GAINESVILLE - Music Director Robert Spano makes his debut performance in Gainesville as The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra returns for their 29th consecutive year of performances for local audiences. <br>
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The Arts Council, BB&T and Georgia Printing present this season's concert on Sunday, February 29 beginning at 2:30 in Brenau University's Pearce Auditorium.<br>
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Officials with the Arts Council say Spano is recognized internationally as one of America's outstanding conductors, acclaimed for leading vital, musically distinguished performances as well as for the breadth of repertoire he explores and his consistently imaginative programming. He has conducted nearly every major North American orchestra, including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Toronto Symphony, as well as the Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Houston Grand Opera. <br>
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As Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra since 1996, he has brought the orchestra to serious international attention. <br>
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His most recent recording with the ASO is Rainbow Body, with 20th-century classics by Barber and Copland paired with intriguing new works by Higdon and Theofanidis. The Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, recorded with the ASO and Chorus and released to widespread acclaim, swept the Grammy Awards in 2003, winning awards in all three categories for which it was eligible.<br>
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An accomplished pianist, Spano performs chamber music with many of his colleagues from the Atlanta Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Oberlin Conservatory and this season will appear with the Emory Chamber Music Society as part of ASO Connect!, a chamber music initiative of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. <br>
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Born in Conneaut, Ohio, and raised in Elkhart, Indiana, Spano grew up in a musical family, composing and playing flute, violin, and piano. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, he studied conducting with Robert Baustian and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Max Rudolf.<br>
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The program for the ASO's performance in Gainesville is Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K.551 ("Jupiter") and Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27.<br>
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