VIRGINIA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
37^th Season

Luis Haza, Music Director

Mission
The orchestra’s mission is to perform fine music with highest artistic integrity for the broadest possible audience, within the limits of fiscal responsibility.

History
Founded in 1971 as a professional touring orchestra, the VCO traveled to remote areas of the state where live orchestral concerts were seldom or never presented. In the early 1980’s, it was encouraged to move its base to northern Virginia. Warmly received there as well, it immediately earned high praise from leading reviewers in the Washington Post: “A focus--above all a standard of performance--that make it one of the most interesting orchestras in the metropolitan area.” The orchestra now “tours” electronically, reaching millions of listeners in the metropolitan area, the Commonwealth, and across the United States with music from a single performance.

The VCO brings a critically acclaimed Music Director, highly gifted young guest artists, and forty outstanding professional instrumentalists to an accessible suburban concert hall at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, enabling parents to introduce their entire families to the finest in musical traditions at exceptionally affordable ticket prices ($10 to $18) with free admission for all students. Professor Robert Webb, a member of the music faculty at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, wrote: “These engaging performances delight all listeners, from music critics to our students, who may never before have been able to attend live chamber orchestra concerts."

Nurit Bar-Josef, concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra, performs with the VCO (photo by Lou Sica)	Metropolitan Opera star François Loup emotes while singing a comic aria with the orchestra (photo by Lou Sica)

Internationally known classical guitarist Berta Rojas Berta Rojas performs with the VCO (photo by Lou Sica)	Principal Violist Osman Kivrak (photo by Jim Goodridge)