EPSG:4326

Sean Chen

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Join us at the Heymann Performing Arts Center on November 7 for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert. Experience the scope and grandeur of this beloved film, and its RIAA® platinum-certified soundtrack, featuring seventeen score cues composed by legendary Academy Award® and GRAMMY Award®-winning composer John Williams, as it's performed live by ASO. It will be an unforgettable evening that the whole family can enjoy – complete with a big screen, big sound, and photos with surprise guest characters.

Star wars the empire strikes back

Heymann Performing Arts Center

Metropolitan Opera soprano, Angela Brown will perform alongside the Symphony to present a repertoire of African American musical traditions, paired with instrumental music by opera’s greatest composers, including a suite of Spirituals, songs by William Grant Still, and beloved works by Antonín Dvořák and Giacomo Puccini.

Angela Brown

Our Lady Of Fatima School

Join us for the season premiere of This is Forty – a concert inspired by the poster that started it all for ASO – a beloved work of art, curated for our inaugural season in 1985, by one of Louisiana’s heroes, the late George Rodrigue. Depicted in the poster are Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Chopin, Schubert, and Beethoven, sitting under one of Rodrigue’s iconic oak trees, waiting to inspire and move you through each note, as they're exquisitely performed by the Symphony, and virtuosic guest artist, Ziang Xu on piano.

The Greats

University of Louisiana

Christopher Goodpasture

We’re proud of our rich and diverse culture in Acadiana. Our music, food, traditions and pastimes are influenced by many cultures from all over the world, including those indigenous to South Louisiana. At this concert, we’ll explore the connection to our French and Acadian ancestors, through the lens of classical music, written by famous French composers, including visionaries like Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Gabriel Fauré. Guest artist and French piano virtuoso, Michel Bourdoncle will lead the ASO Chamber Ensemble in performing a repertoire that touches on French Impressionism, old-world traditions, and quintessential French melodies.

The Listening Room

Acadiana Center for the Arts

Please join us for a magical evening of exquisite music, gourmet food, and fine wine, within an intimate setting.

Strings Under The Stars

The home of Robert & Malia Schacht

Reflections on a legendary story. The 1720 Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius violin is said to be one of the world’s most legendary instruments. Its mysterious history and whereabouts after it went missing for 200 years, has inspired much speculation, and many tellings of its story, including the 1998, Academy Award winning film, The Red Violin. And the story of how it came into the hands of its current owner? It’s just as fascinating. Join us for a performance by world-renowned violin virtuoso, and longtime keeper of The Red Violin, Elizabeth Pitcairn, who, along with her legendary instrument, will lead the ASO Chamber Ensemble in performing captivating arrangements from the now famous movie. This concert will double both as the Season 39 finale, as well as the premiere for ASO’s first-ever international debut, a 10-day concert tour of Poland, where the Symphony will travel with Pitcairn and her Red Violin, performing at some of the country’s most prestigious concert halls and music festivals.

The Red Violin

St. Mary Catholic Church

Reflections on classic rock. A night of greatest hits by one of the most popular American classic rock bands of all time – The Eagles – performed by tribute band, 7 Bridges, and Acadiana Symphony Orchestra. This concert will feature original songs, accompanied by specially curated symphonic arrangements, to offer the audience a unique experience of the music that defined a generation. 7 Bridges is a stunningly accurate tribute to the music of the Eagles. Using no backing tracks or harmonizers, the band faithfully re-creates the experience of an Eagles concert, by playing songs from their most prolific period of music. 

A Tribute To The Eagle

Reflections on love languages. Human concepts of love and romance, as well as the complicated and sometimes messy emotions associated with them, have remained the primary basis of inspiration for artistic expression throughout history. Music and dance in particular, have been most popularly used in courtship and conveying adoration toward a partner. This concert will explore the love languages of music and dance that came about in the 1920s and 30s, when tango first burst into the mainstream. Classical guitarist, Krzysztof Meisinger will present an audibly stunning interpretation of some of the most famous tango pieces ever written.

