Ein Amerikaner in Paris (Gershwin) - Boléro (Ravel) - Gaelic Symphony (Amy Beach) - Sinfonieorchester des Akademischen Gesangsverein, München

In the organizer's words:

About the works
Amy Beach's "Gaelic Symphony" marks a milestone in music history: it is the first symphony written by an American female composer. Amy Beach wrote the work in 1894, and two years later the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave the acclaimed premiere. However, the work quickly fell into oblivion and is rarely performed today. It is a unique composition which, although it draws on the Central European symphonies of the 19th century, at the same time breaks new, unconventional ground. The result is a symphony that captivates with its powerful, energetic orchestration and expansive melodies and will certainly be heard more frequently by renowned orchestras in the foreseeable future.
By contrast, George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" and Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" are much better known. In his orchestral work, Gershwin sets the hustle and bustle of the Champs Elysees to music, which he experienced at first hand during his stays in the French capital in the 1920s. Nevertheless, the work is extremely American: inspired by emerging jazz, typical American rhythms and melodies such as blues and ragtime characterize the composition and express Gershwin's longing for his American homeland. It was in Paris that Gershwin finally met Maurice Ravel, who refused to teach Gershwin out of admiration for the young American composer.
Ravel's "Bolero" was composed at the same time as Gershwin's "American in Paris" and both works were premiered within a few weeks of each other in Paris and New York at the end of 1928. Like Gershwin, Ravel was also inspired by the emergence of jazz, so it is not surprising that Ravel also used saxophones in the orchestra for his masterful orchestration of "Bolero". Originally conceived as ballet music, an orchestral frenzy unfolds over a continuous drum rhythm that eventually collapses.

The symphony orchestra of the AGV Munich ...
... is both one of the oldest and one of the youngest ensembles in the AGV. We look back on a long tradition of orchestras in our association; however, we were only founded in this form in the fall of 2021 by merging the Young Orchestra and the Grand Orchestra. Since then, we have performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and the Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, op. 102 by Johannes Brahms in several project phases.
Even before the two orchestras merged, Puccini's Messa di Gloria and Dvorak's Te Deum were performed in the Herkulessaal in 2016 in a joint project with the Great and Young Choirs.

Performers:
Symphony Orchestra of the Akademischer Gesangsverein, Munich
Conductor: Maximilan Leinekugel