Manassas Symphony Orchestra opens 24th season with outdoor concert Aug. 21

American Prize-winning Manassas Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director James Villani, has announced five concert experiences for its 24th season in 2016-17, beginning with its annual free pops concert at the Harris Pavilion on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 3 p.m.

Hosted again by radio personality Robb Spewak of The Mike O’Meara Show, the MSO presents Sounds of the Silver Screen, a salute to the generations of music from Hollywood’s greatest hits. Take a lawn chair and enjoy some free ice cream!

The symphony kicks off its subscription series in the Hylton Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. with internationally-acclaimed violinist Emil Chudnovsky for Il Virtuosi, a celebration of virtuoso performers and composers. Following Franz Liszt’s Les Préludes, Chudnovsky plays Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor (“La campanella”) and Piotr Tchaikovsky’s epic Symphony No. 4 brings the concert to a thrilling conclusion.

The MSO welcomes the holiday season with a frolicking look at winter at its annual family concert, Winter Carnival on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 3:30 p.m. The concert also features Reagan Middle School seventh grade violinist Thomas Kim playing Winter from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, and the debut of a new work about winter fun by one of our favorite composers, J. Scott McKenzie. The concert includes seasonal favorites and closes with MSO’s exclusive synchronized holiday music and light show!

Our very own horn player Avery Pettigrew is center stage on Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 PM as the symphony performs Musical Morsels — a smorgasbord of small works to delight your musical palate. Dr. Pettigrew is featured in James Beckel’s concerto for horn and orchestra titled The Glass Bead Game. This musical feast includes Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture and delicacies from Edvard Grieg, Jacques Offenbach, and Carl Nielsen.

The Manassas Symphony concludes its season on Saturday, May 13 at 7:30 with Symphonic Exuberance. Joined by a large chorus of select students from several Prince William County High Schools under the direction of Dominick Izzo, the combined forces perform Dan Forrest’s joyful masterpiece, Requiem for the Living. The concert includes Gioachino Rossini’s Overture to “The Barber of Seville” and Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.