Forbidden Dance

Reflections on a local Christmas tradition. The ASO Christmas concert is the Symphony’s longest-running tradition, and one of Acadiana’s most cherished holiday celebrations. "The Christmas Concert”, as it has come to be known to our musicians and the community alike, is noted for combining traditional orchestral selections with popular holiday tunes, and featuring revered local guest artists and youth musicians. This year’s concert will bring together more than 100 musicians on stage, including beloved Lafayette rockstar, Marc Broussard, to perform your favorite sounds of the season. Together, we'll joyfully carry on this tradition for its 25th year.

The Christmas Concert

Reflections on cultural contrasts. In the 19th century, famous Romantic composers such as Dvorak and Brahms were known for their ability to connect the ideas, feelings, and collective conscience of people across many cultures and generations, through their compositions. Dvorak’s style was noted for having two sides, as it were – one inspired by his experiences with folk cultures in Moravia and North America, and the other, inspired by his interaction with European religious traditions, including sacred music written for Psalms and Mass. Often referred to as the “master of fusion”, his final work, New World Symphony, perfectly reflects the two sides of his life experiences.

A Tale Of Two Times

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

Join us for a Night at the Movies! Relive the film that started it all. Watch the wand choose the wizard, a troll run amok and magic mirrors in high-definition, while Acadiana Symphony Orchestra performs John Williams’ iconic score. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime event as Harry, Ron, Hermione and all your favorite characters return to the screen and enchant the world all over again.

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone In Concert

Reflections on early pop music. Pop music's earliest roots can be traced back to Medieval French troubadours, who were among the first masters a popular song, and known for writing folk songs about love and courtship. Elements of their music, along with influence from a variety of local folk traditions, later inspired classical European composers to utilize this type of art in their compositions. This concert will explore pop music of the mid-twentieth century, when interest in popular song saw another magnificent renaissance in Europe. During this time, singer/songwriters like Edith Piaf and Tino Rossi became widely favored, partly due to the general public’s increased enjoyment of gathering in coffee houses, pubs, and night clubs to dance and listen to live music. Featuring Placido Domingo, Jr., son of the renowned opera singer and member of The Three Tenors.

Elegant Liaisons

A turning point for classical music composition. The grandest concert of the season – Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Ode to Joy. Ode to Joy is widely considered to be Beethoven’s greatest work, and one of the most supreme achievements in the history of western music. In the field of symphonic music, there is no bigger revolutionary than Beethoven, whose works were heavily influenced by socio-political events of his time, as well as his own political views and engagement as an artist and enlightened citizen.

Musical Rebellion

A turning point for modern western music. There is no greater transformative turning point for classical and modern western music than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the music written to celebrate it. This Lenten-themed concert includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata No. 4, which he wrote for Easter in 1707. Cantatas were written for church services, and in honor of Christian holidays, and are marked by an emphasis on vocal presentation, with an instrumental accompaniment. Bach wrote more than 200 cantatas in his lifetime, which were critical in the development of both vocal and instrumental music, and are considered to be some of his best work.

Renewed Voices

A unique crossover of classical and popular music, from the likes of Bach, Chopin, U2, and Jimmy Hendrix – deftly performed by one of Ireland’s most recognized violinists, Gregory Harrington.

Gregory Harrington

A turning point in orchestral norms. An evening of romantic musical masterpieces, accompanied by the sultry sounds of the saxophone. Works include that of visionary tango composer, Astor Piazzolla, a musical game changer of the 20th Century, who elevated the musical form of tango from the red-light districts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be performed on some of the world’s most prestigious concert stages. The use of saxophone in classical music is still a relatively new concept, and the instrument continues to be an uncommon fixture in the symphony – creating a unique and exciting experience for the audience.

Love, Sax & Tango

A one-of-a-kind musical journey with the sounds of guitar, guiding you from the pristine churches of Venice, Italy, to the colorful streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Spanish-born performer and composer, Virginia Luque will lead us through sensual compositions of the Baroque period, to the contemporary Flamenco musical traditions of southern Spain, with her superlative guitar performance.

