HAMPTON ROADS, VA (Dec. 15, 2017) — The Virginia Symphony Orchestra will pay homage to the visionary Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on January 14, 2018. This is the largest arts celebration of Dr. King’s life annually in Hampton Roads.
This performance is free and open to the public and will take place at Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk on Sunday, January 14 at 7 p.m.
The concert will feature the musicians of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances from the Norview High School Varsity Choir, led by Chorale Director Sarah Tilghman, and a solo by 14-year-old cello phenomenon Kendall Gonzales.
Gonzales was the first place winner (Primary Division) of the 2013 and 2015 Music Academy of North Carolina Strings Competition and the second runner-up and youngest competitor of the 2013 Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra Junior Division Concerto Competition.
The concert will feature the musicians of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances from the Norview High School Varsity Choir, led by Chorale Director Sarah Tilghman, and a solo by 14-year-old cello phenomenon Kendall Gonzales.
Gonzales was the first place winner (Primary Division) of the 2013 and 2015 Music Academy of North Carolina Strings Competition and the second runner-up and youngest competitor of the 2013 Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra Junior Division Concerto Competition.
She made her orchestral debut in March 2017 at the age of 10 with the Winston-Salem (NC) Symphony Orchestra. In January 2017 Kendall and her sister, violinist Kearston Gonzales, performed the National Anthem before a Houston Rockets game at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX.
VSO Principal Viola Beverly K. Baker, dancer Elbert Watson, Norfolk State University Associate Band Director Stephanie K. Sanders, and the NSU Vocal Jazz Ensemble will also be featured on the program.
The VSO’s annual Dreamer Award will be presented to Joan Rhodes Copeland, Executive Director of the Cultural Alliance of Hampton Roads – an organization that serves the arts and cultural organizations and individual artists of Hampton Roads through workshops, conferences, and award programs.
Copeland, a Portsmouth native, is a graduate of Norfolk State University and Columbia University. She has an extensive background in education and school administration, working at various schools in New York, New Jersey, and Norfolk. As an avid supporter of the arts, she and her husband owned an art gallery in Portsmouth, The Art Atrium II, in which Copeland curated and coordinated art shows, ran a summer art camp, and provided programs and opportunitiesfor artists and writers to perform.
Copeland, a Portsmouth native, is a graduate of Norfolk State University and Columbia University. She has an extensive background in education and school administration, working at various schools in New York, New Jersey, and Norfolk. As an avid supporter of the arts, she and her husband owned an art gallery in Portsmouth, The Art Atrium II, in which Copeland curated and coordinated art shows, ran a summer art camp, and provided programs and opportunitiesfor artists and writers to perform.
This concert is part of the VSO’s Harmony Project collaboration with 11 historically black churches throughout Hampton Roads, which also provides VSO musicians to perform during worship services, Family Night events, and education programs for church youth programs and schools. Partner churches include: First Baptist South Hill in Chesapeake, Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Temple in Hampton, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Portsmouth, East End Baptist Church in Suffolk, Union Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, First Baptist Church Denbigh and Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, and First Baptist Church Bute Street, Second Calvary Baptist Church, Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church and Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk.
Calvary Revival Church is at 5833 Poplar Hall Dr., Norfolk, VA 23502. For more information, please call the VSO at 757-892-6366.
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Under the leadership of GRAMMY-winning music director JoAnn Falletta, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra is Virginia’s preeminent professional symphony orchestra with a mission of inspiring, educating and connecting audiences of all ages.
Founded in 1921, it is ranked in the top ten percent of professional orchestras nationwide and serves the entire Southeastern Virginia region with Classics, Pops and Family concert series in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg as well as performances in outlying Virginia and North Carolina communities, reaching nearly 150,000 concert-goers every year. Additionally, the orchestra annually reaches 45,000 children, students and lifelong learners with its education and community programs. The Virginia Symphony has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and is the cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.
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December 15, 2017
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