Following the resounding success of our performances at First Baptist Church of Asheville, we are pleased to announce our decision to formally make the venue the home of the Masterworks Series for an additional three years.
First Baptist Church of Asheville (FBCA) has proven to offer an unparalleled orchestral experience in Asheville, characterized by outstanding acoustics, an intimate setting, ample parking, accessible seating, and many improvements to the patron experience. We are excited to extend our partnership with FBCA and designate it as the new home of the Asheville Symphony’s Masterworks Series. We invite you to join us this season to experience the Asheville Symphony’s exceptional sound firsthand. We are confident that you will be delighted by what you hear.
As we embark on this next chapter, we also extend our sincere gratitude for your continued support of the Asheville Symphony. Your contributions to our Annual Fund are crucial in sustaining our artistic endeavors. We invite you to consider making a donation to the Annual Fund, which plays a vital role in supporting our mission to perform and promote symphonic music for the benefit, enjoyment and education of the people of Western North Carolina.
Your generosity allows us to continue bringing outstanding performances to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Thank you for your dedication to the Asheville Symphony, and we look forward to welcoming you to our 2024-2025 performances at First Baptist Church of Asheville.
Support your Asheville Symphony! Annual Fund giving benefits include:
FRIEND
$1 - $99
MEMBER
$100 - $249
CONTRIBUTOR
$250 - $499
PATRON
$500 - $999
IMPRESARIO
$1,000 - $2,499
Recognition in the program book
Asheville Symphony Society membership (gives you a vote and a voice at the Annual Meeting), plus all of the above
Invitations to special events, plus all of the above
Access to Patron receptions featuring musicians, guest artists, the conductor as available, plus all of the above
Access to the reserved Impresario-only parking section at Masterworks performances, plus all of the above
BENEFACTOR
$2,500 - $4,999
ORCHESTRA CIRCLE
$5,000 - $7,499
CONDUCTOR CIRCLE
$7,500 - $9,999
COMPOSER CIRCLE
$10,000 - $24,999
SEASON UNDERWRITER
$25,000+
Priority access to purchase ALT ASO tickets, invitation to an exclusive Season Reveal celebration each spring, plus all of the above
Exclusive social event with the Music Director and Executive Director, plus all of the above
Autographed season poster featuring commemorative artwork, plus all of the above
Dinner event with the Music Director and Executive Director, plus all of the above
Package of benefits tailored to your interests, plus all of the above
The Asheville Symphony’s signature series, the Masterworks Series, will be held at First Baptist Church of Asheville during the 2024-2025 season. We are pleased to continue offering matinees and evening performances for each concert this season to maximize your convenience.
Be inspired by classical music’s greatest masterpieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, W.A. Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Jean Sibelius alongside Asheville Symphony debuts by Jessie Montgomery, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Kevin Puts, featuring the top tier talent of soloists such as Alexi Kenney, Joshua Roman, and Time For Three!
Become a subscriber for the best seats and the best benefits all season long.
Joining the Asheville Symphony as a Masterworks Series Subscriber not only ensures you have the best seats, prices, and service all season long; it also supports your Asheville Symphony and helps us provide you with spectacular experiences! Reserve your seats season over season as a full subscriber, or Compose Your Own Subscription and choose three or more Masterworks over the course of the season! See page 21 for details.
Masterworks 3: Messiah November 22 + 23, 2024
Masterworks 4: Ciao Italia February 15, 2025
Masterworks 5: Carmen March 15, 2025
Masterworks 6: Fate April 12, 2025
Masterworks 7: Tall Tales May 3, 2025
MASTERWORKS 1
First Baptist Church of Asheville September 21, 2024
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
Bacewicz
Overture for Orchestra
Sibelius
Violin Concerto
Dvořák
Symphony No. 8
“Music begins where language ends.” Sibelius’s profound words echo deeply through this program steeped in nostalgia and emotional gravitas. Our Masterworks series begins with a defiantly optimistic WWII-era overture by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz as she lived through the war in Warsaw. Sibelius’s haunting and exquisite Violin Concerto follows, delivering an achingly beautiful tribute to a dream slipping just out of reach. Last is Dvořák’s sun-soaked Eighth Symphony, a nostalgic reflection of summertime bird calls, windswept trees, and happier times.
Alexi Kenney, Violin
Sept. 17 — J.S.
