In a festive celebration of Italian musical heritage, the American Classical Orchestra (ACO), under the guidance of Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford, is set to enchant audiences with a holiday concert program on Thursday, December 14 at 7 PM at Corpus Christi Church, located at W. 121 St. between Broadway & Amsterdam in Manhattan.
This concert marks the second of four Manhattan performances by the ACO this season, featuring a captivating selection of Italian works, including the rediscovery of Antonio Bencini’s long-lost Christmas oratorio “Gesù Nato” and Antonio Gianettini’s “Magnificat,” in collaboration with the Academy of Sacred Drama.
The heart of the program lies in the resurrection of Antonio Bencini’s forgotten masterpiece, “Gesù Nato,” rescued from the depths of the Vatican archives. This Christmas oratorio, composed in 1742, offers a glimpse into the enchanting world of the Nativity, featuring vocal soloists, a choir, and a vibrant orchestra of trumpets, oboes, and strings. Antonio Gianettini’s “Magnificat” and five psalm settings, written for four-part chorus with string accompaniment, further enrich the program, providing a sonic tapestry rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition.
The evening will be graced by the talents of renowned soloists:
Linda Tsatsanis (Soprano): Praised by The New York Times for her “ravishing” performance at the Boston Early Music Festival. Kate Maroney (Mezzo-Soprano): A CBC and Naxos recording artist, also recognized for her expertise as a voice and vocal pedagogy teacher at Mannes School of Music and Yale University. Alex Guerrero (Tenor): Applauded by The New York Times for his “apt comic timing,” Guerrero has been a featured singer in numerous ACO performances.
The members of the American Classical Orchestra Chorus will join forces with the soloists to deliver a mesmerizing performance under the baton of Thomas Crawford.
Antonio Gianettini, a 17th-century Italian organist, singer, and composer, will take center stage with his Psalms and the majestic Magnificat. Having served as maestro di cappella to Francesco II d’Este, Duke of Modena, Gianettini’s compositions were cherished in both Italy and Germany during his lifetime.
The rediscovery of Antonio Bencini’s “Gesù Nato” is a significant musical event, offering what is likely the modern premiere of this hidden gem. Composed in 1742, the oratorio captures the spirit of the Nativity and was tucked away in the Vatican Library for three centuries before resurfacing.
This performance is a collaborative effort between ACO and the Academy of Sacred Drama, founded by ACO violinist and scholar Jeremy Rhizor in 2013. The Academy is dedicated to Baroque oratorio that draws inspiration from biblical tales and the lives of saints, enriching the cultural and spiritual experience.
Tickets for this musical extravaganza are priced at $75, $55, and $35, and can be purchased at ACO’s website or by calling ACO at (212) 362-2727, ext. 4.
The American Classical Orchestra (ACO), New York City’s leading period instrument orchestra, announced its 2023-24 season of four orchestral concerts led by Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford. The season opens November 16, 2023 and will conclude May 8, 2024. Additionally, there will be an exclusive preseason performance for its subscribers only.
Three out of the four performances will take place at Alice Tully Hall and one will be held at the Corpus Christi Church.
Featured soloists include award-winning violinist Augusta McKay Lodge; soprano Nola Richardson; Grammy-nominated Reginald Mobley; active Bach interpreter tenor; First Prize winner in the Oratorio Society of New York’s Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition, bass Steven Eddy; oboist, noted historical instrument expert, ASCAP Award-winner, and Juilliard faculty member Gonzalo Ruiz; and early music artist Adam Cockerham, a specialist in theorbo, lute and Baroque guitar.
“This season, the ACO programs three pillars of classical repertoire: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, Mozart’s Jupiter, and the Bach B Minor Mass featuring our acclaimed ACO Chorus,” said Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford. “Hearing 18th-century masterpieces played with passion, live in New York and on period instruments, is our greatest joy.”
