Washington Post: Alexandria Symphony offers a sensuous ‘Rite of Spring’ at National Gallery

Posted May 21, 2013 | ASO News, Reviews, 

May 29 marks the 100th anniversary of the wonderfully scandalous premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” when a near-riot broke out in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Performances of this still-spectacular work are being staged all over the world this month, and one of the most striking may have been Sunday evening’s performance by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, in the Atrium of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building. With its slashing angles, kinetic spaces and eruptive heights, the Atrium echoes “Rite’s” own brash and fearless modernism — and from that perspective, at least, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect setting.