The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia

Old Cabell Hall, March 22 and March 23 As part of its 50th anniversary season, the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia offers a pair of what should be gripping and provocative performances. The program wastes no time in lunging for the heart with Samuel Barber’s well-known Adagio for Strings. The compact and passionate […]

The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia

Romeo and Juliet February 8 Old Cabell Hall,  February 9 Martin Luther King Jr. Performing Arts Center Celebrating its 50th season, the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia is busting out its big Shakespearean guns with bits from Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet of Romeo and Juliet. Famously tinkering with the Bard’s failed teenage romance, Prokofiev […]

Charlottesville Symphony channels unique makeup for talent, longevity

When the schedule for this year’s 50th-anniversary season of the Charlottesville Symphony hits the desk of Elizabeth Roberts, the orchestra’s principal bassoonist eyes the first piece in the first show. It’s Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, and she’s played it many, many times. For professional players like Roberts, seeing Beethoven 5 on the setlist is like […]

Pick: Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra

Love is in the air: Looking for a perfect date night? You bring the chocolate and roses, and the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra will provide the romantic melodies. Conducted by Music Director Benjamin Rous, the string orchestra kicks things off with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major. The four-movement homage to Mozart begins with a […]

Pick: Bass and Beethoven

Ace of bass: Feeling strung out? Relax with some strings: This weekend, you can bask in the mellow, sultry, resonant reverberations of the double bass with soloist Peter Spaar and the Charlottesville Symphony in Bass and Beethoven. The performance features Grammy-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli’s twisting and timeless Dark with Excessive Bright, George Gershwin’s bluesy and […]

ARTS Pick: Charlottesville Symphony scores big with John Williams’ tribute

It’s fairly safe to assume that if you’ve watched movies, you have heard the work of legendary composer John Williams. To honor the soundtrack maestro, Music Director Benjamin Rous leads the Charlottesville Symphony, a blended ensemble of professional, student and community musicians, in some of Williams’ most successful scores. From distant planets in the Star […]

ARTS Pick: Charlottesville Symphony masters diverse program

Guest conductor Laura Jackson takes the baton for Charlottesville Symphony’s Masterworks 4, a diverse program that includes Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Christopher Theofanidis’ Rainbow Body, Tchaikovsky’s suite from Swan Lake and Copland’s Billy the Kid suite. Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25. $10-45, 8pm on Saturday at Old Cabell Hall, UVA; 3:30pm on Sunday at […]

UVA’s Kate Tamarkin takes her final curtain call

When Kate Tamarkin was an undergraduate at Southern California’s Chapman University, orchestra conductor was not on her list of career choices. “As a female back then, it never occurred to me to even want to [do that],” the music director and conductor of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia says. But she was […]

ARTS Pick: Family Holiday Concerts

Among the finest local traditions is when the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia and UVA’s University Singers join forces for the Family Holiday Concerts conducted by Michael Slon. This year’s program includes “Carol of the Bells,” “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” as well […]