An award-winning violinist with a tone that “ranges from the achingly fragile to fullbodied robustness,” Kenney has earned wide-spread acclaim for his insightful and artistic interpretations and is the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
MASTERWORKS 2
First Baptist Church of Asheville October 26, 2024
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
C.P.E. Bach
Symphony in D Major
Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”
Brahms
Symphony No. 3
Iconic, legendary, epic — the Emperor stands alone as an unrivaled titan among concertos. With his fifth and final piano concerto, Beethoven goes beyond the traditions of his early inspirations and ultimately crafts an innovative and epic masterpiece that surpasses his predecessors’ wildest dreams. Sharing the program with Beethoven is one such early inspiration: C.P.E. Bach. Son of J.S. Bach and a master in his own right, C.P.E. Bach left a huge impact on future generations, including Beethoven. Rounding out the program is Brahms, the man perhaps most preoccupied with Beethoven’s legacy. As Beethoven’s de facto successor, Brahms revered, grappled with, and eventually transcended his idol’s legacy through his magnificent symphonies.
“One of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years,” Wilson has performed with ensembles from across the world including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and many more.
MASTERWORKS 3
First Baptist Church of Asheville November 22, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. November 23, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. November 23, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
featuring the Asheville Symphony Chorus
When asked to name the greatest composer of all time, Beethoven exclaimed without hesitation, “Handel — to him I bow the knee.” Mozart too held the English master in high regard: “Handel understands effect better than any of us… When he chooses, he strikes like a thunderbolt.” Experience the full might and awe-inspiring emotional weight of Handel’s legendary Messiah and kick off your holiday festivities with this powerful performance featuring four outstanding soloists and the Asheville Symphony Chorus.
Jessica Beebe, Soprano Accomplished and “radiant” GRAMMY nominee lauded as “evocative and ethereal”
Timothy Parsons, Alto GRAMMY nominee and has sung in two Pulitzer-prize winning opera premieres
Brian Giebler, Tenor GRAMMY nominee and praised for his “lovely tone and deep expressivity”
Jonathan Woody, Bass “Riveting” and “charismatic,” renowned for singing with “resonance and clarity”
MASTERWORKS 4
First Baptist Church of Asheville
February 15, 2025
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
Berlioz
Le carnaval romain Overture
Saint-Saëns
Piano Concerto No. 2
Charpentier Impressions d’Italie,
IV. Sur les Cimes
Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 4, “Italian”
Only a few days into his visit to Italy, Mendelssohn, like many of us fortunate enough to visit Bel Paese, was already smitten: “This is Italy!” he wrote, “...and I am loving it.” He completed his Fourth Symphony shortly after his return home, and the piece — alongside the other Italyinspired works on the program by Berlioz, Saint-Saëns, and Charpentier — paints a vibrant picture of the country as seen through the eyes of fellow non-Italians, all united in affection for the vivacious Italian culture, food, wine, and spirit.
Piano Recital with Martina Filjak
Feb. 11 Baroque and Romantic works by Liszt, Scriabin, Handel, and more. Page 13 for details.
Martina Filjak, Piano
A “brilliant, sensitive, and imaginative” pianist with “striking individuality,” Filjak is the winner of many significant piano competitions and is garnering international praise for her poetic passion, technical mastery, charismatic personality, and magnetic stage presence.
MASTERWORKS 5
First Baptist Church of Asheville March 15, 2025
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
Montgomery Strum!
Mozart
Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra
Shchedrin Carmen Suite
Many 20th-century composers were approached to reinvent Bizet’s Carmen as a ballet, but only Shchedrin accepted the challenge; instead of struggling to outshine the legendary opera, he embraced Bizet’s work and re-formed it into a modern, percussion-centric ballet suite. The suite is written for strings, vibraphone, temple blocks, castanets, tam-tams, and more to bring the beloved melodies of Carmen to life in unexpected ways with daring ingenuity. Paired with the Carmen Suite is Montgomery’s Strum!; drawing on American folk idioms and inspired by the spirit of dance, Strum! begins with a fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration. Rounding out the program is Mozart’s Parisian concerto for the unique and delightful pairing of flute and harp.
Lissie Shanahan, Flute Shanahan has performed with many of the region’s best ensembles as a soloist and principal. She has served as the Principal Flutist of your Asheville Symphony since 2009 and is also an accomplished educator.
Rebekah Hou, Harp
An award-winning harpist and former member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, Hou is the 2023 prizewinner of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) Concerto Competition.
