American Symphony Orchestra – 50th Birthday Celebration

The Collegiate Chorale announces its upcoming performance with the American Symphony Orchestra in their 50th Anniversary Celebration that pays tribute to pioneering ASO founder Leopold Stokowski. Current ASO Music Director Leon Botstein conducts this program made up of three works that mark milestones in Stokowski’s career and features an array of soloists, as well as the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and The Collegiate Chorale.

The celebration on October 26, 2012 at 8pm begins with a special arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner created by Stokowski for the American Symphony Orchestra. The anthem will be followed by Charles Ives’ Fourth Symphony, which was premiered by Stokowski and the ASO at Carnegie Hall in 1965. Composed between 1910 and 1925, the symphony evolved over time and, like many of Ives’ works, makes reference to a range of musical styles including American indigenous music, the European classical tradition and even Ives’ own earlier compositions.

The evening concludes with Gustav Mahler’s monumental Eighth Symphony, the U.S. premiere of which was conducted by Stokowski (this time with the Philadelphia Orchestra). In this incarnation, the oft-dubbed “Symphony of a Thousand” (which Mahler himself referred to as his greatest work,) will feature massive instrumental and vocal forces, with The Collegiate Chorale and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus placed not only on stage but also around the hall. For more information about this concert, please visit www.americansymphony.org.