Virginia Symphony Orchestra to present “The Music of Star Wars” on May the 4^th

HAMPTON ROADS, VA [January 27, 2017] — The Virginia Symphony Orchestra 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 Thursday, May 4, 2017, 7:30 p.m., at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, and will be conducted by VSO Resident Conductor Benjamin Rous.

Regularly performed by orchestras nationwide, John Williams’s music is a fixture of VSO performances, and this year is no exception as the VSO dedicates a concert to his Academy Award and Grammy-winning scores to Star Wars. 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.”

Tickets will go on sale Friday, February 10, 2017 at 9 a.m. and start at $25. 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.

Admired for his dynamism on the podium, Benjamin Rous began his tenure with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 2010 and quickly became a favorite among audiences throughout the Hampton Roads region. In 2013, he was promoted to Resident Conductor and took on an expanded role in the VSO’s calendar. In the summers, he serves as faculty conductor at Greenwood Music Camp in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.

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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.