MASTERWORKS 6
First Baptist Church of Asheville April 12, 2025
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
Verdi
Overture from La forza del destino
Roman Awakening
Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 5
Artists have always been drawn to the troubling but profound notions of fate, destiny, and inevitability. Verdi’s La forza del destino explores destiny as an irresistible force bringing two lovers together only to wrench them apart through accidental deaths, tragic misunderstandings, and mistaken identities. The Awakening cello concert, composed and performed by Joshua Roman, reflects on a fateful journey from darkness and anger to personal rebirth through the support of others and the affirmation that no one is alone. Our final exploration of inevitability is Tchaikovsky’s relentless Fifth Symphony; suffused with emotional intensity, introspective depth, and undaunted optimism, the work is centered around a single compelling theme, intricately woven through each movement and rumored to be symbolic of the unrelenting call of fate itself.
Joshua Roman, Cello
A cello soloist and composer, Roman is hailed for his “effortlessly expressive tone… and playful zest for exploration.” He has worked with world-class artists for acclaimed genre-bending collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, DJ Spooky, Bill T. Jones, and more.
MASTERWORKS 7
First Baptist Church of Asheville
May 3, 2025
2:00 p.m. + 8:00 p.m.
Weber
Overture from Der Freischütz
Puts
Contact
Wagner
Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin
Strauss Till Eulenspiegel
Music possesses an almost magical ability to tell stories. It can paint vivid images of far off lands, enchanted forests, fairy tale villages, the timeless battle between good and evil — all without a single spoken word. Step into the enchanted world of German legends, filled with tales of mysterious swan knights, magic bullets, and mischievous tricksters. Then, delve into the otherworldly Contact; inspired by the idea of interstellar communication, this jazzy, bluegrass-infused, and ethereal concerto for trio was collaboratively written with and for Time For Three.
TF3’s Jukebox Recital
May 1 — An eclectic mix of original songs, popular covers, and more. Page 13 for details.
Time For Three (TF3), Trio
A GRAMMY- and Emmy-winning ensemble that defies convention and boundaries by showcasing excellence across different genres. Time For Three has collaborated with many esteemed artists such as Chris Brubeck, Ben Folds, Joshua Bell, Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon, and more.
Experience your soloists up close!
This season, we are expanding our recital programming to showcase your Masterworks soloists in a more intimate setting. Each recital will be held the week of a Masterworks performance, giving you a chance to dive deeper into the music and discover the artists that bring your favorite music to life. Fusing genres and crossing boundaries, our solo recitals create unique opportunities to hear even more from these world-class musicians!
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Asheville
This innovative recital project weaves together pieces for solo violin and violin/electronics by J.S. Bach and composers of other eras to form a program with dramatic arc, flow, and scope. Bach’s music is a perfect fusion of technical mastery and innovation, but it’s his ability to transcend technique and access the spiritual and mystical realm that has inspired this program. Alongside existing works by Rafiq Bhatia, Matthew Burtner, Mario Davidovsky, Nicola Matteis, Kaija Saariaho, and Paul Wiancko, Kenney commissioned two new works for this project by composers Salina Fisher and Angélica Negrón. This project first premiered in the spring of 2023; according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “To every Bach offering, Kenney . . . brought piercing insight and a masterful sense of voicing. Vertically, horizontally, altogether: the music cohered and shone in every direction.”
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Asheville
Hailed for her “brilliant, sensitive, and imaginative playing with resourcefulness of technique and naturalness of musicality” (New York Times), Martina Filjak stands out as a “premium class pianist” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). This captivating solo piano recital program features two distinctive parts, each showcasing works by piano masters from different eras. The first half explores works by Baroque masters, spotlighting Handel’s Suite No. 7 in G minor and J.S. Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Shifting gears to the 19th-century Romantics for the second half, Filjak masterfully interprets Schumann’s Carnival Scenes from Vienna, Scriabin’s Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand, and Liszt’s Réminiscences de “Lucia di Lammermoor.”
Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
The Orange Peel
Defying convention and boundaries, Time For Three (TF3) stands at the busy intersection of classical music, Americana, and singer-songwriter. To experience TF3 live is to hear the various eras, styles, and traditions of Western music fold in on themselves and emerge anew. This Jukebox program, a featured event in this season’s biennial Asheville Amadeus Festival, includes all three members of TF3 and showcases an eclectic mix of original songs, popular covers, and some of the most iconic music ever written. “In person, the members of Time for Three come off as just three dudes in a band,” said NPR. “But with their staggering technique and freewheeling genre-crossing, it’s hard not to be swept up in the force of their contagious energy.” Visit pages 20-21 for more information on the 2025 Asheville Amadeus Festival.
