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.

October already?

During our last posting back in May, we were just starting to reap the benefits of Daylight Savings Time with increasingly longer days. Can you believe it's now almost time to turn the clocks back? On Sunday, Nov. 4, give a shout out to Ben Franklin (who first conceived the idea) as you blearily get out of bed. Since, it is a Sunday though, don't get too angry with him. He did have a hand in that whole electricity thing which powers your home, and more specifically that very alarm clock. Hm. On the other hand, maybe you should grumble. Loudly.

But! All is not lost for that weekend. On Saturday, Nov. 3, you can leave the country without all the annoying jet lag, lost time, and pesky conversion rates by attending ASO's second performance of the season, "Exuberance." Transport yourself to Old World Germany and Austria, as the ASO performs Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and German Dance No. 12 along with Brahms' Symphony No. 4 at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall (NOVA Campus, Alexandria).

What exactly makes these pieces special? According to Peter Fay, WETA "Around Town" panelist and ASO concert lecturer, Beethoven's German Dance No. 12 showcases a "lightness and airiness" that the composer takes to "new musical heights." In addition, Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 is a hidden jewel nestled between his better known Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 and has been called by Robert Schumann "a slender Greek maiden between two Norse gods." It's like seeing your favorite band play something from their back catalogue that you rarely get to hear live. You might not hear it again for a while, but it doesn't matter, because you always have it in the back of your head.

Not to be outdone, Brahms' Symphony No. 4 is a grandly sweeping piece now considered to be one of Brahms' undoubted masterpieces. It would be that last symphony Brahms' would write before his death in 1897.

Tickets are $20-$80 with special discounts for students, seniors, and group sales. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.alexsym.org/ or call 703-548-0885.

Links of Interest:

Buy Tickets

Daylight Savings Time

The Electric Franklin