Pre-season performance:La musica notturna di Madrid
Thursday, September 28, 2023, 7 pm at the Salmagundi Club, 47 Fifth Avenue
Adam Cockerham, Baroque guitar
Luigi Boccherini: Guitar Quintet in C Major, Op. 30, No. 6, G. 324, “La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid”
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Major, RV 151
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 157
This special pre-season chamber music performance for subscribers only presents an ACO string ensemble at the Salmagundi Club, a historic arts center on the National Register of Historic Places. The musicians are joined by Baroque guitar virtuoso Adam Cockerham,Associate Music Director of the Academy of SacredDrama. The program opens with Boccherini’s Guitar Quintet, initially written for strings, a work quite popular in Spain during the composer’s lifetime.
Season Opening: Premier coup d’archet
Thursday, November 16, 2023, 7:30 pm at Alice Tully Hall
Thomas Crawford, conductor
Augusta McKay Lodge, violin
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K. 297/300a “Paris”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastorale”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in G Major, Op. 40
The title of this program, premier coup d’archet (first stroke of the bow), refers to a device whereby all the instruments play together at the start of a symphony—a practice popular at the time and one that Mozart used to great success in his Symphony No. 31. The work, written while the 22-year-old composer was looking for work in Paris, received hearty applause at its 1778 premiere. Beethoven’s elegant Romance in G Major for Violin and Orchestra features young virtuoso Augusta McKay Lodge. The evening concludes with Beethoven’sPastoral Symphony, loved for its portrayals of sounds of nature, including birds, a brook, and a thunderstorm. The ACO offers an authentic look at Beethoven’s vision by the use of natural hunting horns, leather timpani, and 18th century Austrian woodwind instruments.
Gesù Nato
Thursday, December 14, 2023, 7 pm at Corpus Christi Church, W. 121 St. between Broadway & Amsterdam
Thomas Crawford, conductor
Antonio Bencini: Gesù Nato
Antonio Gianettini: Magnificat
Antonio Bencini’s Gesù Nato marks what is likely the modern premiere of the full work ofthis lost 1742 Christmas oratorio manuscript by the little-known composer who premiered it in Bologna before it was shelved at the Vatican Library for three centuries. The work features vocal soloists, a choir, and an orchestra of trumpets, oboes, and strings. Antonio Gianettini’s version of the Magnificat, also known as the Canticle of Mary, is a prayer of praise to God found in the Gospel of Luke. It has been used in the daily prayers of the Catholic Church, and set to music by many composers. Gianettini—an Italian organist, concertmaster and composer—was considered to be one of the most talented composers of his era.
This performance is a co-production of the ACO and The Academy of Sacred Drama, founded in 2013 by ACO violinist and scholar Jeremy Rhizor. The Organization is dedicated to Baroque oratorio that draws its stories from biblical tales and the lives of saints.
American Classical Orchestra 2023-24 season
B Minor Mass
Thursday, March 7, 2024, 7:30 pm at Alice Tully Hall
Thomas Crawford, conductor
Nola Richardson, soprano
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Steven Soph, tenor
Steven Eddy, bass
ACO Chorus
Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
Bach’s Mass in B Minor was one of the composer’s last achievements, completed a year before his death in 1749. A musical setting of the complete Latin Mass, this monumental work presents nine arias and duets, 14 ensemble sections for vocal groups of various sizes, and a range of instrumental solos in numerous styles. Based largely on Bach’s earlier pieces, this mass is one of his best-loved vocal works. The orchestra is joined by the renowned ACO Chorus, comprised of professional vocalists from the New York metro area. Featured soloists will be soprano Nola Richardson, countertenor Reginald Mobley, tenor Steven Soph, and bass Steven Eddy.
Astronomical
Wednesday, May 8, 2024, 7:30 pm at Alice Tully Hall
Thomas Crawford, conductor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 “Jupiter”
William Herschel: Oboe Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major
Johan Daniel Berlin: Concerto á 5 in A Major
C.P.E. Bach: Symphony in B Minor, H661 Wq182/5
Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe
The “astronomical” theme of this program is inspired by Mozart’s ”Jupiter” Symphony, Herschel’s telescopes, and Berlin’s meteorological observations/alias composer roles. The concert begins with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony, his longest and final symphony. Widely considered to be his strongest work and perhaps his most popular symphony, it is notable for its deft weaving of Classical and Baroque musical forms. Before the 18th century composer William Herschel played oboe and violin, he was an accomplished astronomer who built his own telescope and discovered the planet Uranus in 1781.
