Year: 2022

William Hudson, the longtime conductor of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, has died at 89.

Hudson, a native of Newport News and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Music, took over the Fairfax Symphony in 1971, when it was an unpaid community orchestra. He significantly enlarged and professionalized the ensemble during his tenure, which ended with his retirement in 2007. He also was a member of the music faculty of the University of Maryland from 1970 to 1999.

Under Hudson, the orchestra moved to its present home venue, the Center for the Arts at George Mason University, and gave summer performances for many years at the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival in Orkney Springs.

An obituary by Tim Page for The Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/02/william-hudson-fairfax-symphony-dies/

Classical performances in and around Richmond, with selected events elsewhere in Virginia and the Washington area. Program information, provided by presenters, is updated as details become available. Adult ticket prices are listed; senior, student/youth, military, group and other discounts may be offered.

Each listing includes primary Covid-19 safety protocols for the event. Contact presenters and venues for updated, modified requirements.

Aug. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Charlottesville
Charlottesville Band
Steve Layman directing
100th Anniversay Concert
program TBA
free
masks optional
(434) 979-1333
http://cvilleband.org

Aug. 3 (7 p.m.)
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1627 Monument Ave., Richmond
August Musicales:
Trio Niche:
Susan Via, violin
Sarah Glosson, cello
Tom Marshall, fortepiano
Mozart: Piano Trio in D minor, K. 442
Mozart: Fantasy in D minor, K. 392
Beethoven: Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
Jean Baptiste Sébastian Bréval: Duo I in B flat major, Op. 21
Haydn: Piano Trio in G major, Hob. XV:25
donation requested
masks recommended
(804) 359-2463
http://grace-covenant.org

Aug. 5 ( 8 p.m.)
Filene Center, Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna
National Symphony Orchestra
Ruth Reinhardt conducting
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Gil Shaham, violin
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
$27-$82
masks recommended
(703) 255-1868
http://wolftrap.org

Aug. 6 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Parker Quartet
Jeannette Fang, piano
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Takemitsu: “A Way A Lone”
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
$25 (concert); $92 (concert & dinner)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 7 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2022:
Janáček: Violin Sonata
Susy Yim, violin
John Walter, piano
Randall Thompson: “Wedding Music” for string quartet
Susy Yim & Catherine Cary, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
John Walter, piano
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
$30
proof of vaccination & masks required
(804) 272-7514
http://richmondchamberplayers.org

Aug. 7 (2 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Parker Quartet
Caroline Shaw: “Valencia”
Bartók: Quartet No. 5
Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 135
$25 (concert); $53 (concert & picnic)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 10 (7 p.m.)
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1627 Monument Ave., Richmond
August Musicales:
Christopher Martin, organ
Widor: Organ Symphony in E minor, Op. 13, No. 3 – III: Marcia
Mendelssohn: Sonata in B flat major, Op. 65, No. 4
J.S. Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
Debussy: Deuxième Arabesque
Vierne: “Pièces de Fantaisie,” Op. 53, Suite No. 2 – V: “Claire de lune”
Dupré: Prélude and Fugue in B major, Op. 7
donation requested
masks recommended
(804) 359-2463
http://grace-covenant.org

Aug. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Handel: Water Music” Suite No. 3 (excerpts)
Handel: “Music for the Royal Fireworks” (excerpts)
Handel: “Sosame” (excerpts)
Handel: “La Resurrezione” (excerpts)
Handel: Organ Concerto No. 7 (excerpts)
Handel: “Coronation Anthems” – I: “Zadok the Priest”
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Aug. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna
Wolf Trap Opera
Stephanie Rhodes Russell conducting
Carlisle Floyd: “Susannah”
Ann Toomey (Susannah Polk)
Christian Pursell (the Rev. Olin Blitch)
Robert Stahley (Sam Polk)
Joseph Leppek (Little Bat McLean)
Wolf Trap Opera Studio members TBA
Dan Wallace Miller, stage director
in English
$38-$58
masks recommended
(703) 255-1868
http://wolftrap.org

