Post-Thanksgiving Thanks

First of all, we hope everyone had an amazing, family-filled, and stress-free, Thanksgiving! The supermarkets were packed and parking spaces were few, but it was definitely worth the turkeycranberrysaucestuffingmashedpotatoes mix on our plates. Though Tara the intern was getting visions of that smoking dry meatless turkey from Christmas Vacation, her first Thanksgiving on her own was pretty darn good.

Did you know that Ben Franklin wanted the national bird to be the turkey? It must be a much more regal bird than we give it credit for.

Finally, even though it's past the holiday, we want you to know how thankful we are for all of our patrons, volunteers, donors, and supporters. We're so lucky to have you all year, not just around the holidays!

Links of Interest

Tickets for ASO Holiday Concert

Turkey History and Lore

A Hazy Shade of Winter

We hope everyone was careful driving into work today with all that fog. Does anyone really know what fog is? The definiton is just at hazy as the thing itself. According to Wikipedia, fog is:

"a cloud in contact with the ground. Fog differs from other clouds only in that fog touches the surface of the Earth. The same cloud that is not fog on lower ground may be fog where it contacts higher ground such as hilltops or mountain ridges. Fog is distinct from mist only in its density. Fog is defined as cloud which reduces visibility to less than 1 km, where as mist is that which reduces visibility to less than 2 km."

Even though there's fog on the roads, we don't want you to be foggy about ASO's upcoming concerts. On Sunday, December 9 at 3pm, ASO will be presenting its annual holiday concert (Trinity United Methodist Church, Alexandria). Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online or via phone at 703-548-0885. The ASO will be playing all the seasonal favorites and we encourage you to sing along. As ususal, the more the merrier!

Looking ahead, the new year will bring us three more concerts (Euphoria, Rapture, and Bliss) each being presented on a Saturday night and a Sunday Matinee. We'll also be hosting our annual Children's Festival in June.

We've got lots of great things coming and hope you'll all be here to join us!

Beethoven and Brahms success!

To everyone who came out to our November 3 performance, THANK YOU! We had great attendance and an enthusiastic response. A special thanks also goes out to all our wonderful volunteers (including those from SOLA and T.C. Williams) who helped ensure the night ran smoothly.

Keep warm with the thoughts of mulled apple cider, piping hot cornbread stuffing, and the fuzzy feeling you'll get attending the upcoming holiday concert.

Happy Halloween!

We hope you're enjoying a great excuse to eat lots of candy (it is a holiday, after all). Around the office, we plan to enjoy our favorites: Heath Bars (Adrien), Reece's Peanut Butter Cups (Melissa) and Milk Duds (Tara the Intern). Tonight is also a great night to watch scary movies such as Dracula and Halloween or maybe some not-so-scary like Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein starring Gene Wilder. Speaking of Wilder, he also played the title role in the 70s' classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which would also be an appropriate movie for tonight. ("Who can take tomorrow/Dip it in a dream/Separate the sorrow/And collect up all the cream?/The candyman.")

But maybe in you're in the mood for something so good its scary? Be sure to get tickets for ASO's "Exuberance" happening this Saturday, Nov. 3 at 8PM (Schlesinger Concert Hall, NOVA Community College, Alexandria). You'll hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and German Dance No 12 as well as Brahms' Symphony No. 4. We promise you're in for a treat, not a trick!

Links of Interest:
Buy Tickets
The History of Halloween
The World's Best Candy Bars?

You like me, you really like me

We confess. Though everyone wants their name in lights, we rather like having ours in small black newsprint. In case you missed it, Mark J. Estren of the Washington Post reviewed ASO's opening night performance featuring Carlos Cesar Rodriguez! Halloween came a little early as we received linguistic treats like "thrilling performance," "thunderous applause" and "sheer sonic splendor." Read the whole article here.

P.S. : Only the first section is about us but feel free to read about another ASO, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, below it.