A Night In Vienna Concert Program by Richmond Symphony

SATURDAY OCTOBER 11, 2025

CARPENTER THEATRE RICHMOND, VA

CONCERT PROGRAM

RICHMOND SYMPHONY MUSICIAN ROSTER

VIOLIN

Daisuke

CELLO

CLARINET

PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON Matthew Lano* HORN Dominic Rotella PRINCIPAL Erin Lano

PRINCIPAL Devin Gossett

Luzi Wheeler Leisinger & George

Novak

Brian Strawley ACTING PRINCIPAL Daniel Egan

Jonathan Liang ACTING PRINCIPAL Scott Winger Scott Cochran

TUBA

Conrad Shaw PRINCIPAL

TIMPANI

James Jacobson PRINCIPAL

PERCUSSION

Clifton Hardison

PRINCIPAL

Robert Jenkins

David Foster

HARP

Lynette Wardle PRINCIPAL

KEYBOARD

Russell Wilson

PRINCIPAL

Quincy & Anne Owen Cole Chair

CONDUCTORS Valentina Peleggi MUSIC DIRECTOR

Lewis T. Booker Chair

Hae Lee

ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR & YOUTH ORCH. CONDUCTOR

Jack & Mary Ann Frable Associate Conductor Chair

Chia-Hsuan Lin

PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR

*Temporary Appointment

•On Leave

Dear Friends,

Welcome to a new season of the Richmond Symphony, a season overflowing with passion, connection, and unforgettable artistry. We are thrilled to have you with us as we continue to celebrate the power of music to unite, inspire, and uplift.

This season brings a rich spectrum of performances that bring works known and loved alongside opportunities to discover. We look forward to sharing the extraordinary artistry of Emanuel Ax performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, The Rocky Horror Show (our first collaboration with Richmond Triangle Players), One Piece Music Symphony and so many more live musical experiences.

As we look onward toward 2026, a commemoration of America’s 250th, the Symphony looks back at American music traditions, from Motown to Sousa, Copland to John Williams. The year begins African American Requiem from Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Damien Geter’s (Loving v Virginia Opera).

We are so honored to continue to create artistic and educational experiences that bring community together, that lift Virginia voices, and tell Virginia stories. Whether Youth Orchestra programming across five ensembles, work with our school systems, free concerts in and around our region, we are steadfastly committed to you, and to all of Richmond.

We are deeply grateful to our patrons, subscribers, exceptional musicians and artists who bring these programs to life. Your collective enthusiasm and generosity make this journey possible.

Thank you for joining us. We invite you to settle in, open your heart to the music, and experience the shared joy of live performance

With gratitude, Lacey Huszcza Valentina Peleggi President & CEO Music Director

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2025 | 5:00PM

CARPENTER THEATRE AT

DOMINION ENERGY CENTER

MOZART (1756 - 1791)

FRANZ SCHUBERT / arr.

Peter Lawson (1797 - 1828)

BEETHOVEN (1770 - 1827)

BRAHMS (1833 - 1897)

FRANZ VON SUPPÉ (1819 - 1895)

STRAUSS JR. (1825 - 1899)

Two Marches in D major, K. 320a [335]

Sonata No. 11 in A major for Piano III. Alla turca: Allegretto

Marche Militaire

STRAUSS JR. (1825 - 1899)

Contradance No. 7

Hungarian Dance No. 5

Overture to Light Cavalry

INTERMISSION

Overture to Die Fledermaus

Voices of Spring, Waltzes, Opus 410

Roses from the South, Waltzes, Op.388

Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

Thunder and Lightning Polka, Op.324

On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Waltzes, Op.314

Radetzky March

PROGRAM NOTES

If you pay a visit to Vienna’s Central Cemetery, you’ll find a “Musicians’ Corner” where some of the iconic figures of Western classical music are laid to rest: Beethoven, Schubert, Johann Strauss II, and Brahms all lie buried within close proximity. It’s a reminder that this city was more than just their home. It was a creative magnet that drew composers from all over.

“All of these composers were drawn to Vienna or already living there,” says Music Director Valentina Peleggi. “A Night in Vienna traces a journey that starts off with a variety of dance forms suggesting the ethnic diversity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It then celebrates how these influences came together and evolved into something new – the waltz – which became a symbol of Vienna itself as a cosmopolitan capital.”

The first half of the program thus presents an eclectic mix of styles and influences, from reworkings of regional folk idioms to evocations of Hungarian and Turkish music. These pieces show how composers engaged with the multicultural mosaic they encountered, both inside the Empire and beyond.

Our snapshot of this shifting musical landscape begins with a bright, festive march Mozart composed shortly after relocating to Vienna in the 1780s, likely for a public or semi-public celebration. Following it is an orchestral arrangement of the famous “Turkish” rondo finale he originally wrote as part of a solo piano sonata—a rhythmically infectious piece that reflects how Europeans perceived the military music of the Ottoman Empire, a style that was then very much in vogue in Vienna.

