Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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and is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia and one of the nation's leading regional orchestras. The organization includes a full-time orchestra with more than 70 musicians, the Richmond Symphony Chorus with 150 volunteer members, and the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs with more than 260 student participants. Each season, approximately 200,000 community members enjoy live concerts and radio broadcasts by the Richmond Symphony, and 55,000 students and teachers participate in the Symphony's educational outreach programs.
The Richmond Symphony's Music Director is Valentina Peleggi (since 2020), with Chia-Hsuan Lin as Associate Conductor (since 2016). Previous Music Directors include Edgar Schenkman (1957–71), Jacques Houtmann (1971-86), George Manahan (1987–98), Mark Russell Smith (1999-2009), and Steven Smith (2010-2019). Previous Associate Conductors include William Henry Curry, Peter Bay,
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...
, Thomas Wilkins, Eckart Preu, Clark Etienne Suttle, Sarah Hatsuko Hicks, Erin Freeman, and Keitaro Harada. Its Executive Director is Lacey Huszcza.
The Symphony has performed alongside internationally renowned musicians such as
Claudio Arrau
Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Bra ...
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius.
Early life and education
Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psycholog ...
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman (russian: Ефим Наумович Бронфман; born April 10, 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.
Biography
Bronfman was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 15. H ...
,
Aldo Ciccolini
Aldo Ciccolini (; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.
Biography
Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerata, worked as a typogr ...
,
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
,
Emerson String Quartet
The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is an American string quartet that was initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and beg ...
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves (born March 7, 1964) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.
Early life
Graves was born on March 7, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to Charles Graves and Dorothy (Middleton) Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and w ...
Kate Lindsey
Kate Lindsey (born 1980) is a mezzo-soprano opera singer from the United States. She is married to the documentary filmmaker Olly Lambert.
Lindsey was born in Richmond, Virginia, and holds a Bachelor of Music Degree with Distinction from India ...
Edgar Meyer
Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times.
Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegrass ...
,
Jessye Norman
Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...
,
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman ( he, יצחק פרלמן; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist widely considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. Perlman has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that ha ...
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Jean-Pierre Rampal
Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the Western concert flute, flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th ce ...
,
Christopher Riley
Christopher Riley (born 1967) is a British writer, broadcaster and film maker specialising in the history of science. He has a PhD from Imperial College, University of London where he pioneered the use of digital elevation models in the study ...
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist.
Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...
,
William Grant Still
William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978) was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music and works for ...
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme.
Early years and education
Julian ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his bir ...
,
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
, the
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
,
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in '' Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Wit ...
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Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 – August 6, 2012) was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of only seventeen people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. This collection of all four is referred to as an " EGO ...
,
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical tradition ...
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Bullock; 28 October 1927)Robert Shaw; its directors have been Dr. James Erb (1971-2007) and Dr. Erin R. Freeman (since 2007). The Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra Program includes four ensembles of elementary to secondary school students.
As a nonprofit corporation, the Richmond Symphony is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
.
The orchestra performs five concert series: Masterworks, made up of new and traditional symphonic repertoire engaging some of the best classical guest artists in the industry; Metro Collection Series, made up of beloved chamber music and highlighting Richmond Symphony musicians as soloists in a more intimate setting; Pops, featuring popular guest artists and classical and pop repertoire; LolliPops, a family-friendly concert series; and Rush-Hour, one-hour casual concerts in the tasting room at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. The Richmond Symphony also gives special concerts and tours throughout central, western and southern Virginia.
In 2015 the Richmond Symphony launched its nationally recognize "Big Tent" initiative that brings concerts and festivals to communities throughout the Richmond region. As of December 2019, "Big Tent" community festivals have reached tens-of-thousands of audiences members, generating more than 150 community partnerships and helped to raise over $400,000 for the purchase of 363 instruments and in support of arts programming in Richmond Public Schools. By the time the pilot period of the program is complete in 2019-20, the Symphony anticipates having raised over $500,000 in donations and buying more than 400 instruments to outfit all 32 RPS elementary and middle schools with a full string orchestra. The "Big Tent" program was a major factor in the Richmond Symphony being named a leader in orchestra innovation by the League of American Orchestras through it Futures Fund Initiative
See also
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List of symphony orchestras
This is a list of symphony orchestras that includes orchestras with established notability. A list of youth orchestras can be found at List of youth orchestras.
Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
* Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste
Egypt
...
*
Big Five (orchestras)
The Big Five orchestras of the United States are the five symphony orchestras that led the field in "musical excellence, calibre of musicianship, total contract weeks, weekly basic wages, recording guarantees, and paid vacations" when the term gai ...