Aug. 13 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Telemann: “Hamburg Ebb and Flood” (“Water Music”)
Sibelius: “Water Drops” for violin & cello
Debussy: “La Mer” for piano trio (Sally Beamish arrangement)
Medieval vocal works TBA
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Brahms: Intermezzo in B minor, Op. 119, No. 1, for piano
Zhou Long: “Words of the Sun” for chorus
Robert Schumann: “Bilder aus dem Osten” (excerpts)
Clara Wieck Schumann: “Three Rückert Songs”
Luciano Berio: “Folk Songs” for voices & chamber ensemble
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 13 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Teresa Ling, violin
Scott Rawls, viola
Isaac Melamed, cello
Jeannette Fang, piano
Rebecca Clarke: Piano Trio
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47
$25 (concert); $92 (concert & dinner)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 14 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2022:
Telemann: Fantasia No. 1
Emma Cary, cello
J.S. Bach: Flute Sonata in E major, BWV 1035
Shannon Valdzura, flute
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
P.D.Q. Bach: Sonata for viola four-hands
Molly Sharp & Stephen Schmidt, violas
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: “The Well-Tempered Clavier” (excerpts)
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 (chamber arrangement)
Molly Sharp & Stephen Schmidt, violas
Neal Cary, cello
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
$30
proof of vaccination & masks required
(804) 272-7514
http://richmondchamberplayers.org

Aug. 14 (10:30 a.m.)
Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Telemann: Concerto in D major for 4 violins
Allan Blank: “Two Holy Sonnets” for alto & chamber ensemble
Guillaume de Machaut: Motet, “Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient”
Roussel: Serenade for flute, harp & strings
$16-$20
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 14 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Mozart: “Galimathias musicum” for orchestra
Tallis: “Missa puer natus” (excerpts)
J.S. Bach: harpsichord notebooks (excerpts)
Debussy: “Children’s Corner” (excerpts)
Bartók: violin duos TBA
Chen Yi: Bagatelle for piano
Mahler: “Kindertotenlieder”
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 14 (2 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Emerging Artists Fellows
Kodály: Serenade, Op. 12, for 2 violins & viola
Arno Babadjeanian: Piano Trio in F sharp minor
Chausson: Concert in D major, Op. 21, for violin, piano & string quartet
$25 (concert); $53 (concert & picnic)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 15 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Mozart: “Variations on ‘Ah vous dirai-je, Maman’ ,” K. 265
George Crumb: “Ancient Voices of Children” for voices & chamber ensemble
Tchaikovsky: “The Nutcracker” (excerpts) (Zachary Wadsworth arrangement)
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 15 (3 p.m.)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Sun Li, pipa
Wang Guowei, erhu
“Music from China”
program TBA
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 16 (noon)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Chen Yi: “Sparkle” for chamber ensemble
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (“Eroica”) for piano quartet (Ferdinand Ries arrangement)
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
J.S. Bach: Concerto in C major for 3 harpsichords
Schubert: part-songs TBA for vocal ensemble & fortepiano
Johann Adam Reincken: Allemande for 3 harpsichords
Handel: ”Rinaldo” – “Vo’ far guerra” for countertenor, harpsichord & orchestra
Jan Sweelinck: “Echo Fantasia” for 2 organs
Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 17 (7 p.m.)
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1627 Monument Ave., Richmond
August Musicales:
The Thirteen Choir
Matthew Robertson directing
George Walker: “O Praise the Lord”
Bruckner: 3 graduals
Caroline Shaw: “I’ll Fly Away”
Barber: “Reincarnations”
Ed Rex: “Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers”
Brahms: 2 motets, Op. 74
Britten: “Sacred and Profane,” Op. 91
donation requested
masks recommended
(804) 359-2463
http://grace-covenant.org

