Vanguard Series

Continuing a partnership forged between the American Symphony Orchestra and the Bryant Park Corporation in the wake of COVID-19, the ASO will present a free concert to celebrate its 60th Anniversary. The program celebrates composers who have influenced the artistic landscape of New York and works that were inspired by our city. The program opens…

In post-Fascist Italy, Luigi Nono attempted to reverse the darkness of Mussolini and rescue art from being the handmaiden of the state. His one-act opera Intolleranza 1960 speaks out against dictatorship. It follows a migrant worker travelling home as he gets caught up in a political protest, is tortured in prison, and escapes to fight…

Despite the brutal suppression of Jewish culture in the late 1940s under Stalin, Jewish composers sustained a vibrant and active musical culture, as these grippingly beautiful works reveal. Explore the tenacity of Jewish culture through one of its most embattled phases. Expression cannot be silenced, especially when friends like Shostakovich have the courage to help.…

Each of these composers was influenced by confrontation with authoritarian regimes, both fascist and communist. This concert reveals the compositional response to resistance, inner emigration, and exile by three leading twentieth-century composers from Russia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the music in a lively 30-minute Conductor’s Notes Q&A at 7 PM…

American democracy was shaped by the ideals, vision, and principles of its leaders, particularly Roosevelt and Kennedy. These presidents protected our liberties, including freedom of expression, and stood by the common people against the interests of the rich and powerful. Their legacy inspired the music of Sessions, Bernstein, and Copland, who wrote Canticle of Freedom…

England’s greatest composer since Purcell wrote a magnificent but rarely-heard setting of the New Testament. Elgar’s The Apostles follows the story of the Twelve through the Resurrection. On a par with his previous choral work, The Dream of Gerontius, this oratorio is at once sublime and heartbreakingly human. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the…

Though right in the center of the group of countries that defined the western musical tradition, Czech composers often felt like outsiders looking in. Perhaps it was this strange perspective that led to these four composers producing what has been thought to be some of the most original and influential works of the early 20th…

Two one-act operas with strikingly different reactions to tyranny. The Dictator (1928) explores the rise of a charismatic fascist leader, based loosely on Mussolini. Day of Peace (1938) remains controversial for its ambiguous sentiments towards the Nazis; it did not meet with favor by the regime. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the music in…