What about the music?
An inside look with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Dvořák’s New World Symphony + Gil & Orli Shaham
Friday, March 13, 2026 | 7:30PM | Chrysler Hall, Norfolk – Get Tickets
Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 7:30PM | Diamonstein Concert Hall, Ferguson Center, Newport News – Get Tickets
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
Orli Shaham, piano
Leonard Bernstein: On the Town
Reena Esmail: Concerto for Violin & Piano (World Premiere)+*
Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
By Stella Feliberti
The Performers
conductor
Eric Jacobsen
Already well-established as one of classical music’s most exciting and innovative young conductors, Eric Jacobsen combines fresh interpretations of the traditional canon with cutting-edge collaborations across musical genres. Hailed by the New York Times as “an interpretive dynamo,” Eric, as both a conductor and a cellist, has built a reputation for engaging audiences with innovative and collaborative programming.
Eric joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra as Music Director in 2021, being named the twelfth music director in the orchestra’s 100+ year history. Current and recent projects include recording projects of Dvorak and Coleridge-Taylor with Gil Shaham and Rhapsody in Blue (on banjo!) with Bela Fleck.
Eric is entering his tenth season as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, as he continues to pioneer the orchestra’s programming and community engagement in new and exciting directions. The 24-25 season looks forward to concerts including An Evening with Jamie Bernstein and the World Premiere of Gabe Kahane’s clarinet concerto for Anthony McGill.
Eric is also artistic director and co-founder of The Knights, the uniquely adventurous NYC-based chamber orchestra. The ensemble, founded with his brother, violinist Colin Jacobsen, grew out of late-night music reading parties with friends, good food and drink, and conversation. Current endeavors include a multi-year Rhapsody project as well as a residency at Carnegie Hall. Under Jacobsen’s baton, The Knights have developed an extensive recording collection, including albums with longtime collaborators Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Aaron Diehl, Gabe Kahane, and Anna Clyne.
Eric’s musical life started from a very young age surrounded by a musical family, where he discovered his love of pulling a bow across a string as a cellist. He and his brother founded the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and also performed regularly with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of Silk Road, touring around the world. This collaborative spirit and sense of music is something that Eric strives to bring to every concert and project.
A frequent guest conductor, Eric has established continuing relationships with the Colorado Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Dresden Musikfestspiele. Upcoming engagements also include concerts with Classical Tahoe and Grant Park Music Festival, and special performances with Yo-Yo Ma and the Atlanta Symphony and Utah Symphony.
Eric brings joy, storytelling, and a touch of humor to what he describes as “musical conversations” that delight audiences around the world, including those who do not traditionally attend classical music concerts. Jacobsen is married to Grammy-Winner singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan and together they have a daughter.
violin
Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham is one of the foremost violinists of our time; his flawless technique combined with his inimitable warmth and generosity of spirit has solidified his renown as an American master. The Grammy Award-winner, also named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year,” is sought after throughout the world for concerto appearances with leading orchestras and conductors, and regularly gives recitals and appears with ensembles on the world’s great concert stages and at the most prestigious festivals.
Highlights of recent years include the acclaimed recording and performances of J.S. Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin. In the coming seasons in addition to championing these solo works he will join his long time duo partner pianist, Akira Eguchi in recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Appearances with orchestra regularly include the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony as well as multi-year residencies with the Orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart and Singapore. With orchestra, Mr. Shaham continues his exploration of “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” including the works of Barber, Bartok, Berg, Korngold, Prokofiev, among many others.
Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple Grammys, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Many of these recordings appear on Canary Classics, the label he founded in 2004. His CDs include 1930s Violin Concertos, Virtuoso Violin Works, Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Hebrew Melodies, The Butterfly Lovers and many more. His most recent recording in the series 1930s Violin Concertos Vol. 2, including Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto and Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He will release a new recording of Beethoven and Brahms Concertos with The Knights in 2020.
Mr. Shaham was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. He moved with his parents to Israel, where he began violin studies with Samuel Bernstein of the Rubin Academy of Music at the age of 7, receiving annual scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. In 1981, he made debuts with the Jerusalem Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic, and the following year, took the first prize in Israel’s Claremont Competition. He then became a scholarship student at Juilliard, and also studied at Columbia University.
Gil Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. In 2012, he was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America. He plays the 1699 “Countess Polignac” Stradivarius and performs on an Antonio Stradivari violin, Cremona c1719, with the assistance of Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Adele Anthony, and their three children.
