American Residencies: Testimonials American Residencies: Education: Accessibility American Residencies: Education: Brass Quintet American Residencies: Education: Fiddling Around Meet the Musician: Daniel Foster on American Residencies Meet the Musician: Itzhak Perlman on the difference between conducting and playing Meet the Musician: Itzhak Perlman on his relationship with the National Symphony Orchestra Meet the Musician: Emanuel Ax on his relationship with the NSO Meet the Musician: John Corigliano on Leonard Slatkin Meet the Musician: John Corigliano on his history with the NSO. Understanding the Music: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 Understanding the Music: Williams - Flying Theme from E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial Requires RealPlayer - Download Now

The National Symphony takes its 75th season celebration to the nation. The Orchestra will travel from coast to coast in the course of two tours in 2005-06. Music Director Leonard Slatkin and Associate Conductor Emil de Cou will both participate, and guest artists will include Itzhak Perlman, Nikolaj Znaider, and Emanuel Ax.

The first tour will begin with a concert in Los Angeles' Disney Hall on October 19, and four other concerts in that state will follow. The next state to be visited will be Nevada. Evening concerts, concerts for young people, and other educational events will take place before the Orchestra returns to Washington on October 29.

As part of its American Residency in Nevada, the National Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to present more than 50 educational, performance, and outreach activities between October 25 - 29. During this time, members of the NSO will fan out across the metropolitan areas of Reno and Las Vegas sharing their talent and their passion for music with Nevada's music educators, students, and audiences.

The second tour begins with a Nebraska Residency for five days: Mar. 28 – April 1, 2006. The Orchestra then works its way eastward, performing in Chicago, New Brunswick (NJ), and Philadelphia (in Verizon Hall) before concluding with two concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall.

The 2005 and 2006 American Residencies are funded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a grant from the United States Department of Education.

American music will form a significant portion of the tour repertoire. The NSO's ongoing commitment to the music of this country has been one of its defining characteristics, and Mr. Slatkin's exploration of this repertoire has been one of the hallmarks of his decade as NSO music director.

Of particular note in this segment of the repertoire will be the reprise of the Corigliano Symphony No. 1; the NSO's recording of this work was its first with Mr. Slatkin, and it received the 1996 Grammy for Best Classical Recording. A performance at Carnegie Hall earned the accolade "taut, atmospheric performances…the orchestra's performance is a great achievement" from The New York Times.

Itzhak Perlman will be featured in the Violin Concerto of Samuel Barber. The NSO gave its first performance of this composition in 1963, and Mr. Perlman made his debut with the Orchestra one year later.

Melinda Wagner's Piano Concerto: Extremity of Sky will be performed by Emanuel Ax. Mr. Ax will also be featured in Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3.

Additional American works in the tours include Alan Hovhaness's Symphony No. 2 ("Mysterious Mountain') and works by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives, and Samuel Barber (in addition to the concerto cited above).

Education has played a strong role in the NSO's history since its very first season: eight of the 24 concerts given by founding music director Hans Kindler and the Orchestra in 1931-32 were for young people. Major developments followed under succeeding music directors, and in recent years the Orchestra's commitment has accelerated with the American Residencies program. Since 1994 the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has supported the American Residencies through grants from the Department of Education.

In the course of the American Residencies program, Nevada and Nebraska will bring the total of states visited to 16. Two NSO music directors (Mstislav Rostropovich and Leonard Slatkin) and six staff conductors (Randall Craig Fleischer, Barry Jekowsky, Elizabeth Schulze, Anthony Aibel, Takao Kanayama, and Emil de Cou) have participated in the project since its inception in 1992.

LEONARD SLATKIN, conductor
ITZHAK PERLMAN, violin BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
BARBER Violin Concerto, Op. 14
CORIGLIANO Symphony No. 1