Aug. 17 (noon)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Mendelssohn: “The Hebrides” Overture for violin, cello & piano 4-hands
Stefan Heucke: Concerto grosso for period & modern orchestras (premiere)
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 17 (3 p.m.)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Chen Yi, composer & speaker
Chester Biscardi, speaker
other artists TBA
Chen Yi: “Chinese Fables”
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Giovanni Gabrieli: canzona for winds, strings & continuo
Zhou Long: “Tales from the Cave” for huqin & percussion
Robert Schumann: 3 songs (Stefan Heucke arrangement)
Dave Brubeck: “Take Five” (Zachary Wadsworth arrangement)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 18 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Debussy: “Danse extatique” (Vladimir Mendelssohn arrangement)
Debussy: “Chambre magique” (Vladimir Mendelssohn arrangement)
Chester Biscardi: “Photo – Piere – Moonlight” for 2 violins
Zachary Wadsworth: “Abendländisches Lied”
Debussy: “Petite Suite”
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Villa-Lobos: “Bachianas Brasileiras” No. 5
Scarlatti: 2 sonatas (harp transcriptions)
Jan Dismas Zelenka: Capriccio in F major for 2 horns & oboes
Chen Yi: “Fiddle Suite” for erhu & string quartet
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Stravinsky: “Symphony of Psalms”
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 19 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Schubert: song TBA (Franz Liszt arrangement) (harp transcription)
Schubert: “Gesang der Geister” for male voices & strings
John Harbison: “November 19, 1828” for piano quartet
Schubert: Octet in F major, D. 803 – I: Adagio – allegro – più allegro
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 19 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
“Baroque Inside/Out”
Monteverdi: Vespers (excerpts)
works TBA by Biagio Marini, Dario Castello, Giovanni Gabrieli
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 20 (noon)
First Presbyterian Church, 100 E. Frederick St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Erwin Schulhoff: “Cloud Pump” for baritone & chamber ensemble
Chausson: Concert in D major, Op. 21, for violin, piano & string quartet
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 20 (3 p.m.)
Central United Methodist Church, 14 N. Lewis St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
John Blow: “Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell”
Telemann: Horn Concerto in D major
free; donation requested
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 20 (7:30 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Johann Strauss II: “Roses from the South” (Alban Berg arrangement)
Liszt: Elegy for chamber ensemble
Erwin Schulhoff: “Syncopated Peter”
Beethoven: “The Last Rose of Summer”
Richard Strauss: “Der Rosenkavalier” – “Presentation of the Rose” (Zachary Wadsworth arrangement)
Marc Neikrug: “Through Roses”
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 20 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Strata Trio:
Nathan Williams, clarinet
James Stern, violin & viola
Audrey Andrist, piano
Khachaturian: Clarinet Trio
Kenneth Frazelle: “A Book of Days”
Karim Al-Zand: “Stomping Grounds”
Bruch: Double Concerto, Op. 88, for clarinet, viola & piano
$25 (concert); $92 (concert & dinner)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 20 (8 p.m.)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Washington
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
Keri-Lynn Wilson conducting
Valentyn Silvestrov: Symphony No. 7
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Anna Fedorova, piano
Beethoven: “Fidelio” – “Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?”
Liudmyla Monastyrska, soprano
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
$10
masks required
(800) 444-1324
http://kennedy-center.org

Aug. 21 (3 p.m.)
Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road, Richmond
Richmond Chamber Players’ Interlude 2022:
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108
Susy Yim & Catherine Cary, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Barber: Cello Sonata in C minor, Op. 6
Emma Cary, cello
Daniel Stipe, piano
Mozart: Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478
Daniel Stipe, piano
Catherine Cary, violin
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
$30
proof of vaccination & masks required
(804) 272-7514
http://richmondchamberplayers.org

Aug. 21 (10:30 a.m.)
Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Haydn: Notturno in C major for winds & strings
Zachary Wadsworth: “Salutation, Valediction” for narrator & chamber ensemble (premiere)
Haydn: Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor (“Farewell”)
$16-$20
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 21 (noon)
MacCracken Hall, Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
Tim Carter, speaker
introduction to Haydn’s “The Creation”
$40 (meal included) (seating limited)
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 21 (4 p.m.)
Trinity Episcopal Church, 214 W. Beverly St., Staunton
Staunton Music Festival:
artists TBA
Haydn: “The Creation”
$22-$32
masks recommended
(540) 569-0267
http://stauntonmusicfestival.org

Aug. 21 (2 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Strata Trio:
Nathan Williams, clarinet
James Stern, violin & viola
Audrey Andrist, piano
Schumann: “Märchenerzählungen” (“Fairy Tales”), Op. 132, for viola, clarinet & piano
Dana Wilson: “A Thousand Whirling Dreams” for violin, clarinet & piano
Rebecca Clarke: Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale for clarinet & viola
Jean Françaix: Trio for clarinet, viola & piano
$25 (concert); $53 (concert & picnic)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 27 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Stijn De Cock, Jeannette Fang, Genevieve Feiwen Lee & Tian Tian, pianos
Shostakovich: Concertino, Op. 94, for 2 pianos
Gao Ping: “Valley Echoes”
Gabriela Lena Frank: “Sonata Serrana” No. 1
Pēteris Vasks: “Music for Two Pianos”
$25 (concert); $92 (concert & dinner)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Aug. 27 (7:30 p.m.)
Elmwood Park, 505 Williamson Road SE, Roanoke
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra
David Stewart Wiley conducting
Daryl Duff, bass
Roanoke Symphony Chorus
SWVA Ballet
“Symphony under the Stars”
program TBA
free
masks optional
(540) 343-9127
http://rso.com