Piano
Orli Shaham
A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, the pianist Orli Shaham is hailed by critics on four continents. The New York Times called her a “brilliant pianist,” The Chicago Tribune referred to her as “a first-rate Mozartean,” and London’s Guardian said Ms. Shaham’s playing at the Proms was “perfection.”
Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital internationally, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony’s chamber series Café Ludwig in California since 2007 and was Artist in Residence at Vancouver Symphony (USA) in 2022-2024.
Highlights of Ms. Shaham’s 2024-2025 concert season include Mozart’s Concerto No. 20 with Princeton Symphony, Mozart’s Concerto No. 17 with Utah Symphony and Hudson Valley Symphony, the Beethoven Triple Concerto with her brother, violinist Gil Shaham and a performance of a concerto written for her by Steven Mackey at Tanglewood. Chamber recitals across the country include Dumbarton Oaks, Music at Menlo, La Jolla, and more.
In 2024, Orli Shaham released the final volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart to high critical acclaim, with the entire collection available as a limited-edition box set. Her discography includes over a dozen titles on Deutsche Gramophone, Sony, Canary Classics and other labels.
Orli Shaham is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School and is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top. She is also Artistic Director of the interactive children’s concert series, Orli Shaham’s Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010, and is chair of the Board of Trustees of Kaufman Music Center.
Orli Shaham is a Steinway Artist.
The Creators
Leonard Bernstein
Pronounced BURN-stine
Fast Facts:
- Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918 in Massachusetts. He was exposed to music from an early age through the household radio and music on Friday nights at the Congregation Mishkan Tefila. He eventually started piano lessons when he was 10 years old.
- Bernstein grew up in a strong Jewish community from which inspired many of his pieces as well as his identity. As antisemitism grew in the US, his mentor, Serge Koussevitsky, encouraged Bernstein to change his name to further his career. Bernstein famously replied, “I’ll do it as Bernstein or not at all.”
- In 1943, Bernstein became the youngest person to ever conduct the New York Philharmonic. He was Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic at the time when he was called to fill in for the principal conductor who was sick. With less than 24 hours’ notice, the then 25-year-old Bernstein made his New York Philharmonic conducting debut.
- Bernstein is a decorated conductor and composer. He received 16 Grammy Awards, 7 Academy Awards, 2 Tony Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- Bernstein was one of the first people to bring classical music to television. His Young People’s Concerts were televised concerts to help bring in and educate new audiences. In 1962, these recorded concerts became a TV show where Bernstein conducted in 53 of the episodes.
Rena Esmail
pronounced REE-nah ez-MAIL
Fast Facts:
- Reena Esmail is an Indian-American composer born in 1983. She grew up in Los Angeles, California.
- Esmail’s compositions focus on the intersection between traditional Indian music and Western classical music, aiming to bring these communities together and create equitable music spaces.
- During her Doctorate, Esmail traveled to India to study Hindustani music with Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurrav Mazumdar. Through this process, she was able to learn more about the methods, challenges, and collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers.
- Esmail writes for a broad range of genres, composing for orchestra, choir, and chamber ensembles. She has been commissioned by many ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Kronos Quartet.
Ray Ungar
Fast Facts:
- Jay Ungar is an American folk musician and composer born in 1946. He grew up in New York City, frequenting Greenwich Village music venues during his formative years in the 1960s.
- Ungar is married to fellow musician Molly Mason. Together, they perform as a duo, with their band Swingology, and with their children in Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Family Band.
- In the 1980s, Ungar started a music program called Ashokan Music and Dance Camp. This educational program is a great destination for enthusiasts of American music and dance traditions, and still continues today.
- Ungar is most known for his composition Ashokan Farewell, which was used in the PBS Documentary The Civil War. The tune would receive an Emmy nomination and a Grammy for the soundtrack album. Now, the work is considered an American “folk” classic.
Antonín Dvořák
Pronounced De-VOR-zhak
Fast Facts:
- Antonin Dvorak was born in 1841 in Bohemia as the first of nine children. He studied music very young and became an accomplished violinist at a young age, participating in amateur music-making that accompanied local dancing.
- Dvorak studied organ, violin, piano, and viola. He played viola in the Bohemian Provisional Theatre Orchestra but resigned eventually to concentrate on composing.
- Like Brahms, Dvorak was extremely self-conscious of his early works as they received no public performance or acknowledgement. He then burned some of his early works.
- Johannes Brahms and critic Eduard Hanslick were the first people to champion Dvorak for his works. Thanks to them, Dvorak’s compositions started to take flight and gain the acclaim they have today.
- Dvorak was born in a small village in Prague, often visiting the Bohemian countryside of Czechia. These countryside visits inspired many of his works as he incorporated many of the dances and celebrations from the area into his works.
