Annapolis Symphony Orchestra

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra has introduced a two-concert Chamber Orchestra Series for the 1997-1998 season.The music that will be performed ranges from classics to modern composers, some of them American. The chamber orchestra's debut will be Sept. 20. will perform.The second concert of the chamber series will be March 28. Subscriptions to the two-concert series start at $34. For information, call 410-263-0907.The orchestra's 1997-1998 regular subscription season includes dramatic Russian symphonies and the U.S. premiere of a new composition.

Sunday, May 5 Mother's Day Tea The Chesapeake Life Center invites women and girls of all ages who are grieving the death of a mother or grandmother to a special Mother's Day Tea at Moulin de Paris, 35 Magothy Beach Road in Pasadena. Event begins at noon and cost is $20 per person. For more information, call 410-987-2129 or go to chesapeakelifecenter.org. Monday, May 6 Photo club The Digital Photography Club of Annapolis meets at 7 p.m. at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase St. in Annapolis.

Annapolis Symphony Orchestra musicians are traveling around Anne Arundel County in a "music van" to share their instruments and instill a little music appreciation in third-graders.ASO Education Director Pamela Chaconas had the idea for the van last summer, and the orchestra was able to put it on the road with a grant from the Cultural Arts Foundation of Anne Arundel County. Ernie Swanson Oldsmobile of Glen Burnie donated a new van, Music and Arts Center in Severna Park lent instruments, and Friends of ASO is supplying volunteers to help.

Classical concerts The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra concludes its season at 8 p.m. May 10-11 at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase St. in Annapolis. Concerts feature pianist Cornelia Herrmann performs Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 and Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2. Tickets $25; $10 for students. For tickets and information: 410-263-0907 or go to annapolissymphony.org. Stargazing "Community Observing Night," sponsored by the AACC Astronomy Club, begins at 7 p.m. May 11. Bring your own telescope and binoculars or use one of the eight telescopes provided by the club to view planets, stars and the moon.

Some great music-making is going on in Annapolis these days. And nowhere was this more evident than at Maryland Hall Friday and Saturday, when Leon Fleisher led the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in three challenging works that provided a short tour of the Austrian and German repertoire.The first stop was the classical period, represented by Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12, which Fleisher, the orchestra's former music director, conducted from the keyboard.Fleisher drew graceful string playing from his orchestra, then repeated those musical lines in his crisp, direct keyboard style.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra saluted the 300th anniversary of its hometown last weekend with a musical history tour that covered the past three centuries and also took a brief look at the present. It seemed doubly appropriate for such activity to take place "during a week when we have been surrounded by historic events," as conductor Jose-Luis Novo noted in remarks to Friday night's audience at Maryland Hall. Novo did not try to fashion a thoroughly cohesive assortment of repertoire but simply offered pieces that helped to illustrate the evolution of styles and orchestra sizes since 1708, when Annapolis was chartered.

Expect nothing but firsts at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts this weekend.The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra presents its first subscription concerts of the 1998-1999 season at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday.Leslie B. Dunner, the ASO's new music director, will take the Maryland Hall stage for the first time since he was appointed conductor in April.Dunner will make his subscription debut with two firsts composed by Johannes Brahms, a giant of 19th-century music whose sumptuously sustained melodic lines and deep orchestral sonorities will be loved as long as great music is played.

Although operating nearly in the shadows of two major orchestras, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra has managed to flourish. From string concerts in private homes and a church basement during the early years to well-subscribed symphonic, pops and family concert series today, the ensemble has gained steadily in support and respectability for four decades now. The orchestra's current strengths were very much in evidence over the weekend as music director Leslie...

Music lovers young and old will have excellent opportunities to indulge their passion next week in Annapolis. The Russian State Symphony is coming to the Naval Academy, and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra is continuing its highly successful series of family concerts with a new offering. The ASO program, geared toward children 4 and older, will be presented twice Sunday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Consider arriving early, because the popular "Meet the Instruments" demonstration will occur before each performance.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra's "adopt a school" program is outreach at its best and reflects the vision of conductor Leslie B. Dunner, who was on hand with orchestra administrators to initiate the program recently at Bates Middle and Germantown Elementary schools.Pamela Chaconas, the orchestra's education director, described the program as an "ongoing relationship," with plans at Bates to include visiting orchestra soloists, master classes with orchestra musicians and some involvement at the spring Family Concert.

