Arts Conversations

Jana Lee Ross speaks with violinist Joshua Bell about his upcoming Virginia Arts Festival concerts with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, what it's like to conduct the orchestra while also playing in it, and how a stray boomerang could have taken his career in a very different direction...

Jana Lee Ross speaks with Barnaby Smith, co-founder and Artistic Director of the vocal ensemble VOCES8, about their holiday performances presented by the Virginia Arts Festival.

Jana Lee Ross speaks with Finnish-British conductor Ross Jamie Collins, who will conduct singer-songwriter Laufey’s upcoming concerts with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Jana Lee Ross speaks with Rob Fisher, Goode Family Artistic Advisor for Musical Theater and American Songbook with the Virginia Arts Festival, about an upcoming performance featuring Broadway star Kelli O’Hara with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Along with Broadway favorites, the program includes a new work by American composer Libby Larsen, setting poems by former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.

Raymond Jones speaks with a trio of innovative string players ahead of their Virginia Arts Festival performance. Legendary bassist Edgar Meyer is known for his adventurous collaborations with artists of all genres. His newest adventure includes the extraordinary classical violinist and Kentucky fiddler Tessa Lark and cellist/composer Joshua Roman.

Raymond Jones speaks with musicologist and pianist Dr. Samantha Ege about her new album Maestra, which features the first commercial recording of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in Two Uninterrupted Speeds by Julia Perry, plus the Concerto for Piano and Strings by pioneering film composer Doreen Carwithen.

Jana Lee Ross speaks with Dr. Tina Breckwoldt, historian and dramaturge for the famed Vienna Boys' Choir, as we anticipate their upcoming holiday performances here in Hampton Roads.

Jana Lee Ross speaks with Virginia Symphony Music Director Eric Jacobsen and mandolinist/composer Chris Thile about musical storytelling, and their upcoming Virginia Arts Festival performances of Thile's new work ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra.

Raymond Jones speaks with Todd Stoll, who directs the Attucks Jazz Orchestra in Virginia Arts Festival's celebration of the 125th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth, with a program that goes well beyond the greatest hits.

Raymond Jones speaks with Music Director Jorge Parodi about Opera in Williamsburg's upcoming production of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman.

Raymond Jones speaks with pianist Lara Downes about her upcoming performances with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, which will feature a new piano concerto by local composer Adolphus Hailstork.

Composer Gregory Spears speaks with Raymond Jones about his new work The Neighboring Village (inspired by a Kafka story), which was commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Virginia Chorale.

Raymond Jones talks with pianist Olga Kern about her upcoming performances of the complete cycle of Rachmaninoff concertos with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Dwight Davis talks with Virginia Symphony Orchestra Music Director Eric Jacobsen about the upcoming Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto Festival with Olga Kern.

Wayla talks with classical singer Julia Bullock about her upcoming Virginia Arts Festival performance of Jessie Montgomery's Five Freedom Songs.

Rebecca Weinstein spoke with Elizabeth Blackney, Executive Director of the Cook Foundation, about the 2023 Gloucester Arts Festival.

Dwight Davis talks with violists Lawrence Dutton

Dwight Davis talks with pianist Olga Kern about her VAF recital

Rebecca Weinstein talks with Broadway music director Rob Fisher about Virginia Arts Festival's upcoming performance of Chicago the Musical - in Concert, with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Raymond Jones speaks with Randall Goosby about his upcoming Virginia Arts Festival performance at the Attucks Theatre, recent recording projects, and the original dedicatee of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata.