Richmond Symphony

Celebration of Black Music in Film
2025-01-18 20:00 (America/New_York) | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
Journey into the rich musical heritage of Black cinema and discover such iconic soundscapes as Luther Vandross’ work on The Wiz, the funk of Isaac Hayes’ Shaft, and others including Get Out, Superfly, Crooklyn, Do the Right Thing, Purple Rain, Dream Girls, and many more. Soul-stirring melodies in this celebration of the artists who fused film, rhythm, and music. Richmond’s own Butcher Brown joins the Richmond Symphony for this unique event. Produced by James Crump-Wallace, co-founder and Creative Director of The Spot RVA.

Celebrate MLK
2025-01-19 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
A Chamber Concert for All Ages Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A chamber concert for all ages honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrating his inspiring message. Join us for a powerful evening that reflects on the life and legacy of Dr. King through an extraordinary selection of works by contemporary Black composers. This moving program includes Damien Geter’s I Said What I Said, a bold and expressive piece, alongside James Lee III’s Quintet for Clarinet & String Quartet, which journeys through themes of identity, resilience, and celebration.
Marcus Grant’s Efflorescence: Unfolding, Developing, Blossoming captures the spirit of growth and possibility, while Valerie Coleman’s Red Clay & Mississippi Delta evokes the vibrant soul of the American South. The program concludes with Damien Geter’s String Quartet No. 1: Neo Soul, featuring dynamic movements like Bop, Feelin’ Some Type of Way, and the poignant Please Don’t Kill My Vibe.
Be a part of this unforgettable event, celebrating Dr. King’s enduring message of hope, unity, and justice through the transformative power of music.

Tickets free for 18 and under

Puccini's Tosca
2025-01-25 20:00, 2025-01-26 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
It is the composer’s masterpiece of intrigue and betrayal, of obsession and deception. For her first opera with the Richmond Symphony, Valentina Peleggi
conducts Puccini’s Tosca. Starring the wildly acclaimed Jennifer Rowley in the title role. “Rowley molded her fiery passion to suit Tosca’s changing mood,” reported Operawire, “using it at one moment to warm and in the next to burn…”
Opera in concert, in Italian with English subtitles
With Richmond Symphony Chorus and Greater Richmond Children’s Choir
Free Pre-Concert Talk 1 Hour Before.

Goodyear's Serenade for Strings
2025-01-31 19:30 | Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education
The rhythmic precision Artist in Residence Stewart Goodyear brings a to his playing is also at the core of his compositions. His Serenade for Strings complements the Prelude for Strings of Julia Perry. Her 1946 meditation offers sonorous solace to the soul. The concerts culminate with the precocious First Symphony by the 15-year-old Felix Mendelssohn.

Goodyear's Serenade for Strings
2025-02-01 19:30 | St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Rd, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States
The rhythmic precision that Artist in Residence Stewart Goodyear brings to his playing is also at the core of his compositions. His Serenade for Strings serves as a fitting complement to Julia Perry’s Prelude for Strings. Perry’s 1946 meditation offers a sonorous solace to the soul, providing a moment of introspection and beauty. The concerts conclude with the remarkable First Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, composed when he was just 15 years old, showcasing the precocious brilliance of his youthful talent.

The Constitution and Loving v. Virginia
2025-02-06 19:00 | Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, VA, United States
Legal scholars and historians discuss the history and significance of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage in the United States.

Panel participants will include Mary Bauer, Executive Director of ACLU-VA, Eric M. Caplan, Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Wesleyan University, Dr. Erin Chapman, Associate Professor of History at George Mason University, and is moderated by Stephen Jacques Wermiel, Professor of the Practice in Constitutional Law at American University. There will be a brief Q & A session following the discussion. Co-presented by the City of Fairfax and Center for the Arts at George Mason University. Sponsored by Altria, Virginia Commission for the Arts, the NEA, CultureWorks, and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center
3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, VA
Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Mancini
2025-02-08 20:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
He won OSCARS®. He won GRAMMYS®. And his legendary music won fans everywhere. The Richmond Symphony pays tribute to the great movie music of Henry Mancini, with such classics as “Moon River,” “The Days of Wine and Roses,” and, of course, “The Pink Panther.”

