WELCOME

Welcome! We are so thrilled to have you here with the Richmond Symphony. Whether this is your first concert with the Symphony or you have been coming for years, we love that you chose music as a part of your life, and we look forward to providing you with a fantastic experience. You are invited to enjoy, to connect, to learn, and to discover.

Since 1957, The Richmond Symphony has been an innovator known for forwardthinking about what the next era of symphony performance can bring. Building on that legacy, we continually seek to create programs and programming that not only deliver artistically, but that make music an integral part of your life, and that of your friends, family and colleagues.

The 2022-23 season has been all about exploring new horizons, sharing musical experiences, reaching new and continued audiences, and creating new opportunities to experience and perform music from emerging composers and artists, alongside the beloved performances traditional Symphony enthusiasts revere. This holds true with the Richmond Symphony Chorus, the Youth Orchestras, and the Symphony programming on stage and in our community.

Some fun and exciting things to come:

Partnership performances and presentations with three of Richmond’s wonderful museums: Black History Museum, Virginia Museum of History and Culture and Virginia Museum of Fine Art. Keep an eye on the Symphony’s socials for all the details.

Symphony musicians and a team of designers and fashion experts worked to reimagine the orchestra’s wardrobe, bringing a current design and aesthetic that honors the athletic nature of the work the musicians do every day on stage. You will see the results of this industry-changing effort this Spring – and we hope you are as excited as we are.

In addition to the performances represented in these pages, we are thrilled to bring a host of incredible free performances outdoors: Mile of Music makes its way to Bryan Park this summer, a partnership with the Black History Museum at Abner Clay Park with the Symphony’s Big Tent; summer performances at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, and a return to Henrico for the annual Red White & Lights July 4 celebration. We look forward to seeing you there!

Thank you for being a part of the Richmond Symphony.

- Valentina Peleggi, Music Director & Lacey Huszcza, Executive Director

VISION: Changing lives through the power of music.

MISSION: The Richmond Symphony performs, teaches and champions music to inspire and unite our communities.

The Richmond Symphony is dedicated to joy, connection, expression, and collaboration through music. Founded in 1957, the Symphony includes an orchestra of 70 professional musicians and 150 volunteer members of the Richmond Symphony Chorus. The Richmond Symphony is overseen by a 35-member Board of Directors and managed by 28 staff members.

Each season, the Richmond Symphony offers more than 200 public performances for approximately 200,000 patrons through concerts and educational programs. The Symphony also maintains an active touring schedule that brings live symphonic performances to rural communities. Through community engagement events, the Symphony makes a significant impact on participating neighborhoods by combining the power of music with community investment. These community engagement events allow for free outdoor musical experiences and serve thousands of people a year, creating unique opportunities for the public to engage with the Richmond Symphony and encouraging community pride through music and collaboration. Additionally, the Symphony joins with Virginia Opera and Richmond Ballet for presentations each season and collaborates with other arts organizations for special projects.

Valentina Peleggi MUSIC DIRECTOR

Lewis T. Booker Chair

Valentina Peleggi has been Music Director of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia, USA) since the 20/21 season and has already revitalized the orchestra’s artistic output. While focusing on developing the orchestra’s own sound she has also launched new concert formats, joined national co-commission partnerships, started a three-year Composer-inResidence program, launched conducting masterclasses in collaboration with the local universities, and championed neglected composers from diverse backgrounds. During the pandemic she sat on the jury of the first virtual Menuhin Competition, hosted by the Richmond Symphony.

Highlights of the 22/23 season include a ground-breaking augmented reality project, also Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony and a special concert with soloist Yo-Yo Ma.

2021 saw the release of her first CD, featuring a cappella works by Villa Lobos in a new critical edition for Naxos guest edited by Ms Peleggi and performed by the Sao Paulo Symphony Chorus, of which she previously served as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. She was concurrently Resident Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

This season Peleggi debuts with the New World Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic and at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, and in Europe with the Residentie Orkest, Liege Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of Opera North, also conducting the opening concert of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Engagements in recent seasons have included the Colorado and Baltimore symphonies, Royal Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Brussels Philharmonic, Norrkoping Symphony, Orchestra della Toscana, and Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano.

Opera (especially bel canto) is at the core of Peleggi’s activity; in May 2022 she conducted Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Florentine Opera, and last season she returned to the Teatro Verdi di Trieste for Rigoletto, also making her debut in a new production of Piazzola’s Maria de Buenos Aires at the Opéra de Lyon. She conducted an acclaimed Rossini’s Le Comte Ory with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Garsington Opera in 2021 and was a Mackerras Fellow at English National Opera in 2018 and 2019, where she conducted a wide range of repertoire including Carmen and La Bohème. Since 2019 she has been Music Director (responsible for Italian repertoire) of the Theatro Sao Pedro in Sao Paulo where her L’Italiana in Algeri was recognized as “best opera of the year 2019 in Sao Paulo” by the main critic journal Rivista Concerto.

The first Italian woman to enter the conducting programme at the Royal Academy of Music of London, she graduated with distinction and was awarded the DipRAM for an outstanding final concert as well as numerous other prizes and was recently honoured with the title of Associate. She furthered her studies with David Zinman and Daniele Gatti at the Zurich Tonhalle and the Royal Concertgebouw masterclasses. She won the 2014 Conducting Prize at the Festival International de Inverno Campos do Jordão, received a Bruno Walter Foundation Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California, and the Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship 20152017 under Marin Alsop.

Peleggi holds a Master’s in Conducting with honors from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, and in 2013 was awarded the Accademia Chigiana’s highest award, going on to assist Bruno Campanella and Gianluigi Gelmetti at Teatro Regio di Torino, Opera Bastille Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro San Carlo. She also assisted on a live worldwide broadcast and DVD production of Rossini’s Cenerentola with the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI. From 2005 to 2015 she was the Principal Conductor and Music Director of the University Choir in Florence and remains their Honorary Conductor, receiving a special award from the government in 2011 in recognition of her work there.

Ms Peleggi is passionate about the arts and holds a Master’s in Comparative Literature.