JULY 4
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 4th of July All-American Celebration. 8 p.m. Tickets $21-$59. Family fun, patriotic sing-alongs and anthems, and a fiery post-concert blast! Order your picnic basket early and scoot over to Georgia’s new music venue destination — a breeze to get to from all points north, south, east and west of Alpharetta. The American Spirit is alive and well and thriving at a rip-roaring Fourth, with the ASO, the vibrantly gifted conductor Bridget Reischl and the formidable US Army Chorus. And don't miss a special fireworks celebration following the concert! Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore park, Alpharetta. For more information, please visit 404-249-6400.

JULY 11
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Star Wars and More. 8 p.m. Tickets $21-$59. Explore the musical mystique of space travel with a stellar lineup: Holst’s incredible symphonic masterpiece, The Planets (visually dazzling with high-definition footage of the planets shown on the big screens, courtesy of NASA); John Williams’s out-of-this-world Star Wars suite; and Strauss’s thrilling sonic adventure, Also sprach Zarathustra (immortalized in the Stanley Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey). ASO Assistant Conductor and League of American Orchestras Fellow Mei-Ann Chen conducts. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore park, Alpharetta. For more information, please visit 404-249-6400.

JULY 17
Symphony on the Green with the Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. 7 p.m. Free. Duluth Festival Center & Amphitheater, 3142 Hill Street, Duluth. For more information, please call 770-497-5312 or visit www.gwinnettsymphony.org . 

JULY 25
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Beethoven Blockbusters. 8 p.m. Tickets $21-$59. Thrill to two pathbreaking works, the Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 7, in which Beethoven set aside thoughts of pleasing the tastemakers and gave full rein to his tempestuous personality. The third work of the evening, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, showcases a rising young star from Finland with enviable credentials: “If we needed proof that exciting new talent is in the pipeline, there was the marvelous American debut of Juho Pohjonen” – New York Times. The eminent international conductor Hugh Wolff conducts. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore park, Alpharetta. For more information, please visit 404-249-6400.

JULY 28
String Quartet Concert. 8 p.m. Free. The students and faculty of Franklin Pond Chamber music will perform works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Bartok. In the Kellett Chapel of the Peachtree Presbyterian in Buckhead. For more information, please call 404-252-3479. 

AUGUST 1
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies. 8:30 p.m. Tickets $21-$59. Last summer’s collaboration with Turner Classic Movies and its charmingly erudite host Robert Osborne was such a hit that the ASO is doing it again. This time, TCM and the Orchestra present “Rodgers & Hammerstein At The Movies,” a toast in film and music to the partnership that forever changed the face of Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Enjoy memorable screen moments from The Sound of Music, Oklahoma and Carousel and more R & H classics, introduced by Mr. Osborne. Veteran Hollywood conductor Richard Kaufman conducts the timeless soundtracks in all their live glory. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore park, Alpharetta. For more information, please visit 404-249-6400.

AUGUST 15
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Rising Stars! 8 p.m. Tickets $21-$59. The season finale introduces two breakout prodigies with sky’s-the-limit potential. The 16-year-old Venezuelan conductor Ilyich Rivas, touted as perhaps the next Gustavo Dudamel — today’s conductor of the moment, makes his major American orchestra and professional debut conducting Tchaikovsky’s fiercely romantic Symphony No. 4, Verdi’s Vespri Overture, and Mendelssohn’s gorgeous Violin Concerto. The latter work is further illuminated by the 22-year-old violinist Elena Urioste, Junior and Senior Laureate of the prestigious Sphinx Competition for African-American and Latino student-musicians. Her 2008 debut album of sonatas by Beethoven and Janacek marked her as “an emerging artist to watch” in Symphony magazine. Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore park, Alpharetta. For more information, please visit 404-249-6400.

AUGUST 21
Symphony on the Green with the Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. 7 p.m. Free. Duluth Festival Center & Amphitheater, 3142 Hill Street, Duluth. For more information, please call 770-497-5312 or visit www.gwinnettsymphony.org . 

OCTOBER 1
Canadian Brass. 8 p.m. The virtuosi of Canadian Brass have made the brass quintet a dynamic vehicle for serious concert music. Their more than 60 recordings to date include works by Purcell, Vivaldi, Gabrieli, Pachelbel, Beethoven and Wagner — all in meticulously crafted transcriptions that are setting new musical traditions in brass performance. With a more than three-decade history, Canadian Brass continues to fill concert halls and thrill audiences around the world. Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu.

OCTOBER 23
“Journey to the Amazon,” Sharon Isbin, guitar, Thiago de Mello, percussion, and Paul Winter, saxophone. 8 p.m. “Journey to the Amazon” is an aural sojourn blending sounds of the wilderness, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, Amazonian Indian chants and urban jazz. Acclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, Grammy Award-winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as "the pre-eminent guitarist of our time" by Boston Magazine. Her “Journey to the Amazon” with Brazilian percussionist Thiago de Mello and saxophonist Paul Winter received a 1999 Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Crossover Album.” Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu .

NOVEMBER 14
Esperanza Spalding. 8 p.m. Jazz bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding has uncanny instrumental chops and a multi-lingual voice. The Seattle Times called her “an irresistible performer” while Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote, “the Esperanza Spalding experience is light, melodic, joyful, always sort of minimalist and airborne.” Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu .

JANUARY 22
Bang on a Can All-Stars & Glenn Kotche, percussion. 8 p.m. Part classical ensemble, part rock band, part jazz band, the Bang on a Can All-Stars have established an international reputation for their unparalleled performances of music from the cutting edge. Heralded by The Chicago Tribune for his "unfailing taste, technique and discipline," Glenn Kotche’s eclectic performances and original compositions have explored the creative use of rhythm and space through various projects in percussion. Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu .

FEBRUARY 4
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. 8 p.m. The Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is internationally renowned for its fine artistry and distinctive approach to music-making, with a performing and recording legacy spanning 35 years. Orpheus is a self-governing organization that shares and rotates its leadership roles. Noted by critics and audiences alike for their unsurpassed energy, sensitivity, and connection to listeners, Orpheus is considered one of New York's cultural treasures. Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu .

FEBRUARY 19
“Songs of America,” Thomas Hampson, baritone. 8 p.m. The concert star and leading man of opera Thomas Hampson, baritone, uses the power of hymns, folksongs, spirituals, cowboy and war songs from the 1700s through today to tell the American story of creativity in this national tour for the Library of Congress. Hampson is one of today’s leading interpreters of the music of Gustav Mahler and the lied repertoire. His musical versatility has allowed him to be equally successful in opera, operetta, oratorio and musical theater. Hampson has been awarded several honorary doctorates, honorary membership in the Royal Academy of Music, the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the Austrian Honorary Medal (Ehrenkreuz) for Science and Art. Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, 1700 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta. For more information, please call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.creativity.emory.edu.