RESCHEDULED: The Constitution and Loving v. Virginia
2025-02-20 18:00 | Downtown Branch at Slover, 235 E Plume Street, Norfolk, VA, United States
DUE TO WEATHER, THIS EVENT IS BEING RESCHEDULED TO MARCH 20, 2025
Legal scholars and historians discuss the history and significance of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage in the United States.
Panel participants will include Mary Bauer, Executive Director of ACLU-VA, Assistant Professor of Government at William & Mary, Christine Nemacheck, and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, Marissa Jackson Sow. There will be a brief Q & A session following the discussion. Sponsored by Arts Alliance, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the NEA.
Downtown Branch at Slover
235 E Plume Street, Norfolk

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

CANCELLED - Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-02-22 18:00 | Churchland High School, 4301 Cedar Lane, Portsmouth, VA, United States
CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Churchland High School
4301 Cedar Lane, Portsmouth

Free | No Ticket Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Brass Glory
2025-02-22 20:00, 2025-02-23 15:00 - 2025-02-24 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
Earworms, by Canada’s Vivian Fung, is a lighthearted mashup of music’s most memorable melodies, even daring to respond to Charles Ives’ “Unanswered Question.” Michael Sachs is one of classical’s foremost trumpet masters and jazz trumpet master Wynton Marsalis composed his Trumpet Concerto expressly for him. The two styles meet in a mesmerizing fusion. Schumann’s Second Symphony can be heard as the symphonic bridge across the Romantic age. Influenced by Beethoven and Schubert, it would come to influence Johannes Brahms.
Free pre-concert talk 1 hour before.

Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
2025-02-23 19:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
Woodwinds, brass, and percussion will join the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra for a performance of Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, nicknamed the “Drum Roll” symphony for the thunderous timpani roll at its start. Percussion Ensemble will also take the stage, featuring chamber music performed by percussionists in YCO and RSYO.
Hear Richmond’s up-and-coming musical talent and inspire the budding musician in your family. The Symphony’s Youth Orchestra Program is the premier orchestral training program of Central Virginia and RSYO its most advanced ensemble of student musicians. This concert will feature violist Joe Legukto, winner of the 2025 Richmond Symphony Student Concerto Competition.
FREE; no ticket required

Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-02-25 14:00 | Chesterfield Baptist Church, 16520 Hull Street Road, Moseley, VA, United States
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Chesterfield Baptist Church
16520 Hull Street Road, Moseley

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

The Constitution and Loving v. Virginia
2025-02-26 18:00 | Library of Virginia, 800 E Broad Street, Richmond, VA, United States
Legal scholars and historians discuss the history and significance of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage in the United States.
Panel participants will include Mary Bauer, Executive Director of ACLU-VA, Kim Forde-Mazrui, Mortimer M. Caplin Professor of Law at the University of Virginia, and Author Peter Wallenstein, Professor of History at Virginia Tech. There will be a brief Q & A session following the discussion. Sponsored by Altria, Virginia Commission for the Arts, the NEA, CultureWorks, and E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
Library of Virginia
800 E Broad Street, Richmond

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-02-27 18:00 | Virginia Museum of History and Culture, 428 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, VA, United States
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Featuring a special performance from the Richmond Symphony Principal String Quartet.
Virginia Museum of History and Culture
428 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Appalachian Spring
2025-02-28 19:30 | Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education
Two beloved favorites inspired by folk music – Vaughan Williams haunting Fantasia on Greensleeves and Aaron Copland’s tender Appalachian Spring – cradle and console the 1940 Clarinet Concerto by the 19-year-old Ruth Gipps, composed as her fiancé, and all of the Empire, departed for war.

