River Cities Symphony Orchestra to hold full summer season virtually

As is the case with the majority of local businesses and organizations, the River Cities Symphony Orchestra has been unable to carry on with usual operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the organization has decided to schedule an entire summer season of concerts to be held virtually, via Facebook Live. Find the link to the Facebook page under Related Links, on the right side of this screen.

Performances will be held at 3 P.M. on the first and third Sundays of each month, starting in June and going through August. The first performance will be by violinist Christina Bouey, along with Seth Grosshandler on piano, and Michael Sinicropi on Trumpet. Among other pieces, they will be playing Bach's Chaconne. There will be additional educational content and a live Q & A, as well. For additional details on upcoming performances, visit the organization’s website. Find that link under Related Links on the right side of this screen.

The summer season was underwritten by the Marietta Community Foundation and received support from additional sponsors. The organization is hoping to continue planning additional virtual concerts after the summer season concludes.

According to Mac Lichterman, president of the River Cities Symphony Orchestra, the summer season is an opportunity both to provide musicians with the chance to perform, maintain awareness of the organization during the pandemic, and help the community stay connected to the arts.

“Musicians live to perform before live audiences...Especially in classical music, most of it is performing before live audiences. And it is a real experience,” Lichterman said. “And for us as an organization, we want to keep interest going...While we’re not available to play for live [in-person] audiences, we want to keep ourselves in front and to provide entertainment for people who aren’t able to come see concerts,” he added.

Lichterman added that the series in part grew out of the success of a virtual concert held in April featuring Marietta resident Grisha Krivchenia.

“We had a lot of very positive response to that, and it encouraged us to really go forward with the idea of doing a series. And we were able to get the support of the Marietta Community Foundation for this project, which made it a lot easier for us to do it,” Lichterman said.