The Virginia Tech Department of Music presents the New River Valley Symphony under the direction of Maestro James Glazebrook on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. in Burruss Hall Auditorium.

Joining the orchestra will be guest cellist David Feldman for a performance of Edward Elgar’s intimate and highly celebrated “Cello Concerto in E minor.”

The evenings program will also include Richard Wagner’s Prelude to “Die Meistersinger” and Manuel de Falla’s Three Dances from “The Three Cornered Hat.”

A unique composition among the repertoire for cello, Edward Elgar’s concerto was written in 1919 as an elegy to World War I. Elgar did not compose during the war but within the first year after it, he composed four works that are considered to be his best. His “Cello Concerto” was the fourth and because of its immense popularity, it is one of the most often performed cello concertos.

David Feldman is a member of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Opera Roanoke. He has performed as principal cellist for the Lynchburg Symphony with Opera on the James. An avid teacher, Feldman instructs young cellists from Roanoke, Va., and the surrounding areas in his Roanoke studio.

Feldman is an assistant teacher with the Virginia Tech String Project a program that brings string education to musically under-served communities in Southwest Virginia. He serves as the string instructor at Faith Christian School in Roanoke and has served on the faculty of the Roanoke Youth Symphony Summer Institute at Ferrum College.

The New River Valley Symphony is a university-community orchestra with 80 student, faculty, and community resident musicians selected through an audition process. Under the baton of Music Director James Glazebrook, the ensemble performs symphonic literature of the highest aesthetic value.

Glazebrook teaches violin and viola, conducting, and string methods at Virginia Tech. His varied career has encompassed professional performance, conducting, and music education. As a violinist, he has been a member of the San Diego Symphony and Opera Orchestras, and concertmaster of the (Colorado Springs) New Hampshire Music Festival and Roanoke Symphony Orchestras. He has been a guest conductor for the Roanoke Symphony, the La Jolla Civic Orchestra, Opera Roanoke, and the New Hampshire Music Festival. Glazebrook is also the conductor of the Roanoke Youth Symphony.

Tickets for the New River Valley Symphony concerts are $8 for general admission and $5 for Seniors/Students and are available in advance by calling the University Unions and Student Activities Ticket Office at (540) 231-5615, online, or at the door one hour prior to performance. For more information on the performance, please contact the School of Performing Arts and Cinema at (540) 231-5200.

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