The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia continues its 48th season on Saturday, February 11, 8:00pm, at Old Cabell Hall on the Grounds of the University of Virginia and Sunday, February 12, 3:30pm, at Charlottesville High School’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center.
For this program, titled “Forces of Nature” Music Director Benjamin Rous has chosen three contrasting orchestra showpieces that feature nature on full display. Ludwig van Beethoven was a nature lover who enjoyed long walks in the outskirts of Vienna. His Symphony No. 6 in F major, dubbed the Pastoral Symphony, is much loved for its bird calls, babbling brooks and symphonic music’s most dramatic thunderstorm.
Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered in 2018, Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos is an atmospheric sound sculpture evoking an enormous vista of time and space. She writes that the idea behind it is “the thought of falling into a black hole, with endless constellations and layers of opposing forces connecting and communicating with each other…”
Alborada del gracioso by Maurice Ravel can be loosely translated as “Morning Song of the Jester.” An alborada is a song sung at dawn. Violins and harps give a hint of a Spanish flavor, imitating the sound of a strummed guitar before the finale drenches listeners in Spanish sunshine with a final blaze of exhilarating orchestral color.
Both performances are underwritten in part by Bill and Missy Shenkir. The Joseph and Robert Cornell Foundation is the sponsor of the Charlottesville Symphony’s entire 2022-23 concert season.
Currently, wearing masks is optional at both Old Cabell Hall and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center.
Free parking is available in the UVA Central Grounds Parking Garage, located on Emmet Street South on Saturday nights and at Charlottesville High School’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center on Sunday afternoons. The Charlottesville Free Trolley stops at McCormick Road near the UVA Amphitheater, in close proximity to Old Cabell Hall. Both venues are wheelchair accessible.
Tickets are $10-$45 for adults and $10 for students, and may be purchased online now at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu or at the University of Virginia Arts Box Office beginning January 24th, (434) 924-3376, 12:00-5:00pm, Tuesday through Friday in the lobby of the UVA Drama Building at 109 Culbreth Road, or at the venue one hour before the performance.
All University of Virginia employees (faculty and staff of all UVA departments and professional schools) are entitled to a 20% discount on tickets to individual performances. This offer does not apply to subscriptions, the December Family Holiday concerts or previously purchased tickets.