[PAST EVENT] Virginia Symphony at PBK Hall

October 6, 2011
8pm
Location
Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Memorial Hall
601 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Judith Shatin, the inventive composer of works that range from chamber and orchestral music to film and multimedia installations, will attend the Virginia Symphony performance of her composition, Jefferson, In His Own Words. The orchestra will be conducted by Benjamin Rous, Associate Conductor of the Virginia Symphony. The work was commissioned by the VSO, Charlottesville University Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony and the Illinois Symphony. It was premiered in Illinois in 2010.

Based on the writings of Thomas Jefferson, both personal and public, Ms. Shatin notes, "He wrote on subjects as mundane as the purchase of seeds and shoes, and as telling as religious freedom and national debt." Each of the four movements for narrator and orchestra focuses on a different aspect of Jefferson's character and life.

The repertoire of the Symphony's opening concert explores Jefferson's 18th-century world and music he may well have heard. Haydn's Symphony No. 83 and Beethoven's Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, featuring VSO concertmaster Vahn Armstrong complete the program.

"Beethoven's Violin Concerto is monumental in size, heavenly in its beauty and joyous," writes annotator Laurie Shulman. "Beethoven allows the orchestra to sing, with the violin contributing nobility, grace and dignity. It adds up to divine music, altogether appropriate to a Jeffersonian tribute."

The VSO Classics series at Phi Beta Kappa Hall is sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg in cooperation with the College of William & Mary and the City of Williamsburg. Partial support is provided by the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

For tickets or information, contact the VSO Box Office, 757-892-6366 or visit the Symphony online: {{http://www.virginiasymphony.org., Virginia Symphony}}.
Contact

757-892-6366