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Catch uniquely American performances in honor of 400th anniversar
Published May 28 2006
Dave Nicholson
America's choral music tradition takes center stage next season when the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Chorale present "Coming to America, 400 Years" as part of the Jamestown 2007 celebration.
The program will be part of two weeks of choral concerts in March 2007 and is being funded by a $70,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It's the largest NEA grant the orchestra has received.
Symphony Music Director JoAnn Falletta and Chorus Director Robert Shoup will focus on the music of American composers as well as composers from other countries who have immigrated to America. Among the composers chosen are Gian Carlo Menotti, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein in works we don't often hear. Guitarist Christopher Parkening and baritone Jubilant Sykes will be guest artists during this Virginia Festival of American Voices. Highlights include two performances of Menotti's rarely seen dance piece, "The Unicorn, The Gorgon and The Manticore" featuring the Todd Rosenlieb Dance company and a choral concert of Barber's "Agnus Dei" and Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms." Sykes also heads up a pops concert featuring the songs of Nat King Cole and American opera/musical theater star Paul Robeson.
Choral composer Dan Locklair of Winston-Salem will be composer-in-residence. There'll be a regional choral festival and a series of forum discussions during the festival.
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The Virginia Symphony Orchestra with a complement of 79 professional musicians under the direction of Grammy-nominated Music Director JoAnn Falletta performs 140 concerts annually, reaching 200,000 concert goers every season in venues throughout the region. Our education and outreach programs reach 53,000 students and adult learners every year. The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is the cultural cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.
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