Atlantic Classical Orchestra

A Transformative Commitment
The Atlantic Classical Orchestra (ACO) is proud to announce a landmark $1 million pledge from Robert & Janet Hoffman to its Legacy Endowment campaign. This transformative commitment marks a pivotal moment in the ACO’s mission to provide orchestral music of the highest artistic quality along with educational programming to Treasure Coast communities.

The Hoffman’s extraordinary commitment ensures the long-term financial stability of the orchestra, allowing it to expand its artistic reach and deepen its roots within the region.

A Legacy of Impact
Robert Hoffman served as Chair of the ACO Board for three years from 2019-2022. He and his wife, Janet, have a deep commitment to the ACO’s unique role in the Treasure Coast communities.
Their hope is that this contribution serves as a "matching challenge" to inspire other philanthropists to invest in the future of the orchestra.

To honor the Hoffman’s, ACO is naming its new endowment effort the Hoffman Legacy Fund.

Musical Thrills and Chills Incoming!

Dark, wild, and vividly theatrical, Night on Bald Mountain is one of classical music’s most electrifying depictions of the supernatural. Originally composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1867, the work paints a chilling musical portrait of a witches’ sabbath taking place on St. John’s Eve atop a haunted mountain. Mussorgsky’s bold, imaginative score captures the gathering of spirits, demonic dances, and frenzied revelry, building to a thrilling, almost chaotic climax before the arrival of dawn restores calm and order.

Although Mussorgsky’s original version was daring and innovative, it was never performed during his lifetime. After his death, fellow Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov admired the piece’s dramatic power and reworked it, refining the orchestration and structure while preserving Mussorgsky’s striking musical storytelling. Rimsky-Korsakov’s version—richly colored, brilliantly orchestrated, and tightly constructed—is the version most often performed today.

Audiences will recognize the piece from popular culture, most famously in Disney’s Fantasia, where its menacing energy and vivid imagery perfectly complement its supernatural theme. In the concert hall, Night on Bald Mountain offers listeners a thrilling showcase of orchestral virtuosity, from eerie woodwind whispers and ominous brass fanfares to explosive full-orchestra passages that bring Mussorgsky’s dark legend vividly to life.

Opening this week’s Masterworks concerts, Night on Bald Mountain sets the stage with high drama and intensity, inviting audiences into a world of mystery, folklore, and dazzling orchestral color before the rest of the evening’s program unfolds.

See you at the symphony!