The American Classical Orchestra has announced its 2021-22 season of live performances, starting with a full Baroque Music Reunion orchestral program at Damrosch Park on September 22. Season highlights include an all-Mozart program at Alice Tully Hall (December 14); a baroque repertory program with selections from the highly acclaimed film from the 2020 ensemble The Chaconne Project in the historic setting of Harlem Parish (February 3); Remember, a concert in honor of those lost during the pandemic, featuring Mozart’s Requiem and Elegy’s world premiere by ACO founder and artistic director Thomas Crawford (February 26, Alice Tully Hall); and Renew, a concert marking the Orchestra’s first performance of the Bach Easter Oratorio (April 5, Alice Tully Hall).

Also of note, the season includes a new collaboration with the main producer of public media, the children’s media and education department of the WNET group, with a digital performance of the much-loved children’s symphonic tale by Prokofiev, Pierre and the wolf. The film features the work in an original arrangement for chamber ensemble by Thomas Crawford, produced for ACO’s award-winning classical music program for children (CMK). Through PBS LearningMedia, the Orchestra’s digital project will be available to nearly 1.8 million platform users as a free, high-quality digital learning resource accessible by schools, teachers, parents and students in all states, starting this fall.Thomas Crawford said: “Recently the ACO musicians rehearsed and recorded a chamber concert after fifteen months apart. The game was better than ever. Our meeting on stage should reveal artists who have perfected their craft and intensified their passion for music. We have chosen the timeless. masterpieces as a way to celebrate our return to performing arts through much loved works that continue to comfort even after difficult times, to showcase our talented members and soloists, and also to highlight the soothing balm that the great music offers musicians and the public. “

Subscriptions and tickets

American Classical Orchestra subscription packages for the 2021-22 season are on sale now. Details are available at aconyc.org or by calling the ACO at 212.362.2727, ext. 4. Tickets for individual performances will go on sale to the general public later this summer or early fall. Visit aconyc.org for tickets for the February 3, 2022 concert at Harlem Parish, and visit lincolncenter.org or call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500 for programs at Lincoln Center.

Public health and safety

American Classical Orchestra takes every precaution to protect the health and safety of its musicians and audiences. The orchestra meets or exceeds local and national requirements for rehearsals and performances and complies with all distancing protocols, government guidelines, and public health and safety requirements.

AMERICAN CLASSICAL ORCHESTRA 2021-2022 SEASON

Wednesday September 22 at 7 p.m., Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center

Meeting
Rachell Ellen Wong, violin
Part of the restart stages at Lincoln Center
Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in G minor, op. 8, No. 2, RV 315, “L’Estate” (The Summer of the Four Seasons)
Handel: Music for the royal fireworks and extracts from Water Music

The season opener marks the joyous reunion of ACO musicians, audiences and patrons with the Orchestra’s first major concert in seventeen months. The program features a selection of popular Baroque music in Lincoln Center’s newly renovated Damrosch Park structure, with violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Fellowship 2020. The show takes place on the September equinox, when the sun shines directly on the equator and that the length of day and night is almost equal. Tickets are free, but mandatory. Ticket and access information will soon be available online at aconyc.org and on Restart Stages at Lincoln Center.

Tuesday, December 14 at 8 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Restore
Parker Ramsay, harp
Emi Ferguson, flute
Aisslinn Nosky, violin
Maureen Murchie, viola
All-Mozart program:
Symphony No.29 in A major, K. 201
Concerto for flute, harp and orchestra in C major, K. 299
Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola in E flat major, K. 364 (320d)

The Orchestra celebrates its return to indoor concerts with an all-Mozart program in the superior acoustics of the Alice Tully Hall, an ideal venue to present the composer’s substantial masterpiece, the remarkable Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola. in that Mozart clarified that the solo viola be tuned a semitone higher to evoke a brighter sound. The performance features accomplished soloists Aisslinn Nosky and Maureen Murchie. The program also includes the Concerto for Flute and Harp, K. 299 with “Relentlessly Beautiful” (WQXR) music by harpist Parker Ramsay and Handel and Haydn Society principal flautist Emi Ferguson, in addition to the popular Symphony No. Mozart 29.

