Billed as ATL Symphony Musicians, members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will perform a Feb. 19 concert with 200 singers of the advanced choirs of Lassiter and Walton high schools.
The 7:30 p.m. concert in Lassiter’s new concert hall stems from an offer extended by leaders of the ASO Players Association, the musicians’ union, in August when it was locked in acrimonious contract negotiations with symphony management that led to a work stoppage.
Adding fuel to an already heated situation, it was reported that orchestra management had disinvited the Cobb County schools from singing in the ASO’s holiday programs because the choirs weren’t “diverse enough.”
ASO President and CEO Stanley Romanstein vehemently denied the remark, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was “taken out of context.”
But many in Cobb took exception, and the ASO musicians offered their own olive branch in the form of the free performance offer.
A news release about the concert, which will benefit booster associations of both Cobb schools, made no reference to the diversity issue.
Asked whether there were lingering hard feelings about the matter, Cobb County School District spokesman Jay Dillon responded to the AJC: “We have addressed the ‘diversity’ question repeatedly and do not intend to address it again. This concert is an opportunity for the schools and the ASO to put that behind and move forward.”
ASO staff conductor Jere Flint will lead the ATL Symphony Musicians in a program that includes selections by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Orff. Chorus directors Brian and Jana Williams (of Lassiter and Walton, respectively) will lead the high school singers.
“We at Lassiter Chorus are absolutely thrilled to be able to perform with Walton Chorus and the ATL Symphony Musicians,” Brian Williams said in a statement. “It is this type of collaboration that can spark our students’ musical imaginations and potentially change their lives forever.”
Tickets are available for $21 at www.wepay.com/events/waltonlassiteraso-musicians-concert_1.
Meanwhile, in their regular identity as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the musicians will next perform a program of Tchaikovsky and Rodrigo, featuring guitarist Milos Karadaglic, on Thursday, Friday and Sunday in Symphony Hall. For information, call 404-733-5000 or go to www.atlantasymphony.org.
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