Aug. 28 (4 p.m.)
River Road Church, Baptist, River and Ridge roads, Richmond
Washington National Cathedral Boys & Girls Choir
Michael McCarthy directing
program TBA
free; tickets via http://eventbrite.com
masks recommended
(804) 288-1131
http://rrcb.org/concertseries

Aug. 28 (2 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Stijn De Cock, Jeannette Fang, Genevieve Feiwen Lee & Tian Tian, pianos
Stravinsky: “Le sacre du printemps” (“The Rite of Spring”) for piano 4-hands
Errollyn Wallen: “The Girl in My Alphabet” for 2 pianos 4-hands
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1049, for 2 pianos 8-hands (Paul Waldersee arrangement)
Smetana: Sonata in E minor for two pianos
$25 (concert); $53 (concert & picnic)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Sept. 3 (5 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Aaron Berofsky, violin
Haydn: Quartet in G major, Op. 33, No. 5
Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in F sharp minor, Op. 67
$25 (concert); $92 (concert & dinner)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

Sept. 4 (2 p.m.)
Herter Hall, Garth Newel Music Center, 403 Garth Newel Lane, Hot Springs
Garth Newel Piano Quartet
Aaron Berofsky, violin
Florence Beatrice Price: Piano Quintet in A minor (Lisa Jensen-Abbott arrangement)
Dvořák: Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81
$25 (concert); $53 (concert & picnic)
masks recommended
(540) 839-5018
http://garthnewel.org

The Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård has been named the 11th music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, succeeding Osmo Vänskä. Søndergård, currently music director the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, signed a five-year contract in Minnesota, beginning in the 2023-24 season.

Trained as a percussionist, onetime principal timpanist of the Royal Danish Orchestra, the 52-year-old Søndergård turned to conducting about 20 years ago. He is best-known for performances of Scandinavian music, from well-known composers such as Sibelius and Nielsen to contemporary figures.

In an interview with Jenna Ross of the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, Søndergård said he intended to balance standard orchestral repertory with “works that have been neglected either because of gender or color. . . . We want to surprise and seduce our audience.”

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-orchestra-names-danish-conductor-thomas-sondergard-its-new-music-director/600193833/

The Emerson String Quartet, the eminent US ensemble founded in 1976 and beginning its final year of concerts in the fall, will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 in the 2022-23 season of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Mary Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts series.

The series will open at 3 p.m. Sept. 11 with a performance by George Li, a Boston-based pianist who won the silver medal in the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition and has won widespread acclaim for his interpretations of Russian music.

In addition to Li and the Emerson, the series will feature double-bassist Xavier Foley at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 and the Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov and pianist Eri Nakamura – at 7 p.m. March 25.

All concerts will be staged in Vlahcevic Concert Hall of Singleton Arts Center, Park Avenue at Harrison Street.

Programs will be announced later.

Ticket subscriptions for the four concerts are $120. Single tickets, available online beginning Aug. 12, are $35.

For more information, call the VCU Music Department office at (804) 828-1166 or email music@vcu.edu

Writing for The Guardian, conductor Andrew Manze celebrates the 150th anniversary year of Ralph Vaughan Williams, the most English of composers.

Vaughan Williams was so deeply steeped in his country’s folk and sacred music, literature and landscape, Manze writes, that “he himself sometimes did not know whether he had composed a piece or merely remembered it. He likened the process to seeing Stonehenge, New York or Niagara Falls for the first time: [I]t was as if he already knew them. . . .

“For some, however, Vaughan Williams’s very Englishness can be a barrier to appreciation. I have been lucky enough to perform his music outside the UK and see how it touches and speaks to musicians and audiences who know nothing of its cultural roots. The most common reaction to hearing one of the symphonies is a sort of bemused appetite for more: how many of these are there?”

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/26/ralph-vaughan-williams-visionary-genius-lark-ascending

Jonathon Heyward, the 29-year-old chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany, has been named the new music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, beginning in the 2023-24 season.

