Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on July 1, 2021.

Maestro David Stewart Wiley welcomed a full-house to Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival’s (VBRMF) annual concert at Floyd EcoVillage’s Event Center on Sunday. He described the afternoon’s Appalachian Spring and The Four Seasons performance as “a perfect piece for this time and place, as we celebrate the privilege of being back safely together.”

Wiley, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s (RSO) music director and conductor and VBRMF’s artistic director, stated that masks were optional for those in the audience who had been vaccinated. He reported that the musicians on stage were all fully vaccinated. He thanked his musician colleagues for their artistry and patience and asked VBRMF board members to stand and be recognized.

A primary focus of VBRMF is on music education, supporting local rising musicians and enriching the region by making classical music and classical music blended with Appalachian heritage more available.  Wiley encouraged the audience to attend an additional concert on Monday to support the extraordinary local talent of Blue Ridge Strings, VBRMF scholarship recipient Heather Blake and to enjoy “other surprises.”

“It will raise your spirits and make us all feel good about the future of music and that we’re in good hands with our young people and in this community,” he said.

Each season’s musical composition of The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi was preceded by Vivaldi’s poetry, recited by Maestro Wiley, who also gave historical background to musical pieces and their composers. The performance embodied the sounds of birds and nature, including a storm.

Following a program intermission, the performance of Appalachian Spring, featured the Shaker tune Simple Gifts and a composition that the composer, Aaron Copland, called “a barn dance.”

Appalachian Spring premiered as a Martha Graham Ballet in 1944 and Copland received a Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for his for his music achievement.

At the conclusion of the performance, more than a few attendees expressed feeling rejuvenated and moved by such masterful music. Musicians, featuring Wiley, Festival Virtuosi Strings and Orchestra and solo violinist and RSO concertmaster Akemi Takayama received two standing ovations.