Celebration of Keys scheduled at Blennerhassett
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The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will present Celebration of Keys on Nov. 13 and 14 in Charleston and Parkersburg in its 2021-22 season.
The symphony will return to the stage for its second concert in the Elliot Foundation Symphonic Series at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Clay Center in Charleston.
The symphony will perform Celebration of Keys at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at Blennerhassett School in Parkersburg in a show hosted by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra Parkersburg. Tickets and information for the concert is available at wvsop.org, at the door, or by calling 888 699-8767.
A talk will be held prior to the concert on site at 1:30 p.m.
The concert begins with Music Director Lawrence Loh leading the symphony through a performance of Adolphus Hailstork's "An American Port of Call."
The overture, which premiered in 1985, is an ode to the energy and business surrounding Norfolk, the port city where Hailstork lived at the time. Most recently, Hailstork received a Distinguished Alumna Award from the Manhattan School of Music, making him the first Black composer to receive the honor.
"I met Adolphus Hailstork while conducting his music with the Pittsburgh Symphony several years ago," Music Director Lawrence Loh said. "Dr. Hailstork is an important American composer, a kind person and a unique voice in our musical landscape."
Fan-favorite pianist Jon Nakamatsu returns to Charleston to perform Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Nakamatsu is no stranger to the symphony family as he helped to choose the orchestra's Steinway piano years ago.
The program wraps up with a performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.
"Jon Nakamatsu is such a supremely beautiful pianist and human being and his is a long-awaited rescheduling due to the pandemic," Loh said. "Jon's Rachmaninoff is exquisite, and it will be great to see him with our WVSO musicians again with this hallmark of the repertoire."
The Elliot Foundation Symphonic Series concert is made possible by the generous support of the Elliot Foundation, the Cecil I. Walker Charitable Trust, City National Bank, AC&S Incorporated and Steptoe and Johnson, PLLC. Tickets start at $13 and are available at wvsymphony.org, by visiting the Clay Center Box Office, or by calling 304 561-3570.
To maintain the health and safety of patrons, musicians and staff, for all patrons over the age of 2, masks will be required to be worn for the duration of the concert regardless of vaccination status.
The symphony also asks attendees maintain a distance between others while in common spaces, such as the Ticketing Lobby, Grand Lobby and bathrooms.
The symphony encourages all eligible individuals to get vaccinated to reduce the potential of unknowingly spreading COVID-19.