Williamsburg Symphonia – Jan. 25, 2016 -Original Composition Connecting Jamestown and Bermuda Colonies
Williamsburg Symphonia Concert
at Jamestown Settlement
Williamsburg Symphonia to Debut Original Composition Connecting Jamestown and Bermuda Colonies
7 p.m., January 25, 2016
Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater
2110 Jamestown Road, Route 31 S., Williamsburg, 23185
The story of the Sea Venture and the shared history and links between Jamestown and Bermuda – England’s first two permanent colonies in the New World – will be set to music during an evening concert presented by an ensemble of The Williamsburg Symphonia in Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater at 7 p.m. Monday, January 25.
The program includes the works of several composers and marks the debut of an original composition, “The Sea Venture: Songs of the Early Settlers of Bermuda and Jamestown,” composed by Michael Williamson. Conducted by Janna Hymes, the concert will feature 18 musicians of the orchestra and an appearance by violinist Irina Muresanu as concertmaster.
The composition is centered on the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture, an English supply ship en route to Jamestown, a story that was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest.” The Sea Venture’s passengers survived the disaster, built two smaller vessels in Bermuda and in 1610 sailed on to Virginia, leaving behind two people.
Virginia and Bermuda were initially administered by the Virginia Company of London and later became British royal colonies. Today, Bermuda is the oldest self-governing British overseas territory. Legislative bodies formed in Virginia in 1619 and Bermuda in 1620 continue today.
The Symphonia will travel to Bermuda in late January to perform the concert at the special invitation of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts.
The evening program on January 25 will include:
Claude Debussy
Prelude to “The Afternoon of a Faun,” arranged by Arnold Schoenberg
Michael Williamson
The Sea Venture: Songs of the Early Settlers of Bermuda and Jamestown
Jacques Ibert
Divertissement
Aaron Copland
Suite from Appalachian Spring
Scott Joplin
“The Entertainer”
“Maple Leaf Rag”
“Ragtime Dances”
The concert is limited to 150 participants. Tickets are $33 per person to help underwrite concert costs. A $66 ticket for two will sponsor a seat for an area high school music student in Williamsburg-James City County and York County public schools. Purchase tickets.
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