Virginia Symphony Orchestra Awarded Prestigious National Grant

HAMPTON ROADS, VA [August 11, 2017] — The Virginia Symphony Orchestra announced today that it has been awarded a $15,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the world premiere of composer Michael Daugherty’s Concerto for Orchestra.

The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong

learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.

Daugherty’s composition, commissioned by the VSO with funding from Susan and David Goode, is inspired by the photography of O. Winston Link and celebrates the unique industrial history of the Hampton Roads region.

“The Virginia Symphony and I are thrilled to be able to commission, perform and record a new work by Michael Daugherty, one of our country’s most vital, engaging and important composers.  The subject he has chosen- a tribute to the enormous impact of the railroad on our country- is particularly relevant to our region,” said VSO Music Director JoAnn Falletta. 

Capturing black and white images of steam locomotives, Link’s photographs depict the steam engines of Norfolk & Western Railway, a company that would later merge with Southern Railway to become Norfolk Southern Railway. Link’s photographs will be projected on screen during the performance, as well as displayed in the lobby before and after the program.

Guest experts from the Virginia Museum of Transportation will give a brief lecture about Link’s photographs and the importance of transportation and industry in Virginia’s history. The VSO will perform Daugherty’s work, along with the celebrated choral work Carmina Burana, in the final performance of the Classics Series on April 6 at Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News, April 7 at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, and on April 8 at Sandler Center for the Arts in Virginia Beach.

Single tickets for this performance are available now.  To purchase or for more information go to www.virginiasymphony.org or call 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.