Heyward, a cellist and graduate of the Boston Conservatory, will be the first conductor of color to lead the Baltimore Symphony, and one of few to have led a major US orchestra. He succeeds Marin Alsop, a pioneering female music director.

The New York Times’ Javier C. Hernández reports that Heyward “would work to make the orchestra more relatable by programming a wider variety of works, featuring a greater diversity of performers and moving some concerts away from traditional venues.”

“It’s simply a knack of being able to really understand what the community needs and listening to what the community needs and then being able to get them in the door,” Heyward told Hernández. “If a 10-year-old boy from Charleston, South Carolina, with no music education background, with no musicians in the family, can be enamored and amazed by this, by the best art form there is – classical music – then I think anyone can.”

After a two-year pandemic hiatus, pianist Alexander Paley’s Richmond music festival will return for three concerts in mid-September.

Paley and Peiwen Chen, his wife and duo and 4-hands piano partner, will be joined by violinist Amiram Ganz, a frequent participant in past festivals, for two all-Schubert programs and another of piano arrangements of works by Richard Strauss and Johann Strauss II.

The festival will be staged at St Luke Lutheran Church, 7757 Chippenham Parkway. Tickets are $20 per concert.

For more information, call (804) 665-9516 or visit http://paleymusicfestival.org

Dates, artists and programs for the 2022 Paley Music Festival:

Sept. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
Amiram Ganz, violin
Alexander Paley, piano
Schubert: Violin Sonata in D major, D. 384
Schubert: Violin Sonata in A minor, D. 385
Schubert: Violin Sonata in G minor, D. 408
Schubert: Rondo in B minor, D. 895 (“Rondo brillant”)
Schubert: 4 impromptus, D. 899
Schubert: suite of waltzes

Sept. 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Amiram Ganz, violin
Alexander Paley, piano
Schubert: Violin Sonata in A major, D. 574 (“Duo”)
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 537
Schubert: Piano Sonata in A major, D. 664
Schubert: Fantasy in C major, D. 934, for violin & piano

Sept. 18 (3 p.m.)
Alexander Paley & Peiwen Chen, piano
Richard Strauss: “Symphonia Domestica” for piano 4-hands (Otto Singer arrangement)
Johann Strauss II: “Die Fledermaus” (selections) for piano (Ernő Dohnányi arrangement)

The Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia has announced five concerts in its 2022-23 season, featuring works by Mozart, Brahms, baroque works from Germany and France and new music by Brian Nabors and Kevin Day.

Afternoon performances will be staged at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Second Presbyterian Church and First Unitarian Universalist Church, with two evening concerts at the Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal.

Artists and detailed programs will be announced later, as will four additional programs.

Season tickets are $120, student tickets are $20. For details, call (804) 304-6312 or visit http://cmscva.org

The Chamber Music Society’s coming season:

Sept. 25 (4 p.m.)
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 12291 River Road
artists TBA
Mozart: String Quintet in C major, K. 515
Mozart: String Quintet in G minor, K. 516

Oct. 30 (4 p.m.)
Second Presbyterian Church, 5 N. Fifth St.
Carsten Schmidt, harpsichord
works TBA by Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel, others

Dec. 19 (7 p.m.)
Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road
artists TBA
works TBA by French baroque composers

Feb. 3 (7 p.m.)
Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal, Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road
artists TBA
Brian Nabors: commissioned work TBA
string chamber works TBA from Spain & America

April 16 (4 p.m.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1000 Blanton Ave. at the Carillon
artists TBA
works TBA by Brahms, Johann Strauss II, Kevin Day

Adrian Pintea & Jeannette Jang, violins
Hyo Joo Uh, viola
Jason McComb, cello
Peter Spaar, double-bass
Ingrid Keller, piano
July 7, Dominion Energy Center

Louise Farrenc is one of the standout figures in the ongoing discovery of female composers of the past. Farrenc (1804-75), a French contemporary of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn and Robert and Clara Schumann, was a prominent pianist, a composer of instrumental works in an era when opera and ballet music dominated the French soundscape, and the only woman to be appointed to the faculty of the Paris Conservatoire in the 19th century.

In the opening concert of the Richmond Symphony’s Summer Chamberfest, an ensemble of piano and strings played the earliest of the chamber works for which Farrenc was most widely celebrated, her Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 30. Dating from 1839, the piece is scored for piano, violin, viola, cello and double-bass (the same instrumentation as that of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet), and echoes many of the prevailing strains of European music of the time – especially the virtuosic, embellishment-rich piano writing of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (one of Farrenc’s teachers).

