A Collaborative Partnership between Northern Virginia Community College and the Reunion Music Society

• We are giving our first concert since March 2020 (Friday July 16 – see event listing)
• We have expanded our collaboration with NVCC to encompass the whole college rather than the Annandale campus, and in recognition, have renamed from the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra to the NOVA Symphony Orchestra.
• We are returning to in-person full orchestra rehearsals in August for the Fall semester and are planning a major Fall concert.
• We’re moving our rehearsals to the new Fine Arts building on the NOVA Alexandria Campus.

In the Spring of 1994, the Reunion Music Society, Inc. (RMS) and NVCC President Richard J. Ernst formed a partnership that created The NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra  as the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Ernst Cultural Center on the Annandale Campus.

In 2021, the orchestra was renamed the NOVA Symphony Orchestra in recognition of its expanded role serving the entire Northern Virginia Community College. It now uses the new Fine Arts building on the Alexandria Campus as its base for rehearsals and collaborates closely with the Music Department there.

The NOVA Symphony Orchestra is a high-level orchestra comprised of volunteer players from the DC metropolitan area. We are a mix of student, adult, and professional musicians.  The orchestra uniquely serves our community in several ways:

• It affords community musicians the opportunity to play in a full symphony orchestra, playing at an advanced level.
• It brings high-quality programs to our audiences.
• It provides an ensemble class experience for enrolled Northern Virginia Community College students. The College offers an associate degree in Fine Arts. All members of the orchestra can add value to their experience by enrolling in MUS 148/248 for college credit each semester.
• It creates a venue to discover and present the works of little known composers and offer programs of seldom heard and/or performed music.
• It fosters and promotes music of different cultures and heritages, and programs performances for diverse audiences.
• Orchestra players participate in several other RMS-supported ensembles, including Brass, Chamber Music, and Jazz.  The synergy of this mix of activities brings variety to our audiences and provides excellent opportunities for out players to develop their musicianship.

The orchestra has performed works such as:

• Mendelssohn – “Scottish” and “Reformation” Symphonies, Hebrides and Saint Paul Overtures
• Holst – The Planets
• Beethoven Symphonies 1, 5, 6
• Sibelius – Finlandia
• Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, Concerto for Four Violins
• Mozart – Symphonies and overtures
• Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
• Brahms – Academic Overture
• Elgar – Enigma Variations
• Rodrigo – Concerto de Aranjuez (for guitar)
• Rossini – The Barber of Seville
• Tchaikovsky – Marche Slave
• Johnston – From Far And Away (commissioned by the Reunion Music Society)
• and many works by Haydn, Delibes, Sullivan, Jules Massenet, Henry Mancini, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Richard Rogers, John Williams, Ennio Morricone, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, James Horner, Eugène Bozza, and many others.

Music Director:  Chris Johnston

President: Bruce Salad

Librarian: Sharon Jones

Administrative Section leaders:

• Violin I: Brendan Slocumb
• Violin II: Sachi Rosenbaum
• Viola: Margie Bassman
• Cello: Ralph Brooker
• Bass: Andrew Johnston
• Woodwinds: Mitch Bassman
• Brass: Lou Brundidge
• Percussion: Claiborne T. Richardson, II

Questions?  Email reunionmusicsociety@gmail.com .

Interested in joining?  Click here!