Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Music Director Robert Spano joins a prominent professoriate when he begins his appointment as Emory University Distinguished Artist in Residence. Emory, which was founded in 1836, has appointed seven other individuals to similar roles in recent years, including His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama who was appointed in 2007 to an indefinite term as Presidential Distinguished Professor; and author Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence, who concludes his five-year Emory residency at the close of Maestro Spano's first residency year.

Robert Spano's Residency Announcement kicks off an exciting season for the maestro, including five world premiere performances and additional engagements worldwide. To see Spano's 2009-2010 season highlights, please click here.

Maestro Spano will co-teach seminars, lecture and present programs on literature, philosophy, science and musicology for three weeks during each of the spring semesters of 2010-2012. The University-wide residency has the potential to enhance the educational experiences of Emory's 12,500 students from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences and multidisciplinary graduate programs as well as the greater community.

The residency begins March 28-April 18, 2010. Spano will participate in a wide-ranging interdisciplinary dialog as he co-teaches and actively participates in Emory's scholarly community through colloquia and Emory's "Creativity Conversations" series. Emory English Department Chair Richard Rambuss, who will co-teach with Spano in 2011, says: "Everyone knows that Robert Spano is a cutting-edge figure in the music industry. But, along with his accomplishments in music, he's also an intellectual polymath and a reader of pantagruelian appetites."

Robert Spano's first co-teaching effort is with Emory music professor Steven Everett on metaphysics and the origins of music. The project is entitled "Tonality and Sonata Form: Pythagorean Tuning, Numerology and Cosmology"and comprises lectures and a three-concert series, which will focus on the violin sonatas of Mozart and Brahms and the cello sonatas of Beethoven with Spano at the keyboard. Maestro Spano describes the genesis of the course and its scope as follows: "It has always fascinated and inspired me that, before studying philosophy at the Platonic Academy in Athens, the aspiring student first needed to study arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. The intellectual underpinnings of Western music and their relations to these other disciplines are perhaps best expressed in Pythagorean theory. The work of Pythagoras connects music not only to these disciplines but to cosmology, psychology and spirituality. The roots of our Western musical language are extremely close to the study of metaphysics. I eagerly anticipate exploring the interdisciplinary nature of music within the vital intellectual environment at Emory, and am deeply honored to have been invited to collaborate with this dynamic academic community."

"The appointment of Robert Spano supports Emory's artistic and creative goals," says Emory University President James Wagner. "Spano is an invaluable asset to Emory and the Southeast, and, on a global level, a key figure in the arts. He brings to Emory a wealth of knowledge in a wide spectrum of areas and will bring new strength to the artistic collaborations between our academic community and the greater Atlanta community." The residency, the latest in a series of connections between Emory, Maestro Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, is made possible by funds especially designated to foster these kinds of significant collaborations and partnerships for the benefit of Emory students, scholars, and the University as a whole.

Spano's residency is part of Emory's Creativity: Art & Innovation efforts, led by Rosemary M. Magee, Vice President and Secretary of the University. This key element of Emory's strategic plan seeks "to integrate the arts across the educational spectrum, foster an environment of creativity, and contribute to the cultural life of metro-Atlanta," says Magee. In addition to performance and lecturing responsibilities, Robert Spano will guest lecture for a number of courses within the Department of Music and work with students of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and Emory Wind Ensemble. Public residency activities in 2010 are listed below. Maestro Spano's plans for the residency include a study of language and music in 2010-2011 and a project incorporating the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's "Atlanta School of Composers" in 2011-2012.

Music Director for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano has a discography of nine recordings and six Grammy Awards with the Orchestra and joint appearances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Ojai Festival. Spano has led the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; the San Francisco, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago and Philadelphia symphony orchestras; and Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, BBC Symphony and Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has conducted for Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and the 2005 and 2009 Seattle Opera "Ring" cycles. Robert Spano was Musical America's 2008 Conductor of the Year.

This season marks the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's 65th anniversary. In celebration, Spano leads five world premieres, including three ASO commissions. In October, Chinese composer Angel Lam presents "Awakening from a Disappearing Garden for Cello and Orchestra," with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist. This Carnegie Hall commission will be reprised for a New York premiere November 7, as part of Carnegie's "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture" festival.

Background information on Creativity & Arts at Emory University is available here

SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS:
* Indicates public concerts of a series related to Maestro Spano's "Tonality and Sonata Form" course

*Friday, April 2, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. - W.A. Mozart: Sonatas for piano and violin
7:00 p.m. - Lecture
8:00 p.m. - Concert
Ticketed. Emerson Concert Hall, Donna & Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano, piano
Justin Bruns, violin

*Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 12 noon - Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatas for cello and piano
Free admission. Emerson Concert Hall, Donna & Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano, piano
Daniel Laufer, cello

Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. - Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta Emerson Series Concert, part of the Chopin/Schumann Bicentennial Celebration Series
Ticketed. Emerson Concert Hall, Donna & Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano joins cellist Christopher Rex for Chopin's "Cello Sonata" and violist Yinzi Kong for Schumann's "Pictures from Fairlyland."

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. - "Creativity Conversation"
Free admission. Emory venue to be announced (call 404-727-5050 after Jan. for location). Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano joins Emory University Vice President and Secretary Rosemary Magee for a conversation about creativity, creative influences, and creative process.

Friday, April 16, 2010 - 12 noon - "Emory's Young Artists"
Free admission. Michael C. Carlos Museum, Reception Hall, On the Quad at 571 Kilgo Circle, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano hosts the Emory music department's finest undergraduate musicians for an Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta Noontime Series Concert.

*Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. - Johannes Brahms: Sonatas for violin and piano
3:00 p.m. - Lecture
4:00 p.m. - Concert
Ticketed. Emerson Concert Hall, Donna & Marvin Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Emory University, 1700 N. Decatur Rd., Atlanta, GA 30322, (404) 727-5050, www.arts.emory.edu.
Robert Spano, piano
William Pu, violin

Images and video available upon request. For these and additional press inquiries, please contact:

Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts
Sally Corbett: sacorbe@emory.edu, 404-727-6678
Jessica Moore: jkmoore@emory.edu, 404-727-1687

Kirshbaum Demler & Associates, Press Representative for Robert Spano
info@kirshdem.com | 212-222-4843