Since so many local performances have been cancelled due to concerns about the pandemic, WHRO Public Media is highlighting performances from local musicians and other arts performances on our stations. Check them out to hear local music.

Virginia Arts Festival

Wednesday, May 6, 9 p.m.: A Local Touch
Pianist Olga Kern and the Dali Quartet perform the Intermezzo from the Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57, from their 2019 Virginia Arts Festival concert. We’ll also hear Olga Kern in concert with the Warsaw Philharmonic, Antoni Wit conducting, in a 2004 recording of the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, and cellist Nino Kotova, a 2019 VAF artist, in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.

Sunday, May 10, 4 p.m.:
Pianist Olga Kern and the Dali Quartet perform the Schumann Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44, recorded at their Virginia Arts Festival Coffee Concert in May 2019. Then at 5 p.m., we’ll bring you a concert from the Virginia Chorale, led by artistic director Charles Woodward. The program features selections from the Great American Songbook by Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and more.

Wednesday, May 13, 9 p.m.: A Local Touch
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and bass-baritone Eric Owens sing selections by Mozart, Verdi, and Donizetti, from their 2019 Virginia Arts Festival recital at the Attucks Theatre. Then we’ll hear from another 2019 VAF concert by violinist Tasmin Little, cellist Nina Kotova, and pianist Olga Kern, with the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in e.

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Join us on WHRO FM Fridays at 9 p.m. to hear archived concert recordings from the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.We’ll conclude our Friday night VSO series on May 29,

Friday, May 15:
Guest conductor Douglas Boyd and the Virginia Symphony bring us Stravinsky’s Fireworks, The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams and Ravel’s Tzigane with violinist Elena Urioste, and the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz.

Friday, May 22:
This concert from March 2020 features conductor Fawzi Haimor leading the Virginia Symphony in an adventurous program that includes Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, the Cantus Arcticus, “Concerto for Birds and Orchestra” by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, and a 2017 piece called Feuertrunken (Fire-Drunk) by Joshua Cerdenia. We’ll also hear an old favorite: Elgar’s Cello Concerto, with Leonard Elschenbroich as guest soloist.

Friday, May 29:
We’ll conclude this special series of Virginia Symphony broadcasts with “A Night at the Movies.” Sarah Hicks conducts film music from Nino Rota (Romeo and Juliet), Miklós Rózsa (Spellbound), John Williams (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), and Prokofiev (Lieutenant Kijé Suite). Also on the program, the Concerto for Pipa and Orchestra by Tan Dun, with pipa virtuoso Wu Man as soloist.

VSO 2019

VSO Featured on A Local Touch
On March 18, A Local Touch with host Raymond Jones featured the VSO led by JoAnn Falletta in music of Bax, Stravinsky, Ibert, and more, culminating with Mahler's Symphony No. 8 from the 2012 Virginia Arts Festival.  

Listen to the episode.


Virginia Opera

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Photo Courtesy of Virginia Opera.

WHRO FM’s A Local Touch: Music with a Virginia Connection, recently aired Virginia Opera's production of Rossini's La Cenerentola (Cinderella). This whimsical, heartfelt take on the classic tale, with an exuberant score by Rossini, will raise your spirits and put a smile on your face.

Listen to the episode.


Local Performers

'Acoustic Highway' Highlights Local Female Musicians - April 5, 2020

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Amy Ferebee

Barry Graham continues his feature of local artists with the wonderful female performers of the 757. We’ll hear from Julie Clark, Amy Ferebee, Madison Warner, Narissa Bond, Tret Fure and many others. They’re local, they’re acoustic, they’re on the highway – Sunday at 9 p.m. on WHRV.

Listen to the episode

Learn how you can support these local artists by buying their music.


Acoustic Highway - March 29, 2020

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Jim Bulleit.

The Acoustic Highway continues its support of local and regional musicians this week with music from Jim Bulleit, Andrew McKnight and Dana Maragos. We’ll also feature new releases from Lone Bellow, Eric Johnson, Seamus Kennedy, and others. 

Listen to the episode.


Local Women of Classical Music - March 25, 2020

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We wrapped up a month-long focus on the great women of classical music with a listen to women composers and performers with a Virginia connection. A Local Touch brings you compositions by Jennifer Barker, Mary Howe, Victoria Bond and Thea Musgrave plus Genevieve McGiffert conducting Gershwin and Hilary Hahn playing Vaughan Williams.

Listen to the episode.


Local Artists on Acoustic Highway - March 22, 2020

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Jim Masters

WHRV is excited to support local musicians--many of them have had to cancel upcoming performances due to concerns around COVID-19. Join us to hear Charlottesville residents Ben Eppard and Will Overman, Richmond legend Gerry Laverty and a plethora of artists from the local music scene.

Listen to the episode.


Documentary

Dancing on the Shoulders of Giants

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Follow two internationally-acclaimed dance companies commissioned by the Virginia Arts Festival and the 2019 Commemoration to interpret a seminal event...the arrival of the first Africans to English North America. Go behind the scenes and witness the artistic journey of these works, from concept through rehearsal and ultimately to the stage.

Watch now.


What's Next For The Local Arts Community?

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Jae Sinnett has been speaking with local arts organizations and city leaders to discuss how the region's local art scene will recover from the devestating effects of the current pandemic.

As the COVID-19 shutdown continues, WHRV’s Jae Sinnett, of Sinnett in Session, has spoken with local businesses, arts organizations and city leadership members on how the arts and music will recover from the devastating effects of the time. From new revenue streams, online performances, and the ideation around a region-wide music and arts festival, follow the conversation on this page. 


Jae Interviews Newport News City Mayor Mckinley Price
After speaking with Rob Cross, executive director for the Virginia Arts Festival, Jae turns to Newport News City Mayor, Mckinley Price, to discuss the idea of a multi-platform music festival to follow the COVID-19 shutdown.

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Jae Interviews Rob Cross, Executive Director For The Virginia Arts Festival
The COVID-19 shutdown has disrupted nearly everyone in southeastern Virginia. Small and large organizations alike have found themselves with a sense of losses in spirit and income. Even for seemingly unflappable organizations such as The Virginia Arts Festival, times are tough! With no concrete future, the question is, 'What's next?' That's when Jae Sinnett, from Sinnett in Session and Rob Cross, artistic director with The Virginia Arts Festival, got together on the phone to begin talks on how the region will answer that very question.

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Note: The Virginia Arts Festival is a sponsor of WHRO Public Media.


Local Brewery Delivers New Product

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Jae Sinnett, host of Sinnett in Session on WHRV had a few moments to speak with Randy Thomas, president and owner The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery about their mandated shutdown, their opportunity to be part of the distillery team making hand sanitizer for the U.S. government, and the creative ways they are still working to support local musicians during the shutdown. Out of bad, comes good!

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