Category Archive: Press Releases

  1. Alexandria Symphony Presents Scheherazade

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    Alexandria, VA—Under the direction of Music Director James Ross, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra presents Scheherazade – Afghan Days, Arabian Nights on Saturday, November 12, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. (Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center) and Sunday, November 13, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. (George Washington Masonic Memorial).

    ASO performs Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical epic Scheherazade, derived from four stories from One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of ancient Middle Eastern narratives. Scheherazade as the sultan’s queen is portrayed by the solo violin, its hauntingly exotic melody weaves throughout the piece as each story is told. John Williams’ Adventures on Earth from E.T. the Extraterrestrial opens this adventuresome program.

    Two new Alexandrians from Afghanistan—Hamid Habib Zada and Negin Khpalwak—bring their artistry to the ASO stage through these performances. The musicians recently located to Alexandria after fleeing from Afghanistan during the fall of 2021. Hamid is featured on tabla (a pair of hand drums evolved from the Indian subcontinent) for Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto. Negin will conduct two songs by Afghanistan’s “Elvis,” Ahmad Zahir: Farwardin and Zindegi Akhair Sarayat.

    Hamid has played tabla throughout Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and the United States, recently performing at Lincoln Center as part of Summer in the City. He taught music while in Herat and studied at the Agha Khan Music School and the Afghanistan Institute of Music in Kabul.

    Negin is the first Afghan female conductor leading Zohra, the first orchestra in Afghan history composed of only women. She has performed with Zohra in India and Europe and in the United States playing sarod (a stringed Hindustani instrument). She remains deeply connected to her colleagues and to the plight of women in present-day Afghanistan.

    Through a generous contribution of $5,000 from Walmart’s Community Grant program, tickets will be provided to Afghan refugees at no cost to attend Saturday’s performance. Walmart stores 5753, 2194 and 2258, all located in Alexandria, played leadership roles.

    “The plight of those arriving from Afghanistan with nothing but the clothes on their back and the terrifying turn of fate for Afghan women called out for an artistic and human response,” says Music Director James Ross. “Hamid and Negin hail from a culture where making music can be a life-or-death decision. We are honored to have them join the ASO in pieces that embody the richness of Eastern music.”

  2. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Performs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with New English Text

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    Alexandria, VA—Under the direction of Music Director James Ross, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra opens its 2022-2023 season on October 1 and 2, 2022 with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy). The concert is presented in partnership with the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) and features the Fairfax Choral Society with Chorus Master Victoria Gau.

    Beethoven’s magnus opus takes on new life with ASO’s contemporary performance of a new English text by former U.S poet laureate and Pulitzer prize-winner Tracy K. Smith. Ms. Smith’s text shines new light for our times just as Beethoven’s interpretation brought relevance to Schiller’s original poem.

    Soloists appear courtesy of CAAPA, the Washington, D.C. based nonprofit seeking to create performance opportunities for African American performing artists and provide a platform to give back to their community, their motto being “Bring color to the classics!” This collaboration was born nearly two years ago when the ASO originally scheduled the monumental program for the 2020-2021 (postponed) season.

    “This beautiful collaboration with CAAPA, the Fairfax Choral Society, our four wonderful soloists, and the ASO is something I’ve been looking forward to since before COVID made our lives so challenging,” says Maestro James Ross. “We at the ASO do our best to remove any barriers to the vital impact of great music from the past, so I’m especially proud to include Tracy K. Smith’s inventive adaptation; her re-imagining has captured a fresh and true sense of joy for our times—unabashed and complex.”

    The quartet featured in the Ninth Symphony features world-class vocalists. Tenor Rodrick Dixon has graced the stages of the Los Angeles Opera, Ravinia Festival, Atlanta Symphony and Sydney Arts Festival as well as appeared in several PBS specials. Soprano Dara Rahming has performed roles with the Washington National Opera and the New York-Harlem world tour. Mezzo-soprano Marquita Raley-Cooper has debuted at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and has appeared at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Baritone Daniel Rich has appeared with Opera Delaware, Maryland Opera and The Spoleto Festival; he appears by kind permission of The Metropolitan Opera Lindermann Young Artist Development Program. Mr. Rich and Ms. Raley-Cooper are CAAPA alumni.

