The Virginia Tech Department of Music presents the New River Valley Symphony under the direction of Maestro James Glazebrook on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 8 p.m. in Burruss Hall Auditorium. Joining the orchestra will be guest cellist David Feldman for a performance of Edward Elgar’s intimate and highly celebrated “Cello Concerto in E minor.”

The evening’s program will also include Richard Wagner’s Prelude to “Die Meistersinger” and Manuel de Falla’s Three Dances from “The Three Cornered Hat.”

A unique composition among the repertoire for cello, Edward Elgar’s concerto was written in 1919 as an elegy to World War I. Elgar did not compose during the war but within the first year after it, he composed four works that are considered to be his best. His “Cello Concerto” was the fourth and because of its immense popularity, it is one of the most often performed cello concertos.

David Feldman is a member of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and Opera Roanoke. He has performed as principal cellist for the Lynchburg Symphony with Opera on the James. Feldman is an assistant teacher with the Virginia Tech String Project a program that brings string education to musically under-served communities in Southwest Virginia. He serves as the string instructor at Faith Christian School in Roanoke and has served on the faculty of the Roanoke Youth Symphony Summer Institute at Ferrum College.

The New River Valley Symphony is a university-community orchestra with 80 student, faculty, and community resident musicians selected through an audition process.

Tickets for the New River Valley Symphony concerts are $8 for general admission and $5 for Seniors/Students and are available in advance by calling the University Unions and Student Activities Ticket Office at 540.231.5615, online, or at the door one hour prior to performance. For more information on the performance, please contact the School of Performing Arts and Cinema at 540.231.5200.

Louise Adams is Publicist & Marketing Manager for the Virginia Tech School of the Arts.