The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra brings an evening of music that includes classical works from Bizet and Beethoven, as well as the premiere of a concerto created by a local composer that infuses classical music with the sounds of bluegrass.
Presented by the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, the program will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Moss Arts Center’s Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.
David Stewart Wiley, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor, has created a masterworks program that mixes classical traditions and is punctuated by Jeff Midkiff’s new music. Midkiff is featured on the mandolin, performing with violinist and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Akemi Takayama.
The traditions and beauty of Virginia’s Blue Ridge is celebrated in Midkiff’s Double Concerto for Violin and Mandolin. A Roanoke native, orchestra director for Roanoke City Public Schools, and accomplished musician, Midkiff has played both bluegrass and classical music throughout his career.
Midkiff’s new work celebrates and melds his love for the great classical traditions with the time-honored and modern sounds of bluegrass. The four-movement Double Concerto features the full symphony orchestra with winds in pairs, full brass, timpani, percussion, and strings. These four contrasting and complementary movements feature the solo mandolin and violin in different combinations with the support of a virtuoso orchestra.
The piece pairs well with Beethoven’s magnificent Symphony no. 6 in F, op. 68, the “Pastoral Symphony,” which will also be performed. Beethoven’s pastoral symphony paints the composer’s picture of the countryside — scenes along a brook, a village dance, a fierce storm, and the celebration that follows. The evening will also include Bizet’s Faradole from “L’Arlesienne.”
This program is supported in part by a touring grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
Tickets are $25-55 for general public and $10 for students and youth 18 years old and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center’s box office, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300.