The ALT ASO series takes the orchestra on the road to play innovative concerts that blend classical music with diverse genres. Tickets for ALT ASO are $45, and concerts go on sale eight weeks before each performance. Join the Annual Fund as a Benefactor for guaranteed pre-sale access, or follow us on Instagram @avlsymphony for Instagram pre-sales!
This season, your Asheville Symphony’s pops programming offers a diverse array of music that inspires and entertains across genre and style.
From the joy of Symphony in the Park, to the awe-inspiring spectacle of Cirque de la Symphonie, to the infectious energy of Direct from Sweden’s tribute to ABBA, to the boundarypushing innovation of Chris Thile’s fusion masterpiece and Asheville Amadeus Festival finale, each performance promises to captivate, uplift, and leave a lasting impression.
Get pre-sale access, first priority seats, and the best price all season at our Pops Concerts when you become a Masterworks Series Subscriber.
Single tickets go on sale for all concerts on August 13, 2024. You can order pops pre-sale tickets when you subscribe before June 28 to have the first choice of seats and save on single ticket fees! See page 21 for details.
Pack Square Park in Downtown Asheville
September 7, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville ExploreAsheville.com Arena
December 5, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
The Asheville Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Asheville Symphony combine forces with the incredible Cirque de la Symphonie for a family-friendly holidaythemed performance featuring favorite tunes from Tchaikovsky, John Williams, Brahms, and much more — all while acrobats perform death-defying feats, tumbling through the air and across the stage.
Ring in the New Year with an unforgettable ABBA tribute show featuring Direct From Sweden backed by your Asheville Symphony! Grab your shiniest disco boots and let’s take a chance on 2025 the way old friends do. Dance your way into the New Year with hits like “Mamma Mia,” “Waterloo,” “Fernando,” “Dancing Queen,” and more!
Cherokee Center Asheville Thomas Wolfe Auditorium December 31, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.
Rabbit Rabbit May 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
A cross-genre evening of classical, bluegrass, and more — from Thile performing Barber’s masterful Violin Concerto on mandolin to ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra.
Asheville Amadeus returns in May 2025 featuring co-headliners
Chris Thile and Time for Three
Asheville Amadeus is back for its fifth iteration, Asheville Amadeus: The Art of Storytelling. The Asheville Amadeus Festival brings together some of Asheville’s most talented musicians, artists, creators, and entertainers for ten days of performances, education programs, collaborations and social events. We are excited to announce that Chris Thile and Time for Three will be co-headlining, joining the ranks of previous Asheville Amadeus headliners Emanuel Ax, Midori, Warren Haynes, Garrick Ohlsson, and Béla Fleck. Unlock pre-sale access, reserved seats, and savings with
Chris Thile
Mandolinist, singer, songwriter, Grammy Award-winner, MacArthur Fellow, founding member of the critically acclaimed bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, a “rare being: an all-round musician who can settle into any style, from bluegrass to classical” (Guardian), and a “genre-defying musical genius” (NPR).
Time for Three
Grammy and Emmy-winning ensemble that defies convention and boundaries by showcasing excellence across different genres, including classical music, Americana, and singer-songwriter. See pages 11 and 13 for more information on Time for Three.
Become a season subscriber to immerse yourself in unparalleled musical excellence while supporting your Asheville Symphony!
Full Season Subscriber Benefits
☑ Keep your seats, season after season.
☑ Save on single ticket fees when you subscribe and get 15% off single ticket prices for the entire Masterworks series.
Can’t commit to all seven performances? Compose your own series subscription and enjoy the following benefits:
Compose Your Own Subscription Benefits
☑ Flexible Packages: Choose at least three concerts to become a subscriber.
☑ Easy Ticket Exchanges: swap tickets hasslefree for any Masterworks performance.
☑ Save up to 10% with package selections.
Every subscriber enjoys pre-sale access to pops concerts and recitals, priority seating before single tickets go on sale, free shipping, and complimentary lost ticket replacement, plus each subscriber qualifies for tax deductions on unused tickets on request. Visit AshevilleSymphony.org/subscriptions to learn how to redeem these benefits.
Subscribe today! Use the form in the back of this brochure, call us at 828.254.7046, or visit AshevilleSymphony.org
