Mr. Spano and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will perform five world premieres during the 2009–2010 65th Anniversary Season, three of which are ASO commissions. Atlanta School of Composers Jennifer Higdon and Michael Gandolfi; Wynton Marsalis’s American Symphony; Angel Lam’s New Cello Concerto with Soloist Yo-Yo Ma; and Dejan Lazic’s New Piano Arrangement of Brahms’s Violin Concerto

The 2009–10 Season's guest artists and conductors to include: Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Midori, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jon Kimura Parker, Leila Josefowicz, Garrick Ohlsson, Olli Mustonen, Robert Levin, Angela Brown, Kelley O'Connor, Ludovic Morlot, Roberto Abbado, Kristjan Jarvi, Leila Josefowicz, Hannu Lintu, Lathar Zagrosek, and many more.

During the 2009–10 season, Mr. Spano will lead the Orchestra in an ASO Theater of a Concert presentation of Stravinsky’s opera The Nightingale, directed by James Alexander Thursday and Friday, October 15–16, 2009. The cast will feature Celena Shafer (Nightingale), Jessica Rivera (Cook), Thomas Glenn (Fisherman), Denis Sedov (Chamberlain), Jason Grant (Bonze), Kostas Smoriginas (Emperor), Irina Tchistyakova (Death), and the ASO Chamber Chorus.

LANG LANG performs Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2

If 2008 was The Year of Lang Lang (Fred Child, Performance Today), this concert will prove that the remarkable pianist isn't one to rest on his laurels. Expect nothing less than jaw-dropping virtuosity in Chopin's beloved concerto. Lang Lang and the ASO will give an encore performance March 18 to open the Savannah Music Festival.

Mr. Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will perform two world premieres by Atlanta School Composers Jennifer Higdon and Michael Gandolfi June 3–6, 2010, both of which are ASO commissions. Ms. Higdon's new work is for eighth blackbird instrumental ensemble and the Orchestra, and Mr. Gandolfi's new work is for the Orchestra and ASO Chorus — marking the next genre of music they are each composing as part of their multi-year relationship with the ASO.

Carnegie Hall
Mr. Spano and the Orchestra to perform at Carnegie Hall, November 7, 2009. Program to feature New York Premiere of Angel Lam's new cello concert with Yo-Yo-Ma and Stravinsky's The Nightingale during Carnegie Hall's China Festival.

Berlin Philharmonic
Mr. Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus are invited to return to Berlin Philharmonic for a third visit in December 2009 to perform In Brahms's Ein deutches Requiem.

Savannah Music Festival
Mr. Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will open the Savannah Music Festival Thursday, March 18, 2010, performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Lang Lang as soloist. Also on the opening night program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. This will mark the Orchestra’s fourth visit to the festival.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will host the 65th National Conference of the League of American Orchestras in Atlanta June 16-20, 2010. The Conference is the annual occasion when some 1200 representatives of the orchestra family — including administrative staff, board members, volunteers, conductors and musicians — assemble to discuss important developments in the field. The four-day event features a broad range of seminars, presentations, meetings, exhibits, and performances.

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