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TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2013
pre-concert lecture at 7 pm
purchase tickets >>
directions to Alice Tully Hall>>

Mozart and Rossini	Arias
Witt	Symphony in C
Mendelssohn	Symphony No 5, "Reformation"

Layla Claire, soprano
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Thomas C. Crawford, Music Director

ACO was a participant in Daniel Pearl World Music Days in October.

Reviews

Crain's New York Business, Theresa Agovino (February 10, 2013): "When the orchestra played a concert at Alice Tully Hall last week, the aggregate value for its 43 instruments was $2 million, or an average of $46,511. A 1780 Bergonzi bass was valued at $250,000, and a circa-1690 Giovanni Battista Rogeri violin at $175,000. In contrast, an especially good concert violin made in the past few years could cost about $10,000, experts said. 'The instruments just sound richer,' said Vincent Gardino, the orchestra's executive director.”

The New York Times, James R. Oestreich (November 28, 2012): "The Magnificat was presented in the 1733 version, with four movements appropriate to the Christmas season interpolated from the original version of 1723....Light, clear and pleasant voices predominated among the soloists....In the Bach prelude and fugue Mr. D’Agostino drew mighty and attractive sounds from Tully Hall’s Kuhn organ and extended his unobtrusive but imaginative embellishments even to the fugue subject."

The New York Times, Zachary Woolfe (October 16, 2012): "...it was in parts of the Mendelssohn that the sound of the period instruments was most distinctive. The softer, almost waxy antique woodwinds gave the overture an appropriately dreamlike cast, and the rawer-sounding trumpets made you hear a newly grand quality in the familiar Wedding March."

The New York Times, Allan Kozinn (April 10, 2012): "Thomas C. Crawford's American Classical Orchestra is working hard to be the period instrument orchestra that survives and thrives in New York, where so many have foundered. It is, in a way, a stealth contender....the orchestra devoted itself to works by Mozart and Beethoven, presented in trim, sculpted readings that captured the vigor and zest of the historical style...."

The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (May 19, 2011): "With Mr. Crawford drawing stylish, lively playing from the orchestra; a gifted cast; and an inventive semi-staging by Cynthia Edwards, this performance put the piece [Grétry’s Richard Coeur de Lion] across beautifully."

The New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer ( October 5, 2010 ): "... an excellent rendition of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”), which Mr. Crawford conducted from memory in an interpretation notable for its buoyancy and spirit."

The New York Times, Steven Smith (April 26, 2010): "Mr. Crawford’s conception of the Beethoven registered clearly enough in a taut, driven first movement; a crisp, sharply articulated Molto Vivace; and a sweetly spun Adagio."

The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini (November 18, 2009):
"I liked almost everything about the program: the informed, earnest and lively if sometimes scrappy performances; the alluring tonal qualities of the period instruments, especially the mellow strings and the dark reedy woodwinds; the chance to hear a titanic work like Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony played in an intimate hall."

The New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer (May 6, 2009): "Thomas C. Crawford conducted the orchestra from the harpsichord in a lithe reading of the melodic score...."

info@aconyc.org
212.362.2727

Thomas C. Crawford

Music Director and Conductor

Maestro Crawford's training as a conductor, composer, and impresario make him uniquely qualified to champion the cause of a period instrument orchestra for New York City. He has conducted world-renowned artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, André Watts, Dawn Upshaw, Richard Goode, Victor Borge, Monica Huggett and Vladimir Feltsman. He has released numerous recordings with the ACO featuring artists such as Malcolm Bilson and Keith Jarrett. Mr. Crawford has been recognized for his dedication to music education through school programs and lectures.

As Music Director and Founder of the ACO, Mr. Crawford is active in numerous musical disciplines as conductor, composer, and organist. As a conductor, Mr. Crawford is a champion of both historically accurate performance styles of the Baroque and Classical repertoire and of new American music. He has distinguished himself as a composer in many idioms and has been especially prolific in vocal music.

Mr. Crawford founded the Fairfield Orchestra in 1980. In 1985 he also started the Orchestra of the Old Fairfield Academy, Connecticut's first regularly performing period instrument ensemble. In 1998, after achieving success in performances and professional recordings with both orchestras, Mr. Crawford changed the name of his ensembles to the American Classical Orchestra in order to focus exclusively on period instruments.

Mr. Crawford's orchestral training comes from Samuel Adler of the Eastman School of Music and from Hugo Fiorato, Conductor of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. He holds a Master of Arts degree in composition from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Music degree in both composition and organ performance from the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Crawford has held church and choral directing positions in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He has served as Director of the Westchester Boys Choir and has guest conducted numerous oratorio choirs throughout the region. His choral training comes from Westminster Choir College in Princeton.