Did you attend Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s opening night concert Monday? Tell me what you thought in the comments.

Concert review: Roanoke symphony opens 59th season with wit, grace, cannon fire

By Timothy Gaylard

On Monday night Maestro David Stewart Wiley conducted the opening concert of the Roanoke symphony’s 59th season to a near-capacity crowd of 1,600 at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. The Program of “Symphonic Fireworks” included many familiar works and one that was relatively unfamiliar.

The regular program began with a graceful and witty performance of Beethoven’s charming Symphony No. 1. Here the orchestra played with general precision and appropriate elegance. Only a few times did Wiley allow the ensemble to storm the ramparts with some of the sounds we associate with the mature Beethoven.

At the beginning of the second half of the program, the audience was treated to the delights of the rarely heard Tuba Concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The soloist was Brian Kiser, principal tuba player of the orchestra, and he made his instrument resonant with rich velvet tone, especially highlighted in the cadenzas of the first and last movements. The accompanying ensemble projected the fresh, folklike melodies with great feeling for subtlety and nuance.

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