M E D I A  A D V I S O R Y

March 15, 2016 – Richmond, Virginia Sit back, relax and join the Richmond Symphony as they finish the 2015-16 Dominion Casual Fridays Series with Brahms Symphony No. 2 on Friday, April 1 at 6:30pm. The concert begins with Laura Elise Schwendinger’s Waking Dream featuring Richmond Symphony principal flutist Mary Boodell. Following Waking Dream will be Brahms Symphony No. 2. As the evening’s host, Music Director Steven Smith will lead the orchestra and provide a deeper look behind the music.

In describing Waking Dream, Schwendinger says “Like golden reflections of the setting sun on water, Waking Dream is meant to evoke an intensely shimmering color world of sound, with the darkness of the water below the surface at all times.”

Brahms Symphony No. 2 is considered to be the cheeriest of his symphonies. A happy and pleasant mood flows throughout work, and its brief moments of darkness are quickly dispelled, providing listeners with a joyful experience.

Grab a drink and enjoy the ambiance of the Carpenter Theatre during this intimate one-hour performance. After the concert, audience members will be invited to join the Richmond Symphony for a post-concert happy hour in the speakeasy at Vagabond located at 700 E. Broad Street, one block from the Carpenter Theatre.

Tickets start at $10 online at richmondsymphony.com or by calling 1.800.514 ETIX.
Casual Fridays 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 Residency of Laura Elise Schwendinger is made possible through Music Alive: New Partnerships, a residency program of New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras. This national program is designed to establish new relationships between composers and orchestras, and to help orchestras present new music to the public and build support for new music within their institutions. Leadership funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music and The ASCAP Foundation Bart Howard Fund.

The series sponsor for the Casual Fridays Series is Dominion Resources. The exclusive restaurant partner is Vagabond. The media sponsor is Boomer Magazine.

About Steven Smith, conductor

About Laura Elise Schwendinger,  composer
Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer-in-Residence

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, and radio broadcasts. The Symphony also provides educational outreach programs to over 50,000 students and teachers each year. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.