His 1780 three-movement Oboe Concerto No. 1, written in the style of Corelli or Handel concerti grossi, features soloist Gonzalo Ruiz, a Juilliard faculty member and expert in historical reedmaking techniques, of which more than two dozen are on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carl Philipp Emanuel (C.P.E.) Bach’s Symphony in B Minor follows next. Johann Sebastian Bach’s 5th child and one of the foremost clavier players in Europe, C.P.E. wrote the work during the German literature period of Sturm und Drang, when he created short pieces inspired by individualism.
Finally, the evening closes with German-born Rococo composer Johan Daniel Berlin’s Concerto á 5 in A Major. In 1737 Berlin became the town musician of Trondheim, Norway. In addition, he was a fire brigade captain, land surveyor, founding member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and made a series of meteorological and astronomical observations. Today he is regarded as one of Norway’s first known composers, although few of his works remain.
For details and tickets for American Classical Orchestra 2023-24 season, click here.
The American Classical Orchestra has announced its final concert this season on Thursday, May 18, at Alice Tully Hall: Romantic Fantasy
American Classic Orchestra’s Romantic Fantasy will be an evening of Romantic music by Rossini, Schumann, Sarasate, and Grieg, played on period instruments. The program features Filipino-American baritone Enrico Lagasca, critically acclaimed for his role as Daedalus in the U.S. premiere of Jonathan Dove’s opera The Monster in the Maze, and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient violinist Rachell Ellen Wong. The program will begin with a brief presentation by orchestra founder and artistic director Thomas Crawford.
Founded in 1984 as the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy, the ensemble was renamed the American Classical Orchestra in 1999. Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford established its new and permanent home in New York City in 2005. It is now the City’s only full-scale orchestra dedicated to performing 17th, 18th, and 19th century music on period instruments.
The American Classical Orchestra (ACO) is announcing the “Healing Bach” performance including much-loved Bach cantatas at the Gothic-style Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 8 pm. This wonderful concert is featuring notable soloists including Sherezade Panithaki, Daniel Moody, Brian Giebler, and Joseph Parrish.
Founded in 1984 as the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy and renamed in 1999, the American Classical Orchestra (ACO) is the New York City’s foremost period instrument orchestra. It is now the City’s only full-scale orchestra dedicated to performing 17th, 18th, and 19th century music on period instruments. By playing music on original instruments and using historic performance techniques, ACO strives to recreate the sounds that audiences would have heard when the music was first written and performed.
The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer is a Roman Catholic parish in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by Bertram Goodhue and completed in 1918 and made a New York City designated landmark in 1967.
Before the concert, Artistic Director Thomas Crawford will give a brief talk to illuminate the program at 7:15 pm. The concert featuring soloists including soprano Sherezade Panthaki, head of Mount Holyoke College’s vocal program; countertenor and Metropolitan Opera singer Daniel Moody, tenor Brian Giebler, the 2020 Best Classical Solo Vocal Album Grammy winner; and bass-baritone Joseph Parrish, winner of the 2022 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Especially, this concert will highlight J.S Bach’s Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42; Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18; Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36.
The following performance will close the ACO season with an evening of Romantic music by Schumann, Sarasate, and Grieg. It will feature baritone William Meinert, praised for his “rich vibrant bass” (Opera Today) and award-winning violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, on May 18 at Alice Tully Hall.
American Classical Orchestra will be conducted by Thomas Crawford, consisted of soprano Corrine Byrne and Sherezade Panthaki; mezzo-soprano Sylvia Leith; countertenor Daniel Moody; tenor Lawrence Jones and Brian Giebler; bass-baritone Joseph Parrish and Edmund Milly; and Marc Schachman on oboe and oboe d’amore.
Tickets, priced at $75, $55, and $35 are available at American Classical Orchestra website. For more information, visit aconyc.org.