Marche militaire by Franz Schubert, who was born and raised in Vienna, also started out as music for piano (actually, piano four hands). It was written while on a music teaching stint for an aristocratic family in a Hungarian corner of the Empire. For all its mock martial grandeur, the piece sways with a rhythmic lilt that’s hard to resist.

A generation older than Schubert, Beethoven paid tribute to the popular social dances of the day with a set of contradances – group dances of French and English origin – written not long after his move to Vienna to study with Haydn. The tune he used for No. 7 proved to have remarkable staying power: it later appeared in his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and ultimately found immortal form as the theme for the finale of his revolutionary Eroica Symphony.

That Hungarian thread continues with Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5, the most famous of a set he originally composed for piano four hands in the late 1860s. The piece pulses with the rhythmic drive and fiery flair of Romani-influenced dance music –the kind of melodies that once spilled from café orchestras across the city.

Like Dvořák, Franz von Suppé emerged from outside the dominant Germanic tradition within the multiethnic Habsburg Empire. He became famous for his effervescent contributions to Viennese operetta, such as 1866 work Light Cavalry. The galloping rhythms and theatrical flair of its overture have made the piece a concert hall favorite.

ANNUAL FUND SUPPORT

The Richmond Symphony extends its deepest gratitude to the following individuals and institutions who made unrestricted gifts to the annual fund between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025. Thank you!

Every effort has been made to list names accurately. If you notice an error, please contact the Advancement Team at development@richmondsymphony.com or (804) 788-4717 ext. 4. Contributions received after June 30, 2025 will appear in the next playbill.

Lead Gifts

$100,000+

The Cabell Foundation

E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

City of Richmond

Endeavour Legacy Foundation

Katharine and Eugene Hickok

Pauley Family Foundation

Richmond Symphony Foundation

Virginia Commission for the Arts

The Windsor Trust Foundation

Virtuoso’s Circle

$50,000-$99,999

Altria, Inc.

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield

Ms. Priscilla A. Burbank and Mr. Michael J. Schewel

Chesterfield County CultureWorks & The Arts and Cultural Funding Consortium

The Garner Family

The Helen Marie Taylor Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Herndon Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Jennings III

Richmond Symphony League

The Kenneth and Bettie Christopher Perry Foundation

Lange Taylor and Jared Silverman

VAMAC, Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Webber

Conductor’s Circle

$25,000-$49,999

Mrs. Helga A. Boyan

Mr. and Mrs. Philip P. Burks Jr.

Pete and Sandra Chase

Mr. Nicomedes de León and Ms. Cecilia Barbosa

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis M.* Dunkum

Jane and Jim Hartough

Edward and Rebecca Lawson

Mindy Loiselle and Lanny Levenson

Pate and Bill Mears

June and Chuck Rayfield

Reinhart Foundation

Reinhart Foundation Performing Arts Endowment

Robert E. Rigsby

George and Lisa Ruzek

Slatten-MacDonald Fund of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond

Charles G. Thalhimer and Family Foundation

Marcia and Harry Thalhimer

Bucci and John Zeugner

$10,000-$24,999

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas N. Allen

The Clovelly Foundation

Louise B. Cochrane Charitable Foundation

Dr. and Mrs. William D. Covington

Margaret M. Disharoon Charitable Lead Trust

Thomas L. Disharoon Charitable Lead Trust

Dominion Energy

The Fatherree Foundation

Mrs. Mary Fisher

Mark Flynn and Sue Rowland

Gentry Locke Attorneys

Stephen M. and Cheryl G. Goddard Family Fund of the Community Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. David Hall

Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc.

Ms. Deborah Kay and Mr. James

Kay

Mr. D. Brennen Keene

Keiter CPAs

Mrs. Anne W. Kenny

Mr. William Urban and Mrs. Anne Kenny-Urban

Massey Foundation

Chris and Tara Matthews

McGuireWoods LLP

RICHMOND SYMPHONY BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Priscilla Burbank CHAIR

George Ruzek VICE CHAIR

Elisabeth Muhlenfeld Wollan IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR

Lacey Huszcza PRESIDENT & CEO

Ludi Webber TREASURER Richard Szucs SECRETARY William

RICHMOND SYMPHONY FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Randall

David

James

The Richmond Symphony League is a non-profit corporation with the sole purpose of supporting the operating budget and education programs of the Richmond Symphony.

The generosity of the Symphony League’s donors and event attendees allows it to make annual donations to the Richmond Symphony.

Thanks to you, the Richmond Symphony performs, teaches and champions music to inspire and unite our communities.

Your gifts bring musicians into classrooms and classrooms into concert halls; fortify our Youth Orchestra Program; share worldclass guest artists with Central Virginia; support free community concerts in our neighborhoods and parks; and provide our region with a professional orchestra and 150-voice chorus to perform the best of orchestral music and innovative works.

Each and every dollar donated makes an impact. More information on how you can support the Richmond Symphony today below!

We are deeply grateful to the Richmond Symphony Endowment, which provides a solid foundation for the orchestra. The endowment provides an ongoing source of income to ensure the Symphony’s financial stability well into the future.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

There are a number of ways! Find out more about each by visiting: richmondsymphony.com/give