    “This historic collaboration is a hallmark of ASO’s commitment to broadening our reach and deepening the relevance to our entire community, bringing great music to new listeners,” says ASO Executive Director George Hanson.

  3. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Performs for Alexandria Birthday Celebration

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    Alexandria, VA—Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will present a free concert as part of the 273rd Alexandria Birthday Celebration on Saturday, July 9, 2022. The celebration, sponsored by the city and coordinated by the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, culminates with fireworks underscored by additional music from the orchestra.

    The concert will include music by Copland, the Armed Forces Medley, film scores, patriotic favorites and highlights from ASO’s upcoming season. The grand finale will feature a spectacular fireworks display, accompanied by other patriotic tunes. The event will include all the elements of the celebration from years past with vendors, food trucks, and cupcakes.

    “The ASO is thrilled to bring this tradition back in full force to the City of Alexandria,” says Music Director James Ross. “With musical works celebrating both our history and diversity, it will be a program that touches hearts—fanfares, patriotic fare, Sousa marches. What a delight to present the orchestra again with the celebration in its grandest form!”

    As ASO partners in the celebration, the symphony thanks its concert sponsors: McEnearney Associates Realtors; Renner & Company, CPA; Caudron Megary Blackburn Wealth Management; Chadwicks; Jack Taylor’s Alexandria Toyota; MT Dental Partners; and Burke & Herbert Bank.

    “Music has the power to bring us together,” says ASO Executive Director George Hanson. “We mark significant moments in our lives and in our history with music that has special meaning and importance.”

    The Alexandria Birthday Celebration is free and open to the public in Oronoco Bay Park, 100 Madison Street, Alexandria. The park opens at 6:00 p.m. with food vendors and announcements beginning at 7:30 p.m.; the ASO’s concert begins at 8:30 p.m. with fireworks at 9:30 p.m.

  4. Alexandria Symphony Announces 2022-2023 Season: Of Songs and Tales

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    Alexandria, VA—The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra announces its 2022-2023 Season led by Music Director James Ross. The five programs offer new collaborations, great masterworks, selections from living composers, soloists from diverse backgrounds and a timely new text for a centuries-old “Ode to Joy.”

    The season launches on October 1 and 2, 2022 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy). The ASO is joined by members of the Fairfax Choral Society, Northern Virginia Community Chorus and the Northern Virginia Chorale, with Chorus Director Thomas Colohan. Vocal soloists Dara Rahming, Marquita Raley-Cooper, Rodrick Dixon and Daniel Rich appear in collaboration with the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA). The performances will feature a new English text by former U.S. poet laureate and Pulitzer prize-winner Tracy K. Smith. The program opens with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ethereal Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

    ASO performs Rimsky-Korsakov’s musical epic Scheherazade on November 12 and 13, 2022. Two new Alexandrians from Afghanistan—Hamid Habib Zada and Negin Khpalwak—bring their artistry to ASO stage with Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto and two songs by Afghanistan’s “Elvis,” Ahmad Zahir: Farwardin and Zindegi Akhair Sarayat. John Williams’ Adventures on Earth from E.T. the Extraterrestrial rounds out this adventuresome program.

    ASO’s holiday celebration, December 17 and 18, 2022, features dancers from BalletNOVA in excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s beloved Nutcracker. Soprano Helena Colindres brings traditional holiday favorites and some Latin surprises. Favorites from Händel’s Messiah and an audience sing-along will add cheer to the season.

    The Thalea String Quartet headlines on February 11 and 12, 2023 with Jessie Montgomery’s inspiring Banner and the American premiere of a newly completed work of Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante. Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings evokes anguish resolving to harmonious peace. The program concludes with Haydn’s last and greatest symphonic work, Symphony No. 104 (London).

    For the season finale, a single performance on April 15, 2023, Maestro Ross pairs two of the most popular works in the symphonic repertoire: Stravinsky’s breathtaking ballet Rite of Spring recalls ancient Russian rituals, and pianist Natalia Kazaryan, a native of the Republic of Georgia, brings her virtuosity and lyricism to Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Guido López-Gavilán’s Mojito con saoco, commissioned by the Cuban American Youth Orchestra, is a spicy take on Hemingway’s favorite cocktail.