Thursday, February 3 at 7 p.m., Harlem Parish, 258 W 118th St.

Revisit
Karen Dekker and Chloe Fedor, baroque violin
Maureen Murchie, viola
Arnie Tanimoto, viola da gamba and cello
Charles Weaver, theorbo and baroque guitar
Guadalupe Peraza, mezzo soprano
Thomas Crawford, harpsichord
Juan Arañés: Chacona a la vida bona
Nicola Francesco Haym: Ciaccona in E major
Barbara Strozzi: L’Eraclito amoroso
Marin Marais: Chaconne in A major, extract from Pièces de Viole, volume 4
Santiago de Murcia: Marionas
Arcangelo Corelli: Trio Sonata, Op. 2, no.12
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita for solo violin, BWV 1004
François Couperin: The Favorite
Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento della Ninfa
Henry Purcell: King Arthur’s Chaconne

The title of this living room concert-Revisit-refers to ACO’s much-loved fall 2020 video, The Chaconne Project, which was filmed and recorded in Harlem. Thomas Crawford returns to the parish for a live performance with the cast of the original film in a lively program of the baroque repertoire focused on the chaconne, a musical genre characterized by its repetitive bassline. From 16th-century bawdy Spanish dances to Bach’s masterful Chaconne for solo violin, this vibrant concert in the breathtaking setting of the neo-Gothic parish of Harlem in New York City features ten examples of chaconne and includes strings, plucked string instruments and a harpsichord with voice and percussion. The famous Mexican mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Peraza is in the spotlight.

Saturday February 26 at 8 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Remember
Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K. 626
Crawford: Elegy for Strings (World Premiere) In Memoriam Judson Griffin

Mozart’s Requiem is the best known of all the requiems, revered for its “Lacrimosa” choir. The Orchestra’s acclaimed Choir returns to the stage – following Covid restrictions and guidelines – for the first time in two years as we remember the many souls lost during the pandemic. The ACO’s second principal violinist, Judson Griffin (1951-2020) was also lost during this time (but not to Covid), and Thomas Crawford’s Elegy for Strings was written to pay tribute to him.

Tuesday April 5 at 8 p.m., Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Renew
All the JS Bach program
Easter Oratorio, BWV 249
Mass in G minor, BWV 235
Overture to Orchestral Suite No.4 in D major, BWV 1069

The Easter revival drives the joyous occasion of the ACO’s very first performance of JS Bach’s Easter Oratorio and its rebirth from the ashes of dark stages. Written when Bach was at the height of his musical powers, the work includes biblical roles such as John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene, performed by solo singers without the extensive storytelling found in other large-scale Bach works. . Also on the program, Bach’s Overture to the Jubilant Orchestral Suite No. 4 and an exceptional example of the composer’s unprecedented counterpoint technique, his Mass in G minor. Digital production of Peter and the Wolf on PBS LearningMedia (scheduled for fall 2021)
Thomas Crawford, narrator
Chloé Fedor, violin
Kathleen Nester, flute
Sarah Davol, oboe
Mitch Kriegler, clarinet
Stéphanie Corwin, bassoon
RJ Kelley, horn
Dan Haskins, percussion
Tony Falanga, bass
Bill Bowers and Catherine Gasta, mimes
Nick Morgulis, director and producer
Scott Illingworth, choreography
Andrew Halley, animation
Jeremy Teran, Director of Photography
Chris Sulit, audioThe ACO and its award-winning classical music program for children (CMK) produce a filmed performance of Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev, in an original arrangement by founder Thomas Crawford, to mark a new collaboration with The WNET Group’s Kids’ Media and Department education. The WNET Group plans to launch CMK’s educational resources on PBS LearningMedia, a free online site that reaches nearly 1.8 million users nationwide with tens of thousands of high-quality resources, based on the research and standards compliant, drawn from critically acclaimed PBS programs such as Great Performances and American Masters, and by expert content contributors such as the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The Peter and the Wolf Orchestra production is performed by an ACO chamber ensemble with two professional mimes, the acclaimed Bill Bowers and Catherine Gasta, who play the story. Attached to the video, but presented separately, interviews with Thomas Crawford, the musicians and the two mimes allow the students to hear the performers talk about their career, their inspirations and their choice of instrument.