Albany Symphony set to kick off two-season salute to America on its 250th birthday

ALBANY – Halloween – of a sort – will come early for music fans on Oct. 25 when the Albany Symphony Orchestra opens its two-season series of performances with what is expected to be a multi-generational favorite: “American Film Music.”

The orchestra’s season-opening concert at the Albany Municipal Auditorium kicks off a dual-season celebration of America as the country celebrates its 250th birthday. The 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons will be part of ASO’s “American Voices” celebration.

Saturday’s showcase will feature familiar music from familiar popular movies, including “The Wizard of Oz,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Star Wars,” “The Lion King,” “The Godfather,” the “Indiana Jones” movies, “Deliverance” and “Titanic.”

“As we prepare for the celebration of America’s 250th birthday, we wanted to do a series of shows that focus on our country,” symphony Music Director/Conductor Claire Fox Hillard said. “We’re calling the two-season series ‘American Voices,’ and each performance will relate to the music of our country.”

Other shows planned during the 2025-26 season include “The Music of Gershwin,” which also will include the annual student “Classic Kids Live” concert “Gershwin’s Magic Key.” and an outdoors patriotic Memorial Day concert at Veterans Park Amphitheatre.

And, of course, the symphony will present its annual “Peppermint Pops” holiday performance Dec. 9 at the Municipal Auditorium.

“We wanted to add to the celebration, so this year ‘Peppermint Pops’ will include performances by the Albany Chorale and Tifton Community Chorus, as well as students from Ballet Albany performing the ‘Snowflake Dance’ from ‘The Nutcracker.'”

As has been the case in recent years, there is no charge to attend ASO performances.

“We have a suggested donation ($15) for those who are so inclined,” Hillard said. “But there is no charge for attending any of the performances. That’s one of the things that we feel helps make our program unique. We don’t ask for an admission fee; we changed our start times to 6:30 p.m. so that it’s easier for families to attend, and our shows typically run around an hour and 15 minutes so that parents can bring their kids and not worry about getting home too late.

“Our goal is to make the orchestra performances accessible to the entire community: We want the community to know these performances are not just for the highly educated, not just for people of a certain age; not for people of certain socio-economic groups, and not for people of a certain race. These performances are for everyone, and we want them to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.”

The season opener will include music by artists/conductors like John Williams, Henry Mancini, and Elton John and Hans Zimmer.

And about that early Halloween treat?

“Since the performance is on the weekend before Halloween, we thought it would be cool for any of the kids — of any age — to dress up for the performance,” Hillard said. “You have music from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Star Wars,’ ‘The Lion King’ … those are great opportunities for costumes.”

 For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Albany Symphony offices at
(229) 430-8933 or visit www.albanysymphony.org.

For additional details, contact: Hillard at (229) 669-3191 or [email protected],
or Symphony Board President Danny James at (229) 869-9567 or [email protected].