Richmond Symphony to perform at Longwood Feb. 9

The Richmond Symphony Orchestra will return to the Jarman Auditorium stage at Longwood University next month for a special performance featuring popular pieces from classical masters Mozart and Brahms, as well as Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. 

The concert will be held on Friday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public; tickets are not required. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m. and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Make it a weekend: Book a room at the Hotel Weyanoke (or another area hotel) and get tickets for the men’s basketball game vs. Winthrop in the Joan Perry Brock Center on Sat., Feb. 10, at 3 p.m.!

“We are so excited to be able to present the RSO at Longwood again this year,” said Dr. Charles Kinzer, professor of music at Longwood. “For us to be able to present the leading professional symphony in our region with free admission is truly remarkable and unique among universities in Virginia. It’s the result of a wonderful philanthropic gift from the late Dr. John Cook, who loved both Longwood and symphony, and simply underscores the importance of music in the DNA of Longwood.”

The program will begin with a performance of Wolfgang Amadeuz Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136, which is more commonly known as the Salzburg Symphony No. 1. That will be followed by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite de Concert and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. There will be an intermission before the Brahms symphony. 

The guest conductor for the performance will be Chia-Hsuan Lin, who was appointed associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony in 2016.

The Divertimento has three movements and was composed in 1772 by a then-16-year-old Mozart. It is described as delightful and entertaining and has remained popular since Mozart composed it. Coleridge-Taylor’s light-hearted Petite Suite de Concert dates to 1911 and is a compilation of youthful music based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Clown and Columbine. The composer, whose father was from Sierra Leone, was a master of creating memorable melodies and sought to blend African traditions with Western classical music. 

Finally, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major, a masterwork composed in 1877, is described as sunny and cheery and often compared with Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. 

The concert is underwritten by the Cook-Cole Symphony Fund of the Longwood University Foundation. For more than a decade, the RSO has performed at Longwood through a partnership established by Cook, a 1952 alumnus and benefactor of the Cook-Cole College of Arts and Sciences. The endowed partnership provides for one performance each academic year. The concert is hosted by Longwood’s Department of Music and supported in part by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV called the Richmond Symphony’s appearance “one of the cultural highlights of the academic year.”

“Bringing world-class musicians to campus and being able to experience the majesty of the orchestral experience with our students, friends and neighbors is a deeply enriching gift for which we are grateful,” Reveley said. 

Parking for the concert is available in the Wheeler Lot on Griffin Boulevard. For more information about this concert please call the Longwood Department of Music at (434) 395-2504 or email music@longwood.edu. 

The RSO performance is one highlight of Longwood’s spring semester musical events calendar that features an exciting mix of student, faculty and guest performances. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise stated.

Longwood University Music Department Spring Schedule

• January 26—Honors Band and Orchestra w/ Guest Composer Anthony O’Toole, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• January 28—Chamber Music Series: Mariachi Internacional de Pittsburgh, 4 p.m.
• February 9—Richmond Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• February 18—Chamber Music Series: C-Street Brass, 4 p.m.
• February 25—Camerata and Chamber Singers concert, 2 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Columbia, Va.
• February 28— Wind Symphony and Chamber Orchestra concert, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• March 14—Jazz Ensemble concert, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• March 17—Student recital: Regan Warriner, saxophone, 4 p.m.
• March 18—Student recital: Brass studio, 7:30 p.m.
• March 23—Brass faculty recital, 1 p.m.
• March 23—Student recital: Brass day participant, 4 p.m.
• April 1—Fools of April faculty recital, 7:30 p.m.
• April 5—Camerata and Chamber Singers concert, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• April 9—Percussion Ensemble concert, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium
• April 13—Student recital: Angela Carter, voice, 4 p.m.
• April 14—Student recital: piano duet/duo class, 4 p.m.
• April 16—Jazz Ensemble concert, 8 p.m. at Tin Pan, Richmond, Va.
• April 20—Student recital: Devon Shifflett, piano, 4 p.m.
• April 22—University Choir concert, 7:30 p.m.
• April 25—Wind Symphony, Chamber Orchestra, Camerata and Chambers Singers concert, 7:30 p.m. in Jarman Auditorium

All concerts are held in the Molnar Recital Hall in Wygal Hall unless otherwise stated. Parking for all concerts in Wygal Hall is in the faculty/staff lot behind Wygal and the Greenwood Library, in the faculty/staff lots along Pine Street. Times and concerts are subject to change, so please check www.longwood.edu/music for up-to-date performance information.