Virginia Symphony Tickets

In Virginia, there is an American regional orchestra in Hampton Roads known as The Virginia Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra performs at several venues in Virginia, including Chrysler Hall in Norfolk and the Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News. The orchestra was founded in 1920 as the Norfolk Symphony, and was for a time the only American orchestra between Baltimore and Atlanta.

During the US economic crisis and recession of the 1970s, the Virginia Symphony assumed its present form in 1979 with the merger of the Norfolk Symphony, Peninsula Symphony Orchestra, and the Virginia Beach Pops Symphon.

Past music directors of the orchestra have included Henry Cowles Whitehead, Edgar Schenckman and Russell Stanger. In May 1991, JoAnn Falletta was appointed the orchestras eleventh music director.

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is the cultural cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads. 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 has enriched the cultural life of the Hampton Roads community for more than eight decades which has been recognized as one of the nations leading regional symphony orchestras. Recent great achievements of the Virginia Symphony under the baton of Music Director JoAnn Falletta include five compact disc recordings for national release, a performance of Peter and the Wolf which was aired on National Public Radio, and groundbreaking performances at the Kennedy Center and New Yorks Carnegie Hall.

The Virginia Symphony annually performs more than 140 Classical, Pops, Family, Education and Outreach concerts, including orchestral support of the acclaimed Virginia Opera, Virginia Arts Festival, and Virginia Ballet. The Virginia Symphony Orchestras 2007-2008 seasons weaves the expressive threads of Romanticism through its repertoire. As the orchestra inaugurates a season that adds seven Classics concerts at the newly built 1200 seat Sandler Center in Virginia Beach.

It continues its Classics series at Chrysler Hall, Norfolk, its Classics and Coffee Concerts series at the Ferguson Center for the Arts, Newport News and its Classics at St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg and Regent University Theatre, Virginia Beach. The Symphony has also presented a new Classics series at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. We have an exciting 88th season, said Carla Johnson, one with a broad sampling of great music.

In keeping with our commitment to serve all of Hampton Roads, we are delighted to be inaugurating a new Classics series in the Sandler Center in Virginia Beach and in the Center for Cultural Arts in Suffolk as well as continuing our Classics series at Chrysler Hall, Ferguson Center for the Arts, Regent University and St. Bede in Williamsburg. And we have Salon Chamber series in Smithfield and Yorktown as well .said Johnson.

We are particularly excited about performing in the new Sandler Center. We have a small but very devoted audience for our Sunday matinees and by transferring these concerts to the Sandler Center; we hope that the intimacy of this 1200 seat hall will enhance their concert experience while allowing for growth. The 2008 season will showcase the exceptional musicians of the orchestra as well as incomparable guest artists and guest conductors from around the globe.

Tchaikovsky said of his symphony, Guest pianist Christopher ORiley joins the orchestra to perform Ravels Piano Concerto in G Major. The season has opened Friday, September 7, 2007, 8pm at the Ferguson Center for the Arts, continues Saturday, September, Chrysler Hall and Sunday, September, Ferguson Center for the Arts. For the season opener, JoAnn Falletta conducts Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 6, Pathetique, the final symphony by the Romantic composer that premiered in 1893, nine days before his death.

Guest artists which are returning this year are violinist Joshua Bell, Sir James Galway, conductor Scot Yoo, pianist Christopher ORiley and cellist Zuill Bailey. For the first time in her tenure with the Virginia Symphony Music Director JoAnn Falletta, will be the guest soloist on stage with the orchestra as she performs Vivaldis Guitar Concerto in D Major. Making their first appearances with the Virginia Symphony in 2007-2008 is violinist Nicola Benedetti, the Eroica Trio, conductor Edwin Outwater and pianist Yakov Kasman.

The Virginia Symphony will present its most romantic season to date in 2007-2008 with a vibrant tapestry of works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Brahms, Beethoven and other composers who explore the full gamut of the emotional and dramatic possibilities for orchestra. said Music Director Falletta. Contemporary romantic voices such as John Corigliano and Aaron Jay Kernis will also bring new color to a year that holds beloved favorites and exciting discoveries.

If the group does not receive a 1$ million loan from the city of Norfolks Economic Development Authority, The Virginia Symphony Orchestra may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and musicians might have to go without their next paycheck said Executive Director Carla Johnson.

Mayor Paul Fraim said the loan, if granted, would come from interest income on bonds issued by the authority and would not have to be approved by the City Council.

I dont blame the symphony for asking for 1$ million, but I believe that is beyond what would be prudent, said Fraim. He said he would recommend as much as $500,000 in the form of a line of credit, as long as it was paid back within a relatively short time, with interest.