HAMPTON ROADS, VA [April 23, 2018] — The Virginia Symphony Orchestra, led by special guest conductor Damon Gupton, will perform John Williams’s iconic music for the classic Star Wars film trilogy in its concert “The Music of Star Wars.”
The concert will be held one-night-only on Friday, April 27, 2018, 7:30 p.m., at Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News.
Experience the entire saga through the films’ scores written by the legendary John Williams, including music from the recently released Episode VII: The Force Awakens. John Williams is a fifty-time Oscar nominee for his music, and is well-known for his vast musical film credits spanning from Jaws to E.T. and Harry Potter. His score to George Lucas’s two Star Wars trilogies are widely celebrated.
Williams’s Star Wars score stands out especially among the strong showing of science-fiction cinema in 1977, the year Star Wars premiere. NPR notes that “[Williams’s] mastery of melody and deftness of tone make the Star Wars scores a signal achievement in the history of cinema.”
Guest conductor Damon Gupton is an American actor and orchestral conductor with roles in television shows Deadline, Prime Suspect, Criminal Minds, and The Divide, and in films such as The Last Airbender, Whiplash, and La La Land. Born in Detroit, Gupton earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Michigan. He is also a graduate in dram from the Juilliard School in New York. After studying conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin, he attended the National Conducting Institute in Washington D.C. under Leonard Slatkin.
Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 10 a.m. and range in price from $25 to $100. For tickets, call 757.892.6366, visit www.virginiasymphony.org or stop by the Virginia Symphony Box Office at 150 Boush Street, Suite 201, Norfolk, VA 23510 from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday – Friday.
###
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2018
Contact: Monica Meyer, Director of Marketing
Phone: 757.213.1431 | email: mmeyer@virginiasymphony.org
Contact: Derek Page, Marketing & Public Relations Manager
Phone: 757.213.1420 | email: dpage@virginiasymphony.org
Twitter: @VASymphony
Facebook: facebook.com/virginiasymphony