Pianist Ingrid Keller, appropriately, was the lead voice in this performance, but was a considerate leader, balancing her instrument’s often elaborate figurations with the rich, moody string parts in the big, rhapsodic opening and closing movements of the quintet. The five players realized echoes of Felix Mendelssohn’s quicksilver “fairy” music in the quintet’s scherzo, and of Beethoven in the anthem-like theme of the adagio.

Other echoes pervaded “Neo Soul,” the first string quartet of Damien Geter, a Chesterfield County-born singer (the bass-baritone soloist in the Richmond Symphony’s May performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony) and composer whose works blend European classical and African-American vernacular and popular musical traditions.

The three-movement “Neo Soul” is based thematically in Black popular song; expressively, though, the piece sounds like an American version of the folk-rooted but intensely personal writings of European “nationalist” romantics. I was reminded more than once of Bedrich Smetana’s First String Quartet (“In My Life”).

Violinists Adrian Pintea and Jeannette Jang, violist Hyo Joo Uh and cellist Jason McComb ably negotiated Geter’s contrasting grooves of romanticized, often eloquent melody over ostinato or cross-rhythmic bass lines, in an enticing introduction to Geter’s music.

There’s more to come: In 2025, Virginia Opera will introduce Geter’s and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo’s “Loving v. Virginia,” based on the lives of the couple whose 1967 Supreme Court case overturned prohibitions against interracial marriage, and Geter will serve as composer-in-residence with the Richmond Symphony (a co-commissioner of the opera).

Pintea, Jang, Uh and McComb rounded out this Chamberfest opener with the second movement of Maurice Ravel’s Quartet in F major, one of the best-known examples of pizzicato (plucked-string) writing in the quartet literature. While suitably animated in the pizzicato sections and moody in the central tune, the foursome’s collective sound was too heavy to qualify as idiomatically French-impressionist.

The Richmond Symphony’s Summer Chamberfest continues with violinist Alison Hall, flutist Shannon Vandzura, trumpeter Brian Strawley, trombonist Evan Williams and pianist Russell Wilson playing works by J.S. Bach, Missy Mazzoli and Eric Ewazen at 6:30 p.m. July 14 in Rhythm Hall of Dominion Energy Center, Sixth and Grace streets. Tickets: $25-$30. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://www.richmondsymphony.com

After a pandemic-driven hiatus of two summers, the Richmond Chamber Players will resume their Interlude series of August concerts.

The ensemble has scheduled three concerts, at 3 p.m. Aug. 7, 14 and 21 at Bon Air Presbyterian Church, 9201 W. Huguenot Road.

Programming includes sonatas and ensemble works by Mozart, Schumann, Janáček, Barber and Shostakovich; a baroque program, largely of works by J.S. Bach, featuring harpsichordist Joanne Kong as a guest artist; and what the ensemble is billing as the modern premiere of “Wedding Music,” a suite for string quartet by the mid-20th-century US composer Randall Thompson.

Admission to the concerts requires proof of Covid-19 vaccination, and masks must be worn during performances.

Tickets are $80 for a three-concert subscription or $30 per concert. For more information, visit http://richmondchamberplayers.org

Dates, artists and programs:

Aug. 7
Janáček: Viola Sonata
Susy Yim, violin
John Walter, piano
Randall Thompson: “Wedding Music” for string quartet
Susy Yim & Catherine Cary, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
John Walter, piano
Catherine Cary & Susy Yim, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello

Aug. 14
Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 (solo-cello arrangement)
Emma Cary, cello
J.S. Bach: Flute Sonata in E major, BWV 1035
Shannon Valdzura, flute
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
P.D.Q. Bach: Sonata for viola four-hands
Molly Sharp & Stephen Schmidt, viola
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: “The Well-Tempered Clavier” (4 excerpts)
Joanne Kong, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 (chamber arrangement)
Molly Sharp & Stephen Schmidt, violas
Neal Cary, cello
Joanne Kong, harpsichord

Aug. 21
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108
Susy Yim & Catherine Cary, violins
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello
Barber: Cello Sonata in C minor, Op. 6
Emma Cary, cello
Daniel Stipe, piano
Mozart: Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478
Daniel Stipe, piano
Catherine Cary, violin
Stephen Schmidt, viola
Neal Cary, cello