This is a recording of a preconcert lecture Robert Shaw gave on April 9, 1987, just before that season’s first performance of the Verdi Requiem. Two days later, he would lead the orchestra and chorus in a Telarc recording of the Requiem that, to this day, is one of the most successful ASO recordings of all time, with Susan Dunn, Jerry Hadley, Paul Plishka, and Diane Curry as soloists. That ensemble traveled to Carnegie Hall soon thereafter for a performance that was widely acclaimed.
 
This recording was made by ASO Board Member John White using a hand-held microphone and a DAT recorder, so the sound quality is imperfect. Retired ASO staffer Nick Jones assisted Shaw, who used the historic 1940 Toscanini recording as his reference work.

Robert Shaw Lecture on Verdi's Requiem

Adam Schoenberg: American Symphony - V. stars, stripes and celebration

"He was so kind and helpful to me, while always pushing me to be the best that I could be."

#Shaw100th: Donna Carter Remembers Robert Shaw

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, January 9, 2020 8:00 PM
Saturday, January 11, 2020 8:00 PM

Robert Spano, conductor
Jorge Federico Osorio, piano

Full Program:
KRISTS AUZNIEKS: Crossing 
DE FALLA: Nights in the Gardens of Spain
PROKOFIEV: Selections from Romeo and Juliet

Celebrated throughout the world, the gardens of Andalusia are a wondrous blend of Roman and Moorish architecture bejeweled by intensely-hued tiles and fountains. Spanish composer Manuel de Falla draws you into these intoxicating spaces through the piano showpiece Nights in the Gardens of Spain. Robert Spano welcomes the elegant Mexican virtuoso Jorge Federico Osorio to perform this hypnotic score. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra closes the program with selections from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet masterpiece Romeo and Juliet.

Nights in the Gardens of Spain

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
February 11-13, 2010 (Mozart)
February 8-11, 2018 (Beethoven)

Roberto Abbado, conductor
Jorge Federico Osorio, piano

Kiera Duffy, soprano
Krisztina Szabó, mezzo-soprano
Colin Balzer, tenor
Matthew Burns, bass
Peter Marshall, organ
ASO Chorus
Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses

Full Program:
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1
MOZART: Church Sonata in C major for Organ and Strings, K. 328
MOZART: Mass in C major, K. 317 ("Coronation")
MOZART: Church Sonata in C major for Organ and Orchestra, K. 278

Abaddo Leads Beethoven and Mozart

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, February 14, 2019 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 16, 2019 8:00 PM

Stephen Mulligan, conductor
Nikolai Lugansky, piano

Full Program:
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 1
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3

Rachmaninov wrote his Third Piano Concerto in 1909 for one of the greatest players of all time: himself. The savagely difficult "Rach 3" is a dazzler, especially in the hands of the "most trailblazing and meteoric performer" Nikolai Lugansky [Gramophone]. The Finnish nature-lover Jean Sibelius brings an earthy contrast to the concerto with his shimmering, Nordic-flavored Symphony No. 1. Led by ASO Assistant Conductor and ASYO Music Director Stephen Mulligan, pianist Nikolai Lugansky makes his Delta Classical Series debut.

Powerhouse Nikolai Lugansky Debuts in Rach 3

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, September 20, 2018 8:00 PM
Saturday, September 22, 2018 8:00 PM
Sunday, September 23, 2018 3:00 PM

Robert Spano, conductor
Kirill Gerstein, piano

Full Program:
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5

Throughout the 2018/19 season, join Atlanta Symphony Music Director Robert Spano for a Rachmaninov celebration starting with the "flat-out fabulous" Kirill Gerstein [Cleveland Classical] and the Piano Concerto No. 2. One of the best-loved pieces of all time, the "Rach 2" combines luxurious melodies with fistfuls of notes. It's a powerhouse season opener rounded out by Tchaikovsky's high-octane Fifth Symphony.

Rachmaninov's Dreamy Second Piano Concerto

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, February 21, 2019 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 23, 2019 8:00 PM

Robert Spano, conductor
ASO Chorus
Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses

Full Program:
MOZART: Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
VERDI: Four Sacred Pieces

Music Director Robert Spano starts the evening on a natural high with a piece so radiant in its majesty, someone named it for the king of the gods: Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony. Maestro Spano brings out the internationally acclaimed Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus for music by a composer who truly holds the keys to the human heart, the great Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi. Hear his exquisitely inspirational Four Sacred Pieces.

The ASO Chorus Performs Verdi's Four Sacred Pieces

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, November 8, 2018 8:00 PM
Saturday, November 10, 2018 8:00 PM

Roberto Abbado, conductor
Veronika Eberle, violin

Full Program:
ROSSINI: String Sonata No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 8
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto

A curmudgeonly 19th century maestro sniped that the Brahms isn’t a concerto for violin, it's a "concerto against the violin." But the violin wins. Famously difficult, the Brahms concerto combines gypsy bravura with sweet melodies and symphonic muscle to hold a top spot in the hearts of music lovers. Atlanta favorite Roberto Abbado returns to conduct Beethoven's buoyant Eighth Symphony. The concert opens with a piece that serves as a prelude to genius: String Sonata No.1 written by Rossini at the age of 12. Rising star violinist Veronika Eberle makes her Atlanta Symphony debut.

Violinist Veronika Eberle Plays Brahms

WABE Broadcast Featuring Performances from:
Thursday, February 1, 2018 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 3, 2018 8:00 PM

Stephen Mulligan, conductor
Jorge Federico Osorio, piano

Full Program:
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3

After stepping in beautifully earlier in the 17-18 season for Maestro Spano, Assistant Conductor Stephen Mulligan conducted this all-Beethoven program in early February to allow Robert to rest and recover.

The piano as we know it was invented around 1700 by an Italian named Bartolomeo Cristofori. It would be decades before it really caught on. Of the great composers, the first to cut his teeth on the modern instrument was the child prodigy Beethoven. Unlike the harpsichord, the piano can be lyrical, dramatic, loud and soft; it demanded a new, more expressive kind of music. As a powerful young pianist who was out to impress, Beethoven also demanded a new kind of music. Thus, he produced the Second and Third Piano Concertos.

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