    Both October performances and all Saturdays will be held at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center. Sunday matinees in November, December, February will be held at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. Subscription packages start at $86 for five concerts. Adult prices for single tickets start at $20; $5 for youth and $15 for students. Military, senior and group discounts are also available. Subscriptions available now; single tickets on sale July 1, 2022.

  5. Shenandoah Pianist Wins SOLA Scholarship

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    Alexandria, VA—The Symphony Orchestra League of Alexandria (SOLA) has awarded the 2022 Mary Graham Lasley Scholarship to Noah Hardaway, a graduate student of piano performance at Shenandoah University in Winchester.

    Hardaway performed Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 26 by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev before judges and audience at the Performing Arts Center on the campus of the Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, VA. The $2,500 scholarship was one of three awarded in the competition on March 20, 2022.

    Bailey Hobbs, a sophomore piano student at American University in Washington, D.C., won the second-place award of $2,000 for his performance of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor.

    Cellist Logan Madrid, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, performed Élégie, Op. 24 by French composer Gabriel Fauré and won a $1,500 scholarship to continue his studies.

    SOLA has conducted the scholarship competition for over 40 years. The scholarships and compensation for three academic music judges are funded through a trust fund established in the 1980s in memory of Mary Graham Lasley, an active supporter of the Alexandria Symphony.

    The 2020 and 2021 competitions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous scholarship winners have competed from East Coast and midwestern music departments, including the University of Maryland, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the Juilliard School, George Mason University, James Madison University, and the University of North Carolina.

    “SOLA is very proud of the success of the MGL scholarship, which is very well regarded and well known in music departments at colleges in the East and Midwest,” says the chair of the competition, Sharon Walker. MGL contestants must be from Virginia, Maryland or the District of Virginia. Several winners have performed with the Alexandria Symphony.

    SOLA announces the Mary Graham Lasley Competition date at the start of the fall academic year and makes the application forms available online after December 1 on the ASO website.

  6. Alexandria Symphony Presents Barber & Brahms and a World Premiere

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    Alexandria, VA—The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra , under the direction of Music Director James Ross, presents Barber & Brahms with violinist Dylana Jenson on Saturday, April 23, 2022 (7:30 p.m.) at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center and Sunday, April 24, 2022 (3:00 p.m.) at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

    Dylana Jenson, hailed for her lyrical playing and sizzling virtuosity, has performed with major orchestra throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and Latin America. She was the youngest and first American woman to win the Silver Medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition and made her debut at Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, an iconic American work, provides the ideal vehicle for Jenson’s radiant sound as it moves from lyricism to pyrotechnics.

    Johannes Brahms’ monumental Symphony No. 1 stands among the most popular and important works of music’s Romantic era. From the symphony’s dramatic opening chords to the stirring and triumphant finale, Brahms draws the listener into his world of melody and romance.

    Saturday’s performance features students from ASO’s award-winning education program, Sympatico, in the world premiere of a work commissioned by Classical Movements’ Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program. Titled Tribute, the work places students alongside ASO’s professional musicians for an extraordinary musical experience. Composer Brian Prechtl, principal percussionist of the Baltimore Symphony, was inspired by Beethoven with motives of fate, beauty and triumph as he worked with students to create the work.

    Audience members, musicians, staff, and volunteers are required to wear a mask while inside the hall and during performances. Vaccinations for COVID-19 are not longer required but strongly recommended. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra is committed to providing a safe concert environment for our patrons, musicians and staff. Schlesinger Concert Hall recently installed a state-of-the-art ventilation system. ASO will communicate with ticket buyers well in advance of each performance to establish what specific safety measures will be required to attend.

    Both venues are currently operating at 100%. Seating is very limited at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, so book your tickets early.

  7. ASO Musicians Perform Works of Bach, Vivaldi and Piazzolla

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    Alexandria, VA— The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will present a special chamber orchestra concert Brandenburg, Vivaldi & Tango on Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria. Under the direction of Music Director James Ross, members of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will present music by Bach, Vivaldi and Piazzolla.