- In 1892, Dvorak visited the United States and became the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. His time in the US inspired many of his most famous works including his 9th Symphony “From the New World,” his Cello Concerto, and his 12th String quartet, nicknamed “the American Quartet.”
The Pieces
Bernstein
On The Town
Listen to Bernstein’s On the Town from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra:
- On the Town was a musical written by Bernstein and lyricist Adolph Green in 1944. It is based on the idea for the ballet Fancy Free by Jerome Robbin.
- The musical follows the story of 3 sailors during World War II who are on 24-hour shore leave in New York City. During their short time on the town, they each meet and each quickly connect with a woman. While the sailors are chasing after women, they are also chasing after the life of the city itself.
- The creation of the show actually started when Bernstein and Green were both due for minor surgery. Since the pair was eager to start work, they decided to schedule their surgeries at the same time so that they could work on the new show while recovering.
- While the Broadway show earned much acclaim with Tony nominations and Theatre World Awards, orchestras today often perform three dance episodes from the show. Much of the musical itself is dance driven as it was inspired by the ballet Fancy Free, which the three dances showcase.
- The first dance episode is “The Great Lover,” which is a dream scene. The sailor Gabey has fallen in love with subway poster girl ‘Miss Turnstiles’ and falls asleep on the train while searching for her. His dream focuses on how the shy Gabey is able to win the girl with romantic fury. Next is “Lonely Town,” following Gabey in Central Park watching another sailor who flirts with a young girl but abandons her for her naïveté. This episode especially highlights Bernstein’s lush melodies and bittersweet melancholic writing. Last is “Times Square, 1944,” which features the musical’s best known theme “New York, New York.” Here, Bernstein captures the cityscape, the sailor’s youthful enthusiasm, and their and Bernstein’s own affection for the New York of the 1940s.
Esmail
Concerto for Violin and Piano
- There are no current details about this piece as it is currently being written by Esmail. It is set to be premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra in February 2026.
Ungar
Ashokan Farewell
Listen to Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell:
- This piece was composed by Ungar in 1982. Originally, the piece served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at Ungar’s annual Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camps, run by the composer and his wife, Molly Mason.
- Ungar describes the piece as deriving from “a sense of loss and longing” after the annual Camps ended. It’s composed in the style of a Scottish lament, taking the form of a melancholic waltz.
- The tune was featured in Ken Burns’ documentary titled The Civil War in 1990. Burns was moved by the tune and used it throughout the documentary to highlight the horror and suffering during this period of American history.
- The tune starts with a simple solo violin melody, setting a tone of nostalgia and longing. Slowly the violin becomes accompanied by the banjo and strings, filling out the texture and emotion of the tune. The tune then gets passed to various instrument families, creating a sense of shared lament and community.
Dvořák
Symphony No.9, “From the New World”
Listen Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 from the Frankfurt Radio Symphony:
- Dvorak wrote his 9th Symphony “From the New World” in 1892 while he was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. During his time as director, he was tasked with helping cultivate an “American” sound and style. Thus, this symphony is inspired by the musical soundscape in America that Dvorak was observing.
- To evoke this Americana sound, Dvorak was inspired by the music of Native Americans and Black Americans — both of which he considered the real source of folk music to base the American nationalist style. Throughout the symphony, there are quotes from Black spirituals like “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and melodies inspired by the Native American melodies he was studying.
- Although the symphony is inspired by America, Dvorak also included some of his own style, which featured lots of Bohemian and Czech sounds. There are also resemblances to Czech polka and other Czech folk tunes throughout.
- Despite all this American influence, Bernstein famously disproved this claim. In his book, The Infinite Variety of Music, Bernstein examined all the themes of the symphony and concluded that none of them had an exclusive American aspect. However, Dvorak’s themes are only inspired by American folk music, not direct quotations.
- The symphony opens solemnly with cellos and flute with a simple yet falling melody, which is interrupted with a sudden burst of energy with the violins in call and response with the woodwinds and brass. This new energy sets a new tone for the movement full of frenzy and passion, contrasted by the sweet second theme inspired by the African spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” The second movement is heartfelt and serene with its main theme later being turned into the spiritual “Goin’ Home” by one of Dvorak’s students after the symphony was published. Next is a whirling, rhythmic Scherzo that is inspired by Longfellow’s Native American dance scene in The Song of Hiawatha. The finale closes with a slow start, building and whirring to life into a dramatic and majestic movement, incorporating material from all the previous movements and a new theme based off of the Czech folk song “Weeding Flaxfield Blue.”