Concert preview
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s “Performance on the Promenade” series
7:30 p.m. May 17 and 23 at Piedmont Park (rain or shine). Free but tickets (general admission seating) are required via atlantasymphony.org. Tickets for May 17 performance available at 10 a.m. May 3. Tickets for May 23 concert available at 10 a.m. May 10. Information: aso.org/piedmontpark.
Programs
- May 17: Selections from Brahms' Hungarian Dances, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (with concertmaster David Coucheron as soloist), Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. Conducted by principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles.
- May 23: Overture to Bernstein's "Candide," Christopher Theofanidis' "Rainbow Body," Gershwin's "An American in Paris," "Symphonic Dances" from Bernstein's "West Side Story," and John Williams' suite from "Star Wars." Conducted by music director Robert Spano.
A rain drought and then a drought of the funding variety kept the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra from presenting its popular free concerts in Piedmont Park for five years. But the ASO announced Tuesday it plans to resume the tradition this spring.
The orchestra and its new partner, the Piedmont Park Conservancy, plan to present a two-concert “Performance on the Promenade” series May 17 and 23. But instead of playing on the expansive lawn off 10th Street, the concerts will take place on the Promenade. The recently reclaimed area is in the park’s northwest corner, adjacent to the Legacy Fountain area where Georgia Shakespeare relaunched its own series last summer and close to the parking deck beside Atlanta Botanical Garden.
The music-making will start at 7:30 both nights, but first-come-first-served seating will begin at 6. While the concerts will be free, audience members will have to secure advance tickets from the ASO’s website (see details in box), with maximum capacity expected to be set between 2,500 and 3,000.
The ASO is happy to have some good news to trumpet after its 68th season got off to a rough start last fall. Rancorous contract negotiations between the administration and its musicians led to a lockout and then reduced player pay and benefits.
But orchestra president and CEO Stanley E. Romanstein said planning with the Piedmont Park Conservancy predated the contract issues by many months and is more related to a shared commitment of administrators and players to “reconnect with this community in a deeper and more meaningful way.”
The ASO leader said that he’s regularly asked by subscribers, other members of the public and even musicians, who work in an industry where indoor performances are greatly preferred to the wild card of outdoor acoustics, to bring back the park concerts.
The concerts in Piedmont were launched in 1976, but concerns about protecting the park during a protracted drought caused the events to be moved to other locations in 2008 and 2009. The series was mothballed starting in 2010 due to a lack of funding.
Romanstein said he was “thrilled” when principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles (who will lead the first concert) and music director Robert Spano (who will conduct the second one) insisted on being on the podium for the return to Piedmont Park.
The return to Piedmont began to take shape in January 2012, when an ASO board member seated Romanstein and Conservancy president and CEO Yvette Bowden next to each other at a dinner, encouraging the idea that their getting to know each other could be mutually beneficial.
They quickly discovered they both wanted to bring the ASO back to Piedmont, and they began work to raise $150,000 and other support from sponsor Bank of America, as well as three foundations (Charles Loridans, Mark and Evelyn Trammell and Vasser Woolley) and Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs. The Conservancy is not charging the orchestra rent, the ASO leader said.
“It seems like this is a win for everybody,” Romanstein said, “certainly for the people of Atlanta, for the ASO, for the Conservancy and for our funders. This is something that everybody wanted to see happen and everybody has worked together to make it happen.”
