AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS FORGING AN AMERICAN MUSICAL IDENTITY AT CARNEGIE HALL ON JANUARY 30

Program Marks 250th Anniversary of Declaration of Independence

Soloists are Soprano Anna Thompson, Mezzo-Soprano J’Nai Bridges, Tenor Freddie Ballentine, and Bass Alan Williams

New York, NY, January 5, 2026 — Music director Leon Botstein leads the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) on Friday, January 30 at 8 PM at Carnegie Hall in a program celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The performance highlights the forging of an American musical identity in the 19th and 20th centuries with a diverse selection of seldom-heard works.

Soloists feature soprano Anna Thompson, Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts and a recently named 2025 Sullivan Foundation award-winner; two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, who makes her house debut this season in the title role of Carmen at Teatro Real in Madrid; Grammy Award-winning tenor Freddie Ballentine, making a 2026 return to the Metropolitan Opera as Sportin’ Life in Porgy & Bess; and bass Alan Williams, who joins the New York Philharmonic this season to sing Saariaho’s Oltra mar with conductor Thomas Adès on the podium.

American Symphony Orchestra can next be heard in a program featuring Hector Berlioz’s arrangement of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz—sung in French with recitatives composed by Berlioz—on April 16 at Carnegie Hall.

Forging an American Musical Identity
Friday, January 30, 2026, at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage

Pre-concert Talk at 7 PM
Concert at 8 PM
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Music Director
Anna Thompson, soprano
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Freddie Ballentine, tenor
Alan Williams, bass
Bard Festival Chorale
James Bagwell, Music Director of the Bard Festival Chorale
Dudley Buck: Festival Overture (on the American National Air, “The Star-Spangled Banner”)
Harry T. Burleigh: “Go down, Moses,” “Behold that Star!,” “Swing low, sweet chariot”
Richard Wagner: Großer Festmarsch (American Centennial March)
George Bristow: Symphony No. 5, “Niagara”

Pre-concert Talk at 7 PM
Concert at 8 PM
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Music Director
Anna Thompson, soprano
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Freddie Ballentine, tenor
Alan Williams, bass
Bard Festival Chorale
James Bagwell, Music Director of the Bard Festival Chorale
Dudley Buck: Festival Overture (on the American National Air, “The Star-Spangled Banner”)
Harry T. Burleigh: “Go down, Moses,” “Behold that Star!,” “Swing low, sweet chariot”
Richard Wagner: Großer Festmarsch (American Centennial March)
George Bristow: Symphony No. 5, “Niagara”

The program begins with two works of celebration: American composer Dudley Buck’s Festival Overture, a seven-minute piece for full orchestra, was written in 1879 to celebrate Independence Day and is based on the melody of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which the composer called the “American National Air.” He was for many years organist, choirmaster, and assistant conductor of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in New York. The premiere of Richard Wagner’s American Centennial March was specially commissioned from the famed German opera composer for the Declaration of Independence’s centennial celebration in 1876 in Philadelphia. President and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant were in attendance, although Wagner was not. Also featured on the program are three spirituals arranged and orchestrated by innovative composer Harry T. Burleigh: “Go down, Moses,” “Behold that Star,” and “Swing low, sweet chariot.” America’s first prominent Black composer, Burleigh’s legacy is honored here for his important influence and major contributions to American concert music and the history of American art song. The concert’s centerpiece is George Bristow’s massive “Niagara Symphony” in its first performance since the work’s 1898 world premiere, performed by the Manuscript Society at Carnegie Hall. The choral symphony was inspired by poet Charles Walker Lord’s verses on Niagara Falls.

Tickets, priced at $25–$65, are available at carnegiehall.org, at 212.247.7800, or by visiting the box office at 57th St. & 7th Ave.

American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) was founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski with the mission of providing great music for everyone. Leon Botstein expanded that focus when he joined the ASO as Music Director in 1992 by creating concerts that explore music through the lens of the visual arts, literature, religion, and history, as well as by reviving rarely performed works that audiences would otherwise never hear performed live.

The ASO’s signature programming includes its Vanguard Series, which features concerts of seldomperformed orchestral repertoire presented at Carnegie Hall, Bryant Park, and other historic venues, and its Chamber Series—curated by ASO’s musicians—offering concert programs dedicated to reflecting the diverse perspectives of American culture. During the summer, the ASO is the orchestra-in-residence at Bard’s SummerScape and performs at the Bard Music Festival. All ASO presentations comprise a year-round series of vital and innovative programming for audiences of all backgrounds.

As part of its commitment to expanding the standard orchestral repertoire and ensuring accessibility to musical masterpieces, the ASO offers free streaming of exclusive live recordings on its digital platform, ASO Online. Content includes SummerScape operas, chamber performances, and short films. In many cases, these are the only existing recordings of some of the forgotten works that have been restored through ASO performances. Details of the ASO’s 2025-26 season are available at americansymphony.org.

Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein has been music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is also music director of The Orchestra Now, an innovative training orchestra composed of top musicians from around the world. He is co-artistic director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music
Festival, which take place at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where he has been president since 1975. Mr. Botstein is also active as a guest conductor and can be heard on numerous recordings with the London Symphony (including a GRAMMY nominated recording of Popov’s First Symphony), the London Philharmonic, NDR-Hamburg, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Botstein has revived numerous neglected operas, creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for concertgoers and global audiences. Including rare repertoire such as Schoenberg’s massive Gurre-Lieder and the accompanying short-film, which documented the monumental undertaking, Strauss’s first opera, Guntram, and the U.S. Premiere of Sergei Taneyev’s final work, At the Reading of a Psalm. His recording of Paul Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with the ASO was named one of the top recordings of 2015 by several publications, and his recent recording of Gershwin piano music with the Royal Philharmonic was hailed by The Guardian and called “something special…in a crowded field” by Musicweb International. He is a prolific author and music historian and the recipient of numerous honors for his contributions to the music industry. In 2019, The New York Times named Leon Botstein a “champion of overlooked works…who has tirelessly worked to bring to light worthy scores by neglected composers.” More info online at LeonBotstein.com.

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.

Images from left to right: Anna Thompson, ©Elvis Herrera; J’Nai Bridges, ©Dario Acosta; Freddie Ballentine, ©Daniel Welch; and Alan Williams, ©Blake Nelson.

Media Contact

Pascal Nadon
Pascal Nadon Communications
Phone: 646.234.7088
Email: pascal@pascalnadon.com