November 8, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Celebrate the Sounds of the Season with Richmond Symphony Pops Concert: Let It Snow! Featuring Desirée Roots
Richmond Symphony Pops: Let It Snow!

Saturday, December 1 at 8pm

Sunday, December 2 at 3pm
Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts

November 8, 2018 – Richmond, Virginia: December is upon us and the holiday season is in full swing! Come out and celebrate with the Richmond Symphony Pops concert Let It Snow! December 1 at 8pm and December 2 at 3pm in the Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts. This classic holiday program features guest vocalist and local legend Desirée Roots, as well as the impeccable Richmond Symphony Chorus. Conducted by Erin Freeman, the Richmond Symphony will lead audience members through a memorable evening of holiday classics, including a sing-along, sure to delight and inspire!

Soulful and smooth Jazz, R&B and Gospel songstress Desirée Roots stuns audiences with her commanding vocals. Classically trained, Roots is known for her elegant and sophisticated stage presence. She has been the opening act for several internationally acclaimed jazz music greats and entertainers throughout her career including B. B. King, Kenny Garrett, Bobby Watson, Art Porter, Gerald Albright, Walter Beasley, Les McCann, Shirley Horne and Leslie Uggams.

From Mark Hayes’ wistful “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” to Livingston and Evans’ enchanting “Silver Bells,” this holiday program features the winter classics you know and love. Berlioz’s “The Shepherds Farewell,” Anderson’s “Sleigh ride,” and Berlin’s “Snow” from White Christmas will enchant the audience with the sounds of the season.

Don’t miss your chance to celebrate the joy of live music with Let It Snow! on December 1 at 8pm and December 2 at 3pm at the Dominion Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514.ETIX.

The concert sponsor is Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. The media sponsor is Style Weekly.

Erin R. Freeman, conductor bio.

Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 8:00 PM
Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 3:00 PM
Richmond Symphony

Pops 2

Erin R. Freeman, conductor
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Desirée Roots, vocalist

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About the Richmond Symphony

Celebrating its 61st Season in 2018, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 300 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy live concerts and radio broadcasts. The Symphony also provides educational outreach programs to over 55,000 students and teachers each year. The Symphony was recently named one of 21 American orchestras selected as a leader in orchestra innovation by the League of American Orchestras through its Futures Fund Initiative. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Visit www.richmondsymphony.com for more information.

About the Richmond Symphony Chorus

Erin R. Freeman

Director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus & James Erb Choral Chair

James Erb organized the all-volunteer Richmond Symphony Chorus in 1971 for a December performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, under guest conductor Robert Shaw. For 36 years, Mr. Erb continued to direct and build the chorus to reflect the Symphony’s high standards. Erin Freeman assumed leadership of the Chorus at the start of its 2007-08 season. The repertoire for its auditioned volunteer membership has included most of the standard repertoire for chorus and orchestra: Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor, Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Choral Fantasy, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Requiem settings by Mozart, Brahms, Verdi and Fauré, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, and all of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe. Over the years, the Chorus has also sung shorter choral-orchestral works by Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, Delius, Debussy, Barber, Britten, Richard Strauss, Vaughn Williams, Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, and Dallapiccola. Recent projects have included a performance and recording of Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, a performance with the Richmond Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, a recreation of the Chorus’s inaugural performance of Missa Solemnis.

Contacts:
Erin Frye
Marketing and PR Manager
804.788.4717 ext. 121
efrye@richmondsymphony.com

Scott Dodson
Director of Advancement and Patron Communications
804.788.4717 ext. 120
sdodson@richmondsymphony.com