The Richmond Symphony is performing their next Symphony Series concerts in the Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center this Saturday evening, November 11th at 8pm and Sunday afternoon, November 12th at 3pm. The orchestra will be joined by pianist Lara Downes in the world premiere of a new piano concerto written for Lara by Virginia-based composer Adolphus Hailstork. The program includes the Negro Folk Symphony by William Dawson and "Across the Line of Dreams" by Roxanna Panufnik.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Music Director Valentina Peleggi and Lara Downes to discuss this diverse program. The Panufnik splits the orchestra and chorus into two groups, featuring two conductors (Valentina will be joined by Associate Conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin).

Enjoy our chat and I hope you can make it out to one of the concerts this weekend. We'll have pre-concert talks one hour before each performance.

Yours in good music,
Mike Goldberg
Classical Host, VPM Music