    The ASO will perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 with principals from the orchestra as soloists. The concerto features two violas and several period instruments, including a harpsichord. Bach composed the six concertos as a pseudo-job application as a demonstration of his finest work, and they are still regarded as some of the foremost orchestral compositions from the Baroque era.

    Also on the program, Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, where both instruments are featured and closely entangled. Both himself an accomplished violinist and the master of solo concerti, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins is worthy of its dedication to royalty, and attendees will discover why it bears the title of “Harmonic Inspiration.” (Bach was inspired by Vivaldi’s concerto and arranged the piece for harpsichord in a different key.) Likewise, Vivaldi’s beloved Four Seasons was the inspiration for Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The audience will enjoy the tango-infused “Summer” and “Spring” movements from Piazzolla’s suite.

    “Bach wrote the best dance music of his time, and Astor Piazzolla, the tango king, is positively Baroque in his music’s adaptability and finely chiseled flourishes,” says Maestro Ross. “Every piece on this program features multiple soloists in an embodiment of democratic values and lively conversation. And with our performance of the sixth concerto, the ASO has now completed its first cycle through the Brandenburgs—these unlikely masterworks. I can’t wait to start the next pass!”

    Audience members, musicians, staff, and volunteers are required to wear a mask while inside the venue and during performances. ASO recommends N95-style masks for maximum protection; a limited supply will be available. ASO is also requiring all attendees, musicians, volunteers and staff be fully-vaccinated, including a booster, if applicable. ASO will communicate with ticket buyers well in advance of the performance to establish what specific safety measures will be required to attend.

  8. Pianist Sara Daneshpour Headlines with Rachmaninov’s Masterpiece

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    Alexandria, VA—Under the direction of Music Director James Ross, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will present Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Sara Daneshpour on Saturday, February 12, 2022 (7:30 p.m.) at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center and Sunday, February 13, 2022 (3:00 p.m.) at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

    A native of Washington, D.C., Ms. Daneshpour has garnered awards internationally and received acclaim as a sought-after touring artist. New York Concert Review wrote of her artistry, “She lavished color on oft-neglected line, illuminated subtle beauties, and raged through the storms, always with stunning polish.” Sara Daneshpour joined the Astral Artists roster as a winner of its 2010 National Auditions.

    The program, titled Dark Glow, opens with Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ well-known and beloved tone poem Finlandia. Strings take center stage with Beethoven’s Quartet for Strings in C-sharp minor, expanded for orchestra by Maestro Jim Ross. One of his last works composed when he was completely deaf, the piece explores a range of joy and heartbreak. The program also features George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, inspired by his grandmother, who was born into slavery. A trailblazer among composers throughout his life, Walker was the first African American awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996. The program culminates with Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a set of 24 variations based on Paganini’s theme for violin.

    “Even in wintery times of darkness, a power of renewal lurks and glows beneath the surface of this music like fire in an igloo,” says Maestro Ross. “In all of these pieces, the greatest struggle seems also to give birth to some of the most cataclysmically warm melodies ever conceived—tunes that hurtle well beyond the innocence of the pieces that birthed them.”

    Audience members, musicians, staff, and volunteers are required to wear a mask while inside the hall and during performances. ASO is also requiring all attendees, musicians, volunteers and staff be fully-vaccinated, including a booster, if applicable. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra is committed to providing a safe concert environment for our patrons, musicians and staff. Schlesinger Concert Hall recently installed a state-of-the-art ventilation system. ASO will communicate with ticket buyers well in advance of each performance to establish what specific safety measures will be required to attend.

    Both venues are currently operating at 100%. Seating is very limited at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, so book your tickets early.

  9. ASO’s Holiday Mixer Celebrates the Season with BalletNova

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    Alexandria, VA—The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra will present a holiday program Friday, December 17, 2021 (7:30 p.m.) at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center and Sunday, December 19, 2021 (3:00 p.m.) at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

    Under the direction of Music Director James Ross, the program will include excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and familiar holiday carols and melodies. For Friday’s performance, dancers from BalletNova take the stage with selections from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker interspersed with music from Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite. All children attending will be provided with sleigh bells for a surprise audience participation activity.

