From Symphonicity’s PianoRama to iconic modern dance to breathtaking photography— season’s arts events promise to lift your spirits.
See our full Spring Arts Preview.
It’s spring, and love is in the air. We mean the love of music, art, dance, theater, song and live performance, of course, and it’s that time of year when Coastal Virginia Magazine shares its editorial staff picks for the season’s most exciting shows, exhibitions and special events.
For the more than 200 all-volunteer musicians who play or sing with Coastal Virginia’s beloved community orchestra Symphoncity, that love is going strong after more than 40 years of delighting local audiences and providing musicians with opportunities to share their talents.
For Rachel Keene Martin, a member of Symphonicity’s double bass section since 2020 and the organization’s newly named interim executive director, the season comes with a new set of challenges, which she calls “exciting and very gratifying.”
One of the most rewarding things about playing with Symphonicity, Martin says, is the chance to work with so many talented musicians from all walks of life. Many of the orchestra’s members are music educators or other professionals who play purely for the love of the music. For the 2023-2024 season, Symphoncity concertgoers have been treated to a piano-centric lineup called PianoRama.
“Our music director Daniel Boothe is such a visionary,” Martin notes. “He has such a creative way of approaching programming. Every year, he selects a theme and designs our season around that, which is not typical for most symphony orchestras. So, it has this thread through everything that really makes for an exciting reason to come back.”
Upcoming concerts in the season include PianoRama Printemps on March 24, featuring the combined Old Dominion University and Regent University choruses, and Rebecca Willett and Stephen Coxe on piano with an all-French program that includes Saint-Saëns’s Le Carnaval des animaux, Faurë’s Pavane and Poulenc’s Gloria! Then on April 28, piano showman and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Music Director David Stewart Wiley joins Maestro Boothe to present an evening of Broadway and cinematic classics in PianoRama Pops! Both shows take place at the Sandler Center for Performing Arts in Virginia Beach.
“I have a newfound appreciation for what it takes to make the orchestra run,” says Martin, who is also active in the local arts and fundraising community, of her new role with Symphonicity. “But it’s also really fun now to take off my executive director hat and put on my bass section hat.”
You can catch Martin, Maestro Boothe and the rest of Symphonicity by getting your tickets now at symphonicity.org. And be sure to check out all our Spring Arts Preview picks.
—Leona Baker
Leona Baker
Leona Baker is the former Editor-in-Chief of Coastal Virginia Magazine. She is a writer, creative, communications professional, food freak, news junkie, nature and travel lover and mom. She holds a degree in English from James Madison University and a degree in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. She previously served as Senior Copywriter for Spark 451, Director of Marketing & Communications at Virginia Wesleyan University, and Senior Editor of Port Folio Weekly.
