This week on A Local Touch, it’s music with a Virginia connection and a contemporary twist! We’re proud to bring you two exciting recordings of new music that you won’t hear anywhere else.

Wayla Chambo will talk with composer Joshua Harris, a faculty member at Virginia’s Sweet Briar College, about his new work for chorus and string orchestra, “There Will Be Stars Over This Place Forever.” It was commissioned by David Goode in honor of his wife Susan, and premiered as a special surprise for her and the audience at the dedication concert for the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center at Virginia Wesleyan University.

Following the interview, we’ll bring you the recording of that world premiere performance, with members of the Virginia Symphony and the Virginia Wesleyan Camerata, conducted by Bryson Mortensen.

Then it’s on to a broadcast concert with the full Virginia Symphony Orchestra, led by guest conductor Edwin Outwater. On the program: the Beethoven King Stephen Overture, the Brahms Symphony No. 4, and three pieces by the innovative composer, violinist and vocalist, Caroline Shaw.

Shaw was the youngest-ever recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013, and has written for and collaborated with a wide range of artists, from Renee Fleming, to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, to Ben Folds. On this concert, she makes a rare appearance as both vocalist and violinist on the same program, performing two songs (“Red, Red Rose” and “Other Song”) and her violin concerto, “Lo,” with the Virginia Symphony.

Listen to A Local Touch Wednesday evening at 9, on 90.3 WHRO FM, or online. 

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