Albany Symphony Orchestra
The Albany Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is a professional symphony orchestra based in Albany, New York.
Founded in 1930 as the People's Orchestra of Albany by Italian-born conductor John Carabella, the Albany Symphony is the oldest professional symphony orchestra based in New York's Capital District. The ASO annually performs at performance venues such as The Palace Theatre in Albany, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY, Canfield Casino at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs, NY, and the First United Methodist Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
David Alan Miller has served as Music Director and Conductor of the orchestra since 1992. Former music directors have included John Carabella, Rudolf Thomas, Ole Windingstad, Edgar Curtis, Julius Hegyi, and Geoffrey Simon.
The ASO celebrated its 75th anniversary during the 2005/2006 season, which included solo appearances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer, violinist Yura Lee, baritone Nathan Myers, violinist Colin Jacobsen, pianist Joel Fan, violinist Jonathan Gandelsman, clarinetist Susan Martula, pianist Findlay Cockrell, percussionist Colin Currie flutist Paolo Bortolussi, pianist Yefim Bronfman, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and Frederic Lacroix. Also during the season, the ASO presented several world premiere performances of ASO commissioned works by composers such as Stephen Dankner, Michael Woods, Bun Ching Lam, Carolyn Yarnell, and Michael Torke.
Also, this past season, the 77th, the ASO featured Joshua Bell in a concert where the young violinist played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and selections from West Side Story.
Since the 1980s, the ASO has released more than 20 CDs, encompassing nearly 60 works, for New World Records, CRI, Albany Records, Argo, and London/Decca.
Read more about Albany Symphony Orchestra: Members As of June 2006, Discography
Famous quotes containing the words symphony and/or orchestra:
“The truth is, as every one knows, that the great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man—that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense—has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading, and it is highly improbable that the thing has ever been done by a virtuous woman.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“As the artist
extends his world with
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—Denise Levertov (b. 1923)