Executive Director
DANIEL M. CRUPI
Dear friends and family of the Asheville Symphony, It is my honor to greet you as the new Executive Director of the Asheville Symphony! My wife, Caroline, and I have experienced such a warm and gracious welcome from this entire community, and we are delighted to call North Carolina home once more. The ASO has a national reputation for excellence and creativity, and it is widely regarded as one of the most innovative orchestras in the country. Between the immense success of the Asheville Amadeus Festival, its unique recording projects featuring Boyz II Men, Steep Canyon Rangers, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, and countless local artists, and the enormous growth experienced over the last five years, the Symphony has much of which to be proud. I bring to Asheville a passion for partnership and collaboration, a steadfast belief in the importance of diversity at every level of decision making, and a desire to make the Asheville Symphony truly representative of its entire community. And I am thrilled to work in partnership with Darko and the incredible staff, musicians, chorus, Board, and Symphony Guild to make a bold new vision possible for the ASO – one that embeds the orchestra in the community, diversifies our audience and artist base, invests in our music education infrastructure, works in partnership with the local arts scene, and tackles systemic issues in our community and world. Our September return to the concert stage was remarkable on every level. Thousands of community members flocked to downtown’s Pack Square Park for a glorious evening of symphonic music representing every genre. The excitement in the air was palpable, both on the stage and off. Now, we are thrilled to bring you an inspiring 2021-2022 season, offering masterworks from W.A. Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Igor Stravinsky, Johannes Brahms, and more, as well as an eclectic array of contemporary, female, and Black composers including Errollyn Wallen, William Grant Still, Will Marion Cook, and Joan Tower. December marks the return of ASO’s annual New Year’s Eve concert, featuring vocal superstars Morgan James and Erica Gabriel for Queens of Soul, showcasing the best of Motown, R&B, and Soul. And we are hard at work finalizing several exciting NEW series to continue ASO’s mission of engaging every corner of Asheville and Buncombe County with outstanding music. Thank you for your support for the Asheville Symphony – there is no place that I would rather be than building this extraordinary organization alongside each of you. Welcome back. Warm regards,
Daniel M. Crupi Executive Director
Asheville Symphony ∙ www.AshevilleSymphony.org ∙ 7
