On October 26, 2019, at 7:30 pm at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, the MSO, under the baton of Music Director, James Villani, will open its 2019-2020 season.
- The concert will feature a performance of the marvelous Symphony No. 1 in E minor by American composer Florence Price.
- She is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.
Born in Arkansas and educated at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, she composed this symphony, her first of four, in 1931-32.
- It won the top prize in a competition for African American composers and received its premiere from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933.
- She wrote numerous other pieces, including choral works, chamber music, arrangements of spirituals, and piano concerti, but her orchestral music remained unpublished and rarely performed until recently.
This event is a great opportunity for audiences to experience this music for the first time.
- The featured soloist will be the brilliant David Pedraza.
- He was born in Reynosa, Mexico, and is and received a full scholarship to the Shenandoah Conservatory.
- He is now the Principal Viola of the Symphony of the Americas in Ft. Lauderdale, playing William Walton’s Concerto for Viola.
Season subscriptions and individual concert tickets are available from the Hylton Center Box Office or by calling 888-945-2468.
- All children and student tickets (through college) are free.
Founded in 1992, the Manassas Symphony is the winner of the 2015 American Prize for Orchestral Performance, Community Division and is an Arts Partner of the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.
- The all-volunteer orchestra plays five concerts a year and is involved with many educational and civic events throughout the community.
- For more information on the Manassas Symphony, visit its website.