    “We are so proud and glad to be ringing in the holiday season this year like a tasty fruitcake with lively Baroque chestnuts, carols to hum-along, some Duke Ellington to munch, sleigh bells to jingle, and a special appearance by BalletNova,” says Maestro Ross. “It all melts on your tongue. Rumor has it Twas the Night before Christmas may make an appearance as well in a version never-to-be-repeated but not-to-be missed!”

    BalletNova Center for Dance has long been recognized as one of the premier dance training centers in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region. The organization, now with over 1,300 students, is based on elements from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum syllabus across all levels of children’s pre-professional classical ballet curriculum.

    Out of an abundance of caution, audience members, musicians, staff, and volunteers are required to wear a mask during performances. ASO is also requiring all attendees, musicians, volunteers and staff be fully-vaccinated, including children. Alexandria Symphony Orchestra is committed to providing a safe concert environment for our patrons, musicians and staff. The concerts will be presented with no intermission. Schlesinger Concert Hall has been completely overhauled with a state-of-the-art ventilation system. ASO will communicate with ticket buyers well in advance of each performance to establish what specific safety measures will be required to attend.

    Both venues are currently operating at 100%. Seating is very limited at the George Washington Masonic Memorial, so book your tickets early.

  10. ASO Presents Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film

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    Alexandria, VA—In partnership with the Alexandria Film Festival, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO) will present music of American composers on Saturday, November 6, 2021 (6:00 p.m.) at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center and Sunday, November 7, 2021 (3:00 p.m.) at the George Washington Masonic Memorial.

    Saturday’s performance at Schlesinger will feature six original short films screened in tandem with the music. (Sunday’s performance at the George Washington Masonic Memorial will include the music only with no film projection.) The project, entitled Homegrown: American Stories in Music and Film, commissioned original film footage to be screened “live-to-picture” for each of the compositions on the program. The concert will conclude with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, based on ten paintings by Viktor Hartmann depicted in the suite, inviting the listener to experience the emotion conveyed by the artist.

    “This Homegrown collaboration with the Alexandria Film Festival started by a desire to perform American orchestral pieces live in concert that serve as soundtracks for newly commissioned films by American filmmakers,” says Maestro James Ross. “Usually the music is made to fit the film, but instead our six filmmakers let their creative fantasies run wild, inspired by each given composer. The variety and organic quality of the storytelling is breathtaking!”

    Jennifer Higdon’s reflective Blue Cathedral is set with Michael Fallavollita’s retelling of Tale of the Kite, which garnered 25 film festival awards, including the Special Jury Award at the 2017 Alexandria Film Festival. William Grant Still’s “Manhattan Skyline” from The American Scene will come alive by film artists Jane Pittman and Annette Brieger with Black Lives Matter, which marries the vibrant history of Washington, D.C. and its U-Street corridor. Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ “Clouds” is brought to life with filmmaker Alexi Scheiber’s stop-motion animation (utilizing more than 1500 original watercolors and drawings) entitled Among the Clouds.

    Aaron Copland’s 1940 rendition of John Henry will be accompanied by Shannon Washington’s epic documentary of Beat Ya Feet, a D.C.-based Go-Go derived dance. Charles Ives’ “The Housatonic at Stockbridge” from Three Places in New England will be screened in painterly fashion with found video footage compiled by artist Tim McLoraine. Building upon themes of unfolding history and community, filmmaker Andrea Kalin set Copland’s Our Town suite to scenes of our own in Our Town: Alexandria.

    “We are delighted this historic partnership is finally reaching fruition,” said Alexandria Film Festival Executive Director Patti North. “What began as a unique collaboration uniting the power of live music with visual storytelling as an integrated whole, we add the celebration of an audience being able once again to enjoy these art forms in person and in the moment.”

    Attendees for Saturday’s performance are welcome to stay for an interactive talk on the stage with the filmmakers, immediately following the concert.

    Alexandria Symphony Orchestra is committed to providing a safe concert environment for our patrons, musicians and staff. The concerts will be presented with no intermission. Schlesinger Concert Hall has been completely overhauled with a state-of-the-art ventilation system. Audience members, musicians, staff, and volunteers will be required to wear a mask during performances. ASO is also requiring all attendees, musicians, volunteers and staff be fully-vaccinated. ASO will communicate with ticket buyers well in advance of each performance to establish what specific safety measures will be required to attend.