Forging a new partnership with Kupferberg Center for the Arts, the ASO will co-present a free Sunday matinee at Queens College/CUNY. The program highlights the different forms of expression and musical languages that emerged in the 1920s, including new elements of dance, theater and jazz.

In the years immediately following World War I, the American artistic scene experienced an extraordinary burst of creativity. Responding to the horror and brutality of that war, artists, writers and composers rejected the exalted ideals of the previous century, focusing instead on creating new means of expression, ones that would accurately reflect the realities this new age required. With jazz, many American composers found a new source of inspiration, one distinctly American, as well as thoroughly fresh, modern and exciting. Some of the works offered on this program reflect a fascination in the Roaring Twenties with this language, with its irresistible rhythmic energy and catchy melodies. Other composers sought to push the boundaries of musical expression with radical, ‘ultra-modern’ languages. Whether by polytonality, jagged counterpoint and asymmetric ostinatos, or brash atonality—in which melody, harmony and rhythm are harshly distorted and deconstructed—the experimental impulses of this generation are presented here in its arguably finest exponents.

**IMPORTANT** All reservations are currently filled. Be advised that there are no physical tickets for this event. All guests will need to arrive by 2:50pm the latest on the day of the event to check-in with our staff at the door and to claim their reserved tickets.

Due to the overwhelming response we have received for the performance, all reservations will be filled on a first-come first-served basis. Registered guests that have not arrived by 2:50pm will have their tickets released to the waitlisted guests. Guests may join the waitlist at the door, but admittance is not guaranteed.

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The ASO’s Vanguard Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.