M E D I A  A D V I S O R Y

October 22, 2015 – Richmond, Virginia The Richmond Symphony celebrates the 150th anniversary of composer Jean Sibelius’s birth with a concert of Sibelius and Liszt on Saturday, November 14 at 8pm. The Altria Masterworks concert will be led by Music Director, Steven Smith and held at Richmond CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre.

The concert features American pianist Orion Weiss, who will perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major. Considered one of the most sought-after soloists in his generation, Weiss has performed with major American orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.

The evening begins with Sibelius’s tone poem, The Swan of Tuonela. The music paints a transcendental image of a mystical swan who swims around Tuonela, also known as the Island of the Dead in Finnish mythology. The piece features an English horn solo that will be played by Richmond Symphony’s Principal English Horn, Shawn Welk. According to Welk, the English horn represents the beautiful and lush elements of the story, as well as the swan itself. Welk is particularly close to the piece and has studied it for years, although this will be his first time performing it in concert. He hopes the audience will come away from it having experienced the beauty and poetry of the piece that he desires to project through the instrument.

The second half of the concert closes with Sibelius’s dramatic and popular Symphony No. 2.

Tickets start at $10 online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514 ETIX.
Altria Masterworks are free for children 18 and under with a paid adult ticket. College student single tickets are $7 and Soundwave college student subscriptions are available for $25.

The Masterworks Series is sponsored by Altria. The guest artist sponsor is Towers Watson.

Orion Weiss bio
Shawn Welk bio

About the Richmond Symphony
Founded in 1957, 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 260 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 200,000 members of the community enjoy concerts, radio broadcasts, and educational outreach programs. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. www.richmondsymphony.com