ARCO Chamber Orchestra to perform US premiere of “String Fairy Tale”

The ARCO Chamber Orchestra will play a piece never brought before US audiences in Hodgson Concert Hall on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.

“String Fairy Tale,” by Efrem Podgaits, will get its US premiere courtesy of the noted string ensemble. Written “for Orchestra, Soloists and Narrator,” the piece will see four different members of the orchestra perform as soloists.

In addition to the premiere, works from Aram Khachaturian, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Jose Bragato, Astor Piazolla and Jacob Gade are included in the program.

Since 1995, the ARCO Chamber Orchestra has been based in Athens, where artistic director and conductor Levon Ambartsumian is the Franklin Professor of Violin at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. The orchestra has performed regularly at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and its 2013 tour in Italy included a performance in La Fenice, the famous opera house in Venice. Most recently, the orchestra played several concerts during a 2015 tour in Brazil.

Tickets are $20 each and are available at the Performing Arts Center box office or by calling 706-542-4400 or visiting pac.uga.edu.