With the seats full in Jarman Auditorium on Friday, April 20 The Richmond Symphony, in partnership with Longwood University, played a variety of new and classic pieces for Longwood students, faculty and the Farmville community.
In 2012, John Cook '52 initiated the continual partnership to bring the symphony to Longwood every year.
“John gave us a lot money so we could do this yearly. We use to do this event every five years but with recent events now we can do this event every year," said Dr. Charles Kinzer, professor of Music History, Saxophone, Clarinet and Jazz Ensembles.
The symphony started off with a piece from Virezslava Kapralova, who conducted 50 pieces before she died at the age of 25.
The song started off vibrantly and loud, with the strings and woodwind instruments providing a really good melody. Then the horns came in the background to provide some texture. The song slowed down with just the string melody, which sounded great, like a medieval movie.
Next, they had a duet between the violinist and cellist called “The Allegro, Andante, and the Vivace Non Troppo,” which was composed by Johannes Brahms. This song is based off of Brahms writing a letter to the great violinist Joseph Joachim to try to patch up their longtime friendship. Now the artists are back together, trying to rekindle things.
The piece began with orchestra playing fiercely with the cellist coming to play a well done solo. The violinist then came in and delivered a beautiful solo with the symphony band. After the duo performed separately, they combined to provide a beautiful melody. That was one part where the facial expressions of the violinist and cellist displayed a bit of competition as they played very vigorously.
Then the symphony went into intermission, so the players could rest to perform their epic finale.
“I definitely like when they do big pieces like the next coming up,” said Kinzer during intermission.
Then, after the intermission, the final song begins. Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op.95 “From the New World,” produced by Antonin Dvorak.
This piece is about Mrs. Jeannette Thurber, the founder of the National Conservatory of Music. She needed a musical director for her new school. So she decided to hire Dvorak, who was a world famous composer at the time, to be the teacher.
This piece represents the composer’s first time at the new school, which was really cool to know. The symphony comes in with a slow and melodic tone, with the string section and the woodwind section slowed as well. Then, the horn section came in with a triumphant solo. The percussion section followed to provide some balance to the piece.
However, the best part was when everyone came in and provided a beautiful moment to finish off the concert.
The Richmond Symphony rocked the house and provided classical music that appealed to everyone in the audience.
The conductor composes the opening piece.
