MUSIC

American Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2022
7:00 PM

Bryant Park, Midtown, Manhattan

Free
TICKETS + INFORMATION

The American Symphony Orchestra, led by former wunderkind Leon Botstein, presents a sort of love letter to New York City. There’s Copland’s (I can see Copland’s grade school out of my dining room window) eloquent noir classic trumpet showcase, Quiet City. There’s Louise Talma, an excellent Mid-Century Modern composer lost to the Standard Rep only because she lacked Y chromosomes. And there’s William Grant Still: not this List’s cup of tea, perhaps, but kept out of the Standard Rep, when so many composers in the same style who aren’t as good as him are in there, only because of melanin. There’s Jacob Druckman, a key player in the late-20th Century Mainstream Modern scene here. And then there’s Mahler — his rarely heard but rather wonderful (if anachronistic) Bach Suite — whom New York City arguably killed. He fought his way into the Standard Rep decades after his death.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Upscale Sichuan at Café China.