Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano, Staging Director James Alexander, and Atlanta Opera General Director Dennis Hanthorn join ASO Insider and Program Annotator Ken Meltzer to compare and contrast the elements of opera and the theatre of a concert. In particular, they discuss the ASO productions of Angel Lam's *New Cello Concerto*--which features soloist Yo-Yo Ma--and Stravinsky's opera, *The Nightingale*.
Ken Meltzer is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s program annotator and so-called insider. He is the author of the symphony’s program notes, as well as the orchestra’s 2005-08 season preview books, *Passion on the World Stage*, *Revolutions in Music * and *Swept Away*.
Robert Spano is in his ninth season as music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Abroad, he has led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala (Milan), Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Radio Sinfonie Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, and Oslo Philharmonic.
James Alexander was a long time collaborator with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony. Most recently, he collaborated with conductor Sir Roger Norrington on a production of Mozart’s *Le Nozze di Figaro * for the Cincinnati Opera. Stravinsky’s *Nightingale* is his fourth production for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Dennis Hanthorn joined the Atlanta Opera as its first general director in 2004. Hanthorn has eliminated the opera's debt and stabilized the company's cash flow. In 2006, Hanthorn made the decision to move performances to the new Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, making the company one of the few nationwide to move its performances from a downtown area. Prior to joining the Atlanta Opera, Hanthorn was general director with the Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee for 15 years.