Join Raymond Jones this Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. on WHRO-FM for “A Local Touch – Music with a Virginia Connection.” This week’s program moves through vivid orchestral color, distinguished Virginia performers, and music that speaks with depth and character.
We begin in Virginia Beach at the Sandler Center with Symphonicity under Daniel W. Boothe. From their “Winter Dreams” concert recorded in November 2022, we’ll hear Ronald Pontinen’s “Blue Winter” featuring trombonist Robert Conquer. From another Sandler Center performance in April 2023, Symphonicity returns with Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome” and Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” with pianist Claire Longendyke.
In recognition of Black History Month, we’ll feature pianist Mamon L. Morrison, longtime professor of music at Virginia State University, in intimate works by Beethoven, Schumann, and Schubert.
The program also includes Adolphus Hailstork’s Symphony No. 2, performed by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, highlighting the music of one of Virginia’s most celebrated living composers.
Chamber colors emerge in Ravel’s “Madagascan Songs” with soprano Ellie Diehn, flutist Alexa Still, cellist Daniel McDonough, and pianist Spenser Myer.
And the program will close with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring Leon Bates and the Czech National Symphony under the baton of the late Richmond native Paul Freeman.
From symphonic brilliance to intimate expression, this week’s “A Local Touch” showcases the breadth of Virginia’s musical connections. Listen Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. on WHRO-FM 90.3 or online through our Media Player.
