Dvoraks New World Symphony + Gil & Orli Shaham at Ferguson Center for the Arts (Newport News)

Dvoraks New World Symphony + Gil & Orli Shaham

March 14, 2026 – 7:30 pm

Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
Orli Shaham, piano

Leonard Bernstein: On the Town
Reena Esmail: Concerto for Violin & Piano (World Premiere)+*
Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell
Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, From the New World

Influenced by Native American folk songs, Black spirituals, and his native Bohemia, Dvoraks New World Symphony whisks audiences away to the vast tapestry of Americana. World Renowned in their own right, the Shaham siblings, foremost violinist Gil and consummate pianist Orli, join the Virginia Symphony to perform a world premiere concerto composed by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail.

Co-presented with the Ferguson Center for the Arts

+Additional Support provided by the Virginia Arts Festival

Celebrating his fifth season, Eric Jacobsen serves as the Virginia Symphony Orchestras twelfth Music Director, the Macon & Joan Brock Chair. He is also artistic director and co-founder of The Knights, the uniquely adventurous NYC-based chamber orchestra, and Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic. In addition to conducting, Eric is a dedicated chamber musician (cello) and is a member of Yo-Yo Mas Silk Road Ensemble.

GRAMMY Award-winner Gil Shaham has been named Musical Americas Instrumentalist of the Year, and is one of the worlds most sought after violinists. Mr. Shaham has more than two dozen concerto and solo CDs to his name, earning multiple GRAMMY nominations, a Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason dOr, and Gramophone Editors Choice. in 1990, Shaham was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 2008 he received the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. He regularly appears with the Berlin, Israel, Los Angeles, and New York philharmonic orchestras; Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; Orchestre de Paris, and in multiyear residencies with the orchestras of Montreal, Stuttgart, and Singapore.

A consummate musician recognized for her grace, subtlety, and brilliance, the pianist Orli Shaham has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and has appeared in recital internationally, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. In 2024, Orli Shaham released the final volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart to high critical acclaim. Her discography includes over a dozen titles on Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Canary Classics and other labels. Orli Shaham is on the piano and chamber music faculty at The Juilliard School. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphonys chamber series Cafe Ludwig In California, and is a Co-Host and Creative for the national radio program From the Top.

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. Esmail is the Los Angeles Master Chorales 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and was Seattle Symphonys 2020-21 Composer-in-Residence. She also holds awards/fellowships from United States Artists, the S&R Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Kennedy Center. She is currently an Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West.

Jay Ungar is an American folk musician and composer. His piece, Ashokan Farewell used as the theme tune to the Ken Burns documentary The Civil War (1990), earned Ungar an Emmy nomination and a GRAMMY Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Many of his other compositions are familiar as contradance tunes, notably The Wizards Walk.

Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, and music educator whose compositions spanned a wide range of genres including music for orchestra, ballet, film, musicals, opera, choral works, and more. Bernstein was also notable for being the first American-born conductor to achieve international acclaim. He was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958-1969, and had close relationships with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and London Symphony Orchestra to name a few.

*Commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC, Gianandrea Noseda, Music Director, in consortium with Aspen Music Festival, Robert Spano, Music Director; Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Eric Jacobsen, Music Director; and the Virginia Arts Festival, Robert W. Cross, Artistic Director.