Virginia Luque

A turning point for music in Acadiana. Celebrate the season with us at this Christmas-themed concert, and one of Acadiana’s most beloved holiday traditions. Each year, the Symphony performs a cheerful and familiar repertoire of popular Christmas songs, alongside a revered local guest artist who has contributed to local music culture.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

A turning point in opera. A presentation of Giacomo Puccini’s famous comic opera, Gianni Schicchi. Puccini was among many composers of the 19th century who developed new ways to entertain and connect with wider audiences, by creating works that utilized operatic romanticism, on-stage antics, and a newly developed lyrical style of the time, known as bell canto. The work of Puccini and others from this period influenced generations of musicians and composers who followed.

Puccini: Gianni Schicchi

A turning point in classical music. Take a joyous journey to where it all began – Italy – the birthplace of the orchestra and the Baroque classical era. Widely considered to be the one of the most influential periods for modern western music, the Baroque style is marked by fuller and more complex musical compositions, including multiple independent melody lines, performed simultaneously by different instruments, and often incorporating voices, just as we see in modern symphonic presentations.

Italian Jewels

A turning point in cinema. This 1977 cinema classic is known for its seismic impact on both cinema and culture, and for inspiring audiences around the world with its mythic storytelling, captivating characters, groundbreaking special effects and iconic musical scores, composed by Academy Award. winner, John Williams.

Star Wars: A New Hope

ASO and AcA are pleased to premier their new chamber music series, with a presentation of the most famous chamber pieces, written by the biggest stars of the 19th Century European salons – Frédéric Chopin and Franz Schubert.

Francesco Mazzonetto

The Zydeco Boss, Keith Frank and the Symphony will light up the stage with more than 100 musicians to present this beloved Lafayette Christmas tradition, and ASO’s second-ever performance of Zydeco, infused with all of your favorite Christmas classics. Bring your rhythm and good cheer, and get ready for a toe tapping, thigh slapping celebration of the most wonderful time of the year.

A Zydeco Christmas

Join us for an epic night of rock, presented by ASO and Windborne's The Music of Queen. This will be a fun, high-energy performance of some of Queen’s most memorable songs from albums including Classic Queen, A Night at the Opera, Sheer Heart Attack, Jazz, News of the World, A Kind of Magic, and The Works. As with all of Windborne's shows, the band portrays the music as close as possible to the original, while the orchestra soars through each song, adding that extra element of “special” to the concert.

The music of Queen

Antonio di Cristofano

German piano virtuoso, Andreas Frölich and the ASO Chamber Ensemble will perform an exquisite repertoire of works by classical music masters Richard Strauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Astor Piazzolla, and Joaquín Turina.

Israeli piano virtuoso, composer, and educator, Orit Wolf will join the ASO Chamber Ensemble to take the audience on fascinating musical journey, featuring a mosaic of musical vignettes, highlighting the Jewish Klezmer style, and celebrating the art and culture of traveling entertainment by nomadic performers. 

A night of classical music at its finest, performed the way it was intended to be heard, in the acoustically grand and visually stunning St. John’s Cathedral. In recognition of ASO’s birth year (1984), this concert includes works written in the 80s by Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, and Wojciech Kilar, paired with Mozart’s timeless masterpiece, The Coronation Mass, or Krönungsmesse as it is called in German.

Sounds of the crown

St John's Cathedral

Composer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Lipke will join the Symphony to showcase a modern take on symphonic sound and the incorporation of traditional instrumentation into popular musical material, including Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven, Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall – juxtaposed by performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A-Major.

Acadiana Symphony Orchestra & Conservatory of Music

Dec 5, 2024

A Zydeco Christmas

Jan 10, 2025

The music of Queen

Jun 9, 2024 - Jan 26, 2025

The Listening Room

Feb 10, 2025

Antonio di Cristofano

Feb 23, 2025

The Listening Room

Nov 14, 2024

Sean Chen

Nov 7, 2024

Star wars the empire strikes back

Acadiana Symphony Orchestra & Conservatory of Music