Astoria Symphony
Encyclopedia
The Astoria Symphony is a professional orchestra based in Astoria, New York, in the borough of Queens
. The orchestra performs at least six programs annually, and each program includes a performance in their home turf in Queens, and a performance in Manhattan. The official home of the Astoria Symphony is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Astoria, Queens, NY. The Astoria Symphony is the only professional orchestra that regularly serves western Queens.
The orchestra
was founded by conductor Silas Nathaniel Huff in 2002, and performed fifteen concerts in its inaugural season. The Astoria Symphony's first performance in September 2003 under Maestro Huff's baton included Felix Mendelssohn
's Die Hebriden, the Mozart Flute Concerto, and Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("Drumroll"). Since then, the orchestra has performed a wide range of repertoire including Vivaldi's Gloria, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Brahms' A German Requiem, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Symphonies No. 8 & 9, Piano Concertos 3 & 5, and Egmont
Overture, Stravinsky's Firebird
, Ives
' Unanswered Question, Lukas Foss
' Elegy for Anne Frank, and many more, including a number of world premieres. These performances have taken place in LaGaurdia Performing Arts Center (Long Island City), Symphony Space (Upper West Side), Riverside Church
, Central Park
's Naumberg Bandshell, and the Manhattan Jewish Community Center, among others.
The Astoria Symphony is the flagship ensemble of the Astoria Music Society, which also includes the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, a chamber music series, and an education program aimed at increasing awareness of classical and contemporary orchestral music.
Astoria Symphony's website: http://www.astoriamusic.org
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. The orchestra performs at least six programs annually, and each program includes a performance in their home turf in Queens, and a performance in Manhattan. The official home of the Astoria Symphony is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Astoria, Queens, NY. The Astoria Symphony is the only professional orchestra that regularly serves western Queens.
The orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
was founded by conductor Silas Nathaniel Huff in 2002, and performed fifteen concerts in its inaugural season. The Astoria Symphony's first performance in September 2003 under Maestro Huff's baton included Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's Die Hebriden, the Mozart Flute Concerto, and Haydn's Symphony No. 103 ("Drumroll"). Since then, the orchestra has performed a wide range of repertoire including Vivaldi's Gloria, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
Unfinished Symphony
Unfinished Symphony is a 59-minute documentary film about a protest against the Vietnam War divided into three sections, mirroring the movements of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3, the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, to which the film is set...
, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Brahms' A German Requiem, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, Symphonies No. 8 & 9, Piano Concertos 3 & 5, and Egmont
Egmont (Beethoven)
Egmont, Op. 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture followed by a sequence of nine additional pieces for soprano, male narrator and full symphony orchestra...
Overture, Stravinsky's Firebird
The Firebird
The Firebird is a 1910 ballet created by the composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Michel Fokine. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird of the same name that is both a blessing and a curse to its captor....
, Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
' Unanswered Question, Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss
Lukas Foss was a German-born American composer, conductor, and pianist.-Music career:He was born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922. His father was the philosopher and scholar Martin Fuchs...
' Elegy for Anne Frank, and many more, including a number of world premieres. These performances have taken place in LaGaurdia Performing Arts Center (Long Island City), Symphony Space (Upper West Side), Riverside Church
Riverside Church
The Riverside Church in the City of New York is an interdenominational church in New York City, famous for its elaborate Neo-Gothic architecture—which includes the world's largest tuned carillon bell...
, Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
's Naumberg Bandshell, and the Manhattan Jewish Community Center, among others.
The Astoria Symphony is the flagship ensemble of the Astoria Music Society, which also includes the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, a chamber music series, and an education program aimed at increasing awareness of classical and contemporary orchestral music.
Astoria Symphony's website: http://www.astoriamusic.org