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
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”

Influenced by Native American folk songs, Black spirituals, and his native Bohemia, Dvořák’s “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. 

This performance is co-presented by the Ferguson Center for the Arts and the Virginia Symphony. Additional support has been provided by the Virginia Arts Festival.

Celebrating his fifth season, Eric Jacobsen serves as the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s twelfth Music Director.  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 Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.

GRAMMY® Award-winner Gil Shaham has been named Musical America’s “Instrumentalist of the Year” and is one of the world’s 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 d’Or, and Gramophone Editor’s 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, pianist Orli Shaham has performed with many of the world's major orchestras and 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 Symphony’s chamber series Café 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 Chorale’s 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence and was Seattle Symphony’s 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 Wizard’s 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.