Joseph C. Rinaldi, a professional jazz clarinetist and teacher who began his career playing for the swing bands of the 1940s and later became a mainstay of the Peabody Jazz Ensemble, died Tuesday of heart failure at Huggins Hospital in Wolfboro, N.H. He was 85. Joseph Carmen Rinaldi, the son of a barber and a homemaker, was born and raised in Washington, where he graduated from St. John's College High School. Something of a musical prodigy, Mr. Rinaldi was a mere kid when his father gave him a Bb Soprano Curved Saxophone, a rather unusual-looking instrument that he kept and played for the rest of his life.

Today "Read Between the Wines" The event, sponsored by Friends of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Loews Hotel, 126 West St. in Annapolis. Tickets $30. Free parking. Call 410-263-0907 or go to annapolissymphony.org. "Twelfth Night" St. John's College theater troupe, the King William Players, presents its production of Shakespeare's romantic comedy at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. today, and 6 p.m. Monday in the Francis Scott Key Auditorium, 60 College Ave. in Annapolis.

Orchestra to host Read Between the Wines The Friends of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra will hold its second annual Read Between the Wines from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Loews Hotel in Annapolis. The book and wine event, honoring local and regional best-selling and award-winning authors, raises funds for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra. This year's authors include three mystery, two thriller, two young adult/teen, two children's and three nonfiction writers and two illustrator/photographers.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra saluted the 300th anniversary of its hometown last weekend with a musical history tour that covered the past three centuries and also took a brief look at the present. It seemed doubly appropriate for such activity to take place "during a week when we have been surrounded by historic events," as conductor Jose-Luis Novo noted in remarks to Friday night's audience at Maryland Hall. Novo did not try to fashion a thoroughly cohesive assortment of repertoire but simply offered pieces that helped to illustrate the evolution of styles and orchestra sizes since 1708, when Annapolis was chartered.

Christian singer-songwriter Michael W. Smith stops by the 1st Mariner Arena tomorrow to perform a holiday show, "It's a Wonderful Christmas With Michael W. Smith and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra." Showtime is 8 p.m. at the arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. Tickets are $36.50-$57.50. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.com.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra opens its 47th season tonight and tomorrow with a program brought to you by the letter B. Maestro Jose-Luis Novo will begin his third year on the Maryland Hall podium by giving one of the most electrifying downbeats of the symphonic repertoire as his orchestra performs Beethoven's blisteringly intense Coriolan Overture. The music of Brahms is next, with the conductor and guest soloist Soovin Kim joining forces for the great German master's Violin Concerto in D Major.

If the Annapolis Symphony sounded like a different orchestra Saturday night at Maryland Hall, that's because it is a different ensemble from the one that bade farewell to Leslie Dunner last spring. Principal flute Kim Valerio is back after a year playing second chair with the world-class St. Louis Symphony. Several new "acting principals" and "acting associate principals" dot the ranks, and an expanded, refurbished cello section is making an impact. Also, former concertmaster Jose Cueto, an Annapolis Symphony Orchestra fixture in the late 1980s, assumed that same position in an "acting" role for last weekend's concerts.

The performance Saturday of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah" given by the choirs of the Naval Academy and Goucher College with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra was a success on all counts. The grand, stately choruses of "Elijah" were brought to life with elegance and youthful elan by the singers, while the operatic intentions so implicit in Mendelssohn's solo writing were realized fully by the evening's four soloists. The oratorio's libretto, which fast-forwards through the tumultuous life of the great Old Testament prophet, requires much dramatic singing.

The Annapolis Symphony Orchestra 2007-08 season will feature the following subscription performances, all conducted by Maestro Jose-Luis Novo at 8 p.m. at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts: Tonight and tomorrow: Battle of the Titans, featuring violinist Soovin Kim. The program includes Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. Nov. 9-10: Masters of Melody, featuring pianist Jon Nakamatsu. The program includes the world premiere of Dan Visconti's The Breadth of Breaking Waves, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor and Dvorak's Symphony No. 7. Feb. 15-16: Bittersweet Beauty, featuring cellist Julie Albers.

ASO PERFORMANCE Join the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra as it waves farewell to summer and performs the last show of the 2007 Lexus Summer Concert Series. Conducted by ASO music director Jose-Luis Novo, the orchestra will perform a selection of patriotic, Broadway and film classics that will give a preview of the coming season. Some of the selections planned include favorites such as Aaron Copland's "Buckaroo Holiday," Malcolm Arnold's "Four Scottish Dances" and selections from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.