Appalachian Spring
2025-03-01 19:30 | St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Rd, Richmond, VA, 23226, United States

Appalachian Spring
2025-03-02 15:00 | Blackwell Auditorium at Randolph-Macon College, 204 Henry Street, Ashland, VA, 23005, United States

Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-03-05 14:00 | Library of Virginia, 800 E Broad Street, Richmond, VA, United States
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Library of Virginia
800 E Broad Street, Richmond

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-03-07 18:30 | Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Perkinson Center for the Arts
11810 Centre Street, Chester

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Tchaikovsky's Fifth
2025-03-08 20:00, 2025-03-09 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
“It will never please the public,” said Tchaikovsky of his Fifth Symphony. Yet its beautiful melodies have captivated for over a century. Valentina Peleggi conducts Tchaikovsky’s passionate Fifth Symphony, plus a newly commissioned work by Conni Ellisor, music that speaks directly to the heart with her Nashville country soulfulness. And powerful violinist Inmo Yang plays Jennifer Higdon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Violin Concerto and Massenet’s famous Meditation. The Chicago Tribune raves: “His bow work and the accuracy of his intonation were much to be admired…”

Cirque Musica: Symphonic!
2025-03-15 20:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
Their aerial acrobatics will leave you breathless! The Richmond Symphony is joined by Cirque Musica. Aerial acrobats literally “drop” into the Carpenter Theatre. Each gravity-defying feat choreographed to live music performed by the Richmond Symphony. Acrobats – aerialists – contortionists – strongmen – jugglers. All this and more performing to music above and around the Orchestra. Dazzling the eye and the ear.

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
2025-03-16 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
A delight for every age! Hear your Richmond Symphony perform The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss (TM), composed by Lorenzo Palomo. You’ll be thrilled and delighted indeed, satisfaction is one hundred percent guaranteed!

Richmond Symphony Chorus in Concert
2025-03-16 15:00 - 16:00 | W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts (VCU), 922 Park Avenue, Richmond, VA, 23284
The Richmond Symphony Chorus takes centerstage at this free concert!
The Richmond Symphony Chorus is an award-winning ensemble of 150 members from the Richmond region. The chorus, founded in 1971 by James Erb, is a diverse group of Richmond community members united by a shared passion for choral singing. For more information about the Richmond Symphony Chorus, please visit the Chorus website: rschorus.com
VENUE:
Vlahcevic Concert Hall
VCU’s Singleton Center for the Performing Arts
922 Park Ave
Richmond, VA 23220
Parking is available at the West Broad Street Parking Deck, located at 1111 West Broad Street.
Doors open at 2:30pm. Concert will be approximately 1 hour long.

Pride in Black Voices: A Loving Community
2025-03-17 15:00 | Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center, 3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax, VA, United States
Blending powerful storytelling with music from the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s, A Loving Community also features excerpts from the highly anticipated new opera, Loving v. Virginia, premiering in April/May 2025 as a co-commission with the Richmond Symphony. This 60-minute program is performed by Virginia Opera’s talented Herndon Foundation Emerging Artists and will conclude with a brief Q&A session.
Designed for audiences aged 15 and older, A Loving Community offers a poignant and enriching exploration of history, music, and social change, making it an ideal program for junior high students through adults.
Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center
3740 Blenheim Boulevard, Fairfax

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

The Constitution and Loving v. Virginia
2025-03-20 18:00 | Downtown Branch at Slover, 235 E Plume Street, Norfolk, VA, United States
RESCHEDULED FROM FEB 20, 2025
Legal scholars and historians discuss the history and significance of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down bans on interracial marriage in the United States.
Panel participants will include Mary Bauer, Executive Director of ACLU-VA, Assistant Professor of Government at William & Mary, Christine Nemacheck, and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, Marissa Jackson Sow. There will be a brief Q & A session following the discussion. Sponsored by Arts Alliance, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the NEA.
Downtown Branch at Slover
235 E Plume Street, Norfolk

Free | Registration Required

This event was created in support of the world premiere of Loving v. Virginia, a co-commission by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony.

Mozart & Mahler
2025-03-22 20:00, 2025-03-23 15:00 | Carpenter Theatre, 612 East Grace Street, Richmond , VA, 23219, United States
“The symphony must embrace the world,” said Gustav Mahler. And in his tender Symphony Number Four, he reveals his world through the innocent eyes of a child. Valentina Peleggi conducts Mahler’s heart-rending Fourth Symphony, and the first of Mozart’s miraculous final set of symphonies, the ebullient “Haffner.”
Plus, a new work by Virginia’s own Joe Jaxson (Staunton, VA), “Born In The Iron Grip” a piece inspired by Richmond native Arthur Ashe & his history making 1975 Wimbledon win. Jaxson’s bright, joyful sounds will enliven the program.
Free pre-concert talk prior to the concert.
