Richmond Symphony Orchestra Performs Holiday Concert Tonight

By: Dec. 06, 2014
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Richmond, Virginia Kick off the holidays with the sounds of the season! Join the Richmond Symphony and Richmond Symphony Chorus, tonight, December 6 at 8:00pm and Sunday, December 7 at 3:00pm, at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage for a winter wonderland of music led by conductor Erin Freeman. Hear the symphony play holiday favorites such as Carol of the Bells, Sleigh Ride and Frosty the Snowman during this much loved annual concert. It's the perfect event to include in your RVA holiday tradition!

The Symphony will be joined by special guests Richmond City Public Schools Chorus with Music Supervisor Christie-Jo Adams, Belle Voci, Deep Run High School (Henrico County) with Director Amy W. El-Khouri and The Vesper Bells of Second Baptist Church with Director Reverend William L. Miller, Jr.

Both concerts sold out last year! Tickets start at $10 online at richmondsymphony.com or 1.800.514 ETIX. College student tickets are $7 at the Richmond CenterStage box office with valid student ID.

The Pops Series is sponsored by Genworth. This concert is sponsored by Hunton & Williams. The media sponsor is the Richmond Times Dispatch.

About the Richmond Symphony

Founded in 1957, the Richmond Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in Central Virginia. The organization includes an orchestra of more than 70 professional musicians, the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus and more than 200 students in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra programs. Each season, more than 250,000 members of the community enjoy concerts, radio broadcasts, and educational outreach programs. The Richmond Symphony is partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Erin Freeman

Hailed by the press as engaging, elegant, and entertaining, Erin R. Freeman is the newly appointed Artistic Director of Wintergreen Performing Arts, where she will lead artistic endeavors of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and the associated Wintergreen Summer Music Academy.

This season, Erin Freeman also joins the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Music as Director of Choral Activities, a newly created joint position co- sponsored by the Richmond Symphony, where she continues as Director of the Richmond Symphony Chorus. This appointment comes on the heels of a successful seven years as the Richmond Symphony's Associate Conductor, and will include overseeing all of the choral ensembles at VCU as well as vocal chamber music, and preparing the 150-voice Richmond Symphony Chorus for all of its performances.

As Associate Conductor and Chorus Director of the Richmond Symphony from 2007-2014, Ms. Freeman conducted subscription concerts, led the Pops and LolliPops Series, spearheaded the Symphony's education initiatives, including its four youth orchestras, and directed the 150-voice

symphony chorus. She collaborated with soloists such as Jamie Bernstein, Elena Urioste, Arturo Sandoval, Marietta Simpson, Joseph Conyers, Patti Austin and Maureen McGovern; and in 2012, Ms. Freeman prepared the Richmond Symphony Chorus for an historic performance and recording of Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under the direction of JoAnn Falletta.

Erin Freeman maintains an association with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, for whom she has served as Music Director, and with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where she has been a frequent guest conductor. This year, she will conduct the BPO and BPC in their popular Classical Christmas program. She has also been a guest conductor for the South Carolina Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony, Richmond Ballet, and other ensembles in Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri and Illinois. And, in summer 2015, she will conduct Dvo?ák's Stabat Mater at the Berkshire Choral Festival.

Passionate about making classical music accessible to all, Ms. Freeman has led programs from

the Richmond Symphony's ground breaking Come and Play, resulting in a community orchestra of over 650, to Celebrity Maestro, for which she taught conducting lessons to such notables as Miss America Caressa Cameron and Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones. She has served as Director of Orchestras at Baltimore School for the Arts and American University, Conductor at Northwestern University's National High School Music Institute, Lecturer for the National Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Richmond Philharmonic, and Resident Conductor at Peabody Conservatory. She has instructed national seminars for the Conductor's Guild, and serves on their board of directors as Vice President.

Winner of numerous awards, including the Women's Philharmonic Conducting Scholarship, Erin Freeman was selected by Virginia Lawyers Weekly as one of Virginia's 50 most influential women. With degrees from Northwestern University, Boston University and Peabody Conservatory, she has studied and performed in master classes with Gustav Meier, Victor Yampolsky, Markand Thakar, Helmuth Rilling, Murry Sidlin and Robert Shaw.


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