MUSIC
Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra makes bow
The Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra will make its belated Symphony Hall season debut at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21, under the baton of new ASYO music director Joseph Young. The three-concert season was delayed by the nine-week Atlanta Symphony Orchestra lockout last fall, postponing the auditioning process for the 120-member youth orchestra. Finally, the roster was announced in mid-January. Wrote Young on his Facebook page Tuesday night after one in a long series of rehearsals: "I think they are ready!" Tickets, $10, aso.org. 1280 Peachtreee St. N.E,, Atlanta.
Credit: hpousner
Credit: hpousner
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra this week welcomes guitarist Miloš Karadaglić back to Symphony Hall for concerts at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 19, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 21. With the ASO under the baton of guest conductor Jacomo Bairos, Karadaglić performs Rodrigo's second concerto for guitar and orchestra. Also on the program: Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Falla's Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 2. The musicians will also perform the program at 8 p.m. Friday, March 20, at Kennesaw State University's Bailey Performing Arts Center and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 22, at the University of Georgia's Performing Arts Center. Details: aso.org.
Skylark revives music of WWII, Civil War
The Skylark Vocal Ensemble, a 16-member Atlanta a cappella ensemble of vocalists from across the U.S., will present the “Clear Voices in the Dark” on Thursday, March 19, at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church and Friday, March 20, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.
Under the direction of Matthew Guard, Skylark will present a program commemorating the 70th anniversary of World War II’s end and the Civil War sesquicentennial. In French, the ensemble will sing Francis Poulenc’s monumental and rarely-performed “Figure Humaine” (“The Face of Man”), composed in 1943 in occupied France and featuring Paul Éluard’s poems of the resistance. Amid more familiar Civil War pieces, Skylark also will perform songs recently rediscovered by Duke University’s Historic American Sheet Music Project.
The Atlanta History Center will display artifacts from the Civil War and World War II at both concerts.
Both concerts at 7:30 p.m. $30, $20 seniors, free for students, music educators. St. Bart's: 1790 LaVista Road N.E., Atlanta. Immaculate Heart: 2855 Briarcliff Road N.E., Atlanta. www.skylarkensemble.org.
Credit: hpousner
Credit: hpousner
Rare performance of Mozart comic opera
Capitol City Opera Company will present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s lighthearted comic opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio” in three performances next weekend at Oglethorpe University’s Conant Performing Arts Center.
Filled with pirates, kidnapping and daring rescues, “Abduction” tells the tale of the hero Belmonte and his servant Pedrillo and their attempt to rescue the beautiful Constanza and Blonde from the seraglio (or harem) of Pasha Selim.
Capitol City’s production will be sung in English and accompanied by string quartet and piano. “Abduction” has not been performed in Atlanta in 35 years, according to the opera company.
Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday, March 27, and Saturday, March 28, and 3 p.m. March 29. 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. Tickets ($40, $30 ages 60 and up, students and military with I.D.) at ccityopera.org.
Gay Chorus honors ‘(Un)Sung Heroes’
From classical composer Pytor Tchaikovsky to rock musician Melissa Etheridge and Broadway composers Stephen Sondheim to singer-songwriter Matt Alber, the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus spring concert “(Un)Sung Heroes” will cover a lot of musical terrain.
The connecting thread, according to the ensemble, is that these and other artists whose works it will sing in three performances this weekend, joined by Alber, are or were “LGBT musicians who have made an impact both on the arts and the LGBT community.”
Said Kevin Robison, in his eighth year as the AGMC’s conductor, “Due to the times, in some cases we’ve had to rely on the history books as context to how they lived their lives. Regardless, the contributions they’ve made — and continue to make — to our society comprise a fitting theme for this concert.”
Other artists whose music or poems will be performed include Walt Whitman, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Jerry Herman and Andrew Lippa.
"Heroes" will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, March 27, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28, at Druid Hills United Methodist Church, 1200 Ponce de Leon Ave. N.E., Atlanta. Tickets, $30-$35, 404-320-1030, voicesofnote.org.
Credit: hpousner
Credit: hpousner
