The Williamsburg Symphonia will make its debut international appearance at the 41st annual Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts in January, joining artists from around the world.
“It’s a real honor,” music director Janna Hymes said. “We’re very excited to show the talents of our musicians out of town and to new friends.”
Carolyn Keurajian, the Symphonia’s executive director, said the invitation resulted from a combination of persistence and correspondence between Keurajian, Hymes and festival organizers. The festival will fully fund the Symphonia’s trip.
“It really speaks to what we have become,” Keurajian said. “We’re really being recognized on a much larger level.”
On Jan. 29, an 18-piece ensemble from the Symphonia will perform at the Earl of Cameron Theater in Bermuda, conducted by Hymes and including an appearance from violinist Irina Muresanu as concertmaster.
The performance features a piece specially commissioned for the festival, “The Sea Venture: Songs of the Early Settlers of Bermuda and Jamestown.”
“What I’m doing with the music is telling the story of the voyage,” said composer Mike Williamson, a Williamsburg resident. The composition took Williamson about two months.
In 1609, the Sea Venture, an English supply ship headed to Jamestown Settlement, encountered a violent storm and ran aground in Bermuda. The 150 passengers survived, including Captain Christopher Newport and John Rolfe.
“They found Bermuda to be a very hospitable place,” Williamson said. They stayed, building two ships and continuing to Virginia in 1610.
In five movements, each around three minutes long, “The Sea Venture” flows through elements of the voyage: sailing aboard the ship, surviving the storm, entering a new land. Williamson incorporated period music, snippets from Tchaikovsky’s “The Tempest” and “Bermuda is Another World,” a song popular in Bermuda.
“It’s so fun … and fits our orchestra very well,” Hymes said. “It’s a great, great gift for the island.”
Keurajian said the Symphonia hopes to grow the relationship between Bermuda and Greater Williamsburg.
“We really are excited about being ambassadors for this area,” she said.
The Symphonia is hopeful of the exposure the festival will bring.
“We would love for more people to know who we are and be able to enjoy what we can offer,” Keurajian said.
Locals can preview the Symphonia’s festival performance at a concert in the Jamestown Settlement’s Robins Foundation Theater. In collaboration with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Symphonia will debut “The Sea Venture” during the program, beginning at 7 p.m. on Jan. 25.
Tickets for this performance are limited to 150 participants. For ticket information, call 757-253-4838 or visit historyisfun.org/williamsburg-symphonia-concert.
For more information on the Symphonia, visit williamsburgsymphonia.org.
Bridges can be reached by phone at 757-275-4934.
