Due to Hurricane Isabel, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra's 2003-2004 opening night Adventure concert, originally scheduled for September 20, will be incorporated into the Symphony's Passion program on November 8, at 8 p.m.
The ASO's newly scheduled opening night concert and art exhibition combines the two concert themes of Adventure and Passion in an explosion of musical and visual color and energy — an appropriate launch for this season entitled "Where Does the Music Take You?" With each program — Adventure, Passion, Dreams, Transcendence and Rebirth — the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Kim Allen Kluge invite audiences, musicians, guest artists and visual artists to find their own personal response to the music for the 2003-2004 season.
Surging brushstrokes, swirling fabric, splashes of red — Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story leaps across canvas, fabric, sculpture and other media displayed throughout the lobbies of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall & Arts Center.
Visual artists from the Torpedo Art Factory and Art League have created original works of art inspired by the music on each ASO program. They will provide a catalyst for the audience's personal response to the defining question of the season, "Where Does the Music Take You?"
The November 8 concert and art exhibition also includes the mystical landscapes of Tan Dun's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the vast reaches of Gustav Holst's The Planets.
AS THE CONCERT unfolds, images of the visual artists' work, choreographed by Videographer Brad Avery, will soar behind the orchestra as music and visual art unite to create a new ASO concert-going experience.
The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra is approaching its 60th season. The ASO's move to the acoustically-acclaimed Schlesinger Center has further established its reach and reputation as one of the region's leading arts institutions. Under the baton of Maestro Kluge, the Symphony has distinguished itself through inter-arts programming and powerful performances marked by their poetry and vision. A passionate advocate of arts education, Kluge has developed extensive programs for all ages that have engaged the community in ensuring a strong future for the arts.
ASO's Season —
"Where Does the Music Take You?"
Alexandria Symphony Orchestra's 2003-2004 Season
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center
Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria Campus
PASSION — a world of feeling and emotion unleashed
Saturday, November 8, 8 p.m.
Tan Dun Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Holst The Planets
DREAMS — places where our deepest longings dwell
Saturday, February 7, 2004, 8 p.m.
Branford Marsalis, Saxophone
Satie Gymnopedie No. 3 *
Ravel Pavanne pour une infante defunte *
Mihaud La Creation du monde *
Mihaud Scaramouche *
Ravel Daphnis & Chloe, Suites 1 & 2
*for Saxophone & Orchestra
TRANSCENDENCE — a place where the soul dances
Saturday, April 17, 2004, 8 p.m.
Nurit Bar-Josef, Violin
Vaughn Williams Lark Ascending
Corigliano The Red Violin
Mahler Symphony No. 5
REBIRTH — realms of rejuvenation for body and spirit
Saturday, May 22, 2004, 8 p.m.
Sharon Christman, Soprano
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man
Barber Adagio for Strings
Corigliano **Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan
Korngold Between Two Worlds: The World at War
Thompson Testament to Freedom (text by Thomas Jefferson)
Featuring the National Men's Chorale
**Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Regional premiere of this much anticipated new work by John Corigliano, Academy Award-winning composer of The Red Violin