ASO's Free Concerts Return to Piedmont Park in May

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Piedmont Park Conservancy announced this week that the Orchestra will return to Piedmont Park as part of the Bank of America presents “Performance on the Promenade” concert series, Friday, May 17, and Thursday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m.

The orchestra’s two free concerts will take place on The Promenade — located in the northwest corner of the park. The May 17 concert will mark the first performance in this new public space at Piedmont Park, and the orchestra’s first appearance in the park since 2007.

The first concert on May 17 will be led by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles and will feature Concertmaster David Coucheron playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto; the second concert on May 23 will be an all-American program led by Music Director Robert Spano.

The Atlanta Symphony’s history at Piedmont Park dates back to its initial performances in 1976 with Robert Shaw. Since then, the ASO has performed more than 100 performances in the park, reaching hundreds of thousands of Atlantans through these free concerts.

“The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has a long and wonderful history of performing at Piedmont Park,” said Atlanta Symphony Orchestra President & CEO Stanley E. Romanstein, Ph.D in a press release. “These free outdoor concerts are a beloved Atlanta tradition. We are delighted to be returning to Piedmont Park with Maestros Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles to bring these great live musical experiences to our community.”

"We are thrilled with the return of free concerts in Piedmont Park,” said Piedmont Park Conservancy President and CEO Yvette Bowden in the release. “Great parks, music, and culture are all essential to great cities. There is no better place to bring it all together than beautiful Piedmont Park."

The concert on Friday, May 17, will feature Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles leading the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in selections from Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Concertmaster David Coucheron as soloist, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Music Director Robert Spano will lead the Orchestra in the concert on Thursday, May 23, which will include the Overture to Bernstein’s Candide, Christopher Theofanidis’s Rainbow Body, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, “Symphonic Dances” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, and the Suite from Star Wars by John Williams.

Admission is free to the general public, but tickets for general admission seating are required. Tickets for the May 17 performance will be available on Friday, May 3, 2013, at 10am, and tickets for the May 23 performance will be available on Friday, May 10, 2013, at 10am. Complimentary tickets are available online at atlantasymphony.org.

Additional details are available at aso.org/piedmontpark.