, under his own imprint, THM (Thomas Hampson Media). Titles include the first song published in the new country, composed by Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a gentleman patriot well versed in the arts and sciences of his day. Hopkinson’s “My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free” lends its title to Hampson’s disc, which also includes Leonard Bernstein’s “Simple Song” from Mass, the traditional “Shenandoah”, Paul Bowles’...

Following a jet-setting summer at the festivals of Verbier, Aix-en-Provence, Lucerne, and Saratoga, plus concerts with Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas, 29-year-old Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein will perform a host of high-profile U.S. dates and debuts this season, including: Oct. 9-11: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra debut; Hans Graf-cond. (Shostakovich: Piano Cto. No. 2) Oct. 23-25: Detroit Symphony; Charles Greenwell-cond. (Rachmaninoff: Piano Cto. No. 3) Jan. 6: Kennedy Center launch of a tour with cellist Steven Isserlis that includes San Francisco (Jan. 10) Jan. 15-17: Houston Symphony; Hans Graf-cond. (Gershwin: Rhapsody; Ravel: Piano Cto. in G) March 4-6: Chicago Symphony debut; Charles Dutoit-cond. (Rachmaninoff: Piano Cto. No. 2) March 11-13: Atlanta Symphony debut; Vassily Sinaisky-cond. (Liszt: Piano Cto. No. 2)