Tag archives: Academy Festival Orchestra

That’s a Wrap
By Richard Mineards   |   August 16, 2022

The Music Academy wrapped up its 75th anniversary summer festival in fine form at the Granada when alumna Italian Speranza Scappucci conducted the Academy Festival Orchestra. With the hugely entertaining program including Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” “The Pines of Rome” by Respighi, and vocal works by Donizetti, Verdi, Gounod, Bizet, Serrano, Chapi, and Puccini, the […]

Denève Directs a Success
By Richard Mineards   |   August 9, 2022

As its 75th anniversary season winds down, the Music Academy’s Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève was in fine form at the Granada. The entertaining concert featured Ravel’s masterpiece “Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2” and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3.” Frenchman Denève, music director of the St. Louis Symphony and the Brussels Philharmonic, was […]

Madame Maestro
By Richard Mineards   |   August 15, 2019

The Music Academy of the West concluded its 72nd annual summer festival on a high note when the Academy Festival Orchestra, under conductor Marin Alsop, performed Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7 at the Granada. The entertaining program also comprised of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon‘s 13-minute piece blue cathedral, just a week after her well received […]

Alsop Conducts AFO at Granada
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2019

Marin Alsop is a serious classical musician, perhaps even more so than the average conductor, given what she had to go through to accomplish what she has over a 35-year career. Along with her many other achievements, Alsop became the first woman ever to lead a major American orchestra when she was appointed music director […]