News
Classical Revolution RVA is looking for enthusiastic applicants to serve as Artistic Director or Marketing Director in 2024!
To apply, please see the job descriptions below and send a resume and cover letter to becca@classicalrevolutionrva.com.
Artistic Director job description
Marketing Director job description
The deadline for applications is April 15, 2024. Help us make more music!
I have had the honor of artistically directing Classical Revolution RVA for just over 2 years. In that time I have had the privilege of working with so many of you through Classical Incarnations or other events we have planned. Not to mention meeting and working with so many of our community partners. Getting involved in this organization has been a goal of mine since I was in college and I have been so grateful for these past 2 years.
As with many things in life, a change of season (or year) brings about other personal changes and endeavors. So, I will be stepping down as Artistic Director.
With that being said, I would like to introduce our interim Artistic Director Anthony Burnham!
Anthony is an active composer, arranger, and educator based in Richmond, Virginia. Recently transplanted from Nebraska, Anthony studied music at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and earned his BM (Performance) and MM (Composition) degrees before beginning a ten-year music-teaching career in higher education.
Anthony has worked with performers at every level and has taught and performed with groups that have toured the United States and Europe. He has written and arranged music for many ensembles across the country and has been commissioned by high schools and professional ensembles alike.
Anthony will be taking over as the Classical Incarnations lead as well as our other monthly events. Classical Revolution is so lucky to have him! You can get to know Anthony at our February Incarnations happening on Sunday, 2/18 at Brambly Park.
Thank you to each and every one of you for making the past 2 years an absolute blast!
Take care,
Anamarie Diaz
This summer, 14 composers submitted applications to be considered for the role of Classical Revolution RVA’s Featured Composer for 2023-2024. Their applications each included one piece, which was to be representative of the composer’s body of work and for no more than 6 performers. These pieces were examined by a committee made up of members of the CRRVA Board of Directors, staff, and local musicians. The committee evaluated applications based on musicality, attention to detail, and the feasibility of producing live performances of the submitted works.
From these 14 composers, the committee and CRRVA artistic staff selected four composers to be featured in tonight’s recital. One of the four wonderful composers whose works you heard tonight will be chosen as our 2023-2024 Featured Composer! As the featured composer, Classical Revolution rva will facilitate the presentation of the Featured Composer’s compositions from their existing body of work during the 2023-2024 season. The Featured Composer will be recognized at CRRVA events and offered the opportunity to introduce his, her, or their works to the audience.
As our audience heard last night, these composers are all skilled and talented musicians, and the decision was an incredibly challenging one. After much thought and deliberation, we made the decision to select not one, but two composers who embody the mission of Classical Revolution RVA: Krystal Folkestad and Ned Haskins.
Krystal’s compositions are beautiful and accessible, and will be appreciated both by classical music lovers and those new to the genre! Her work to support and present the works of underrepresented composers truly embodies CRRVA’s mission to share the love of classical music with everyone, and we look forward to collaborating with her to create a more inclusive classical music community here in Richmond.
Ned is a composer who embodies CRRVA’s mission to integrate classical music into Richmond’s vibrant music scene by writing pieces that blur the distinction between popular and classical music. Collaboration has always been a core value of Classical Revolution RVA, and Ned went above and beyond to work with his ensemble to ensure a successful performance of his piece.
We can’t wait to hear what else our Featured Composers have in store for us this season!
Classical Revolution RVA is delighted to announce the line-up for our Listen Local recital of music by composers living in the Richmond area! These composers applied for consideration to be CRRVA’s 2023-2024 Featured Composer, which will be chosen from these four and announced at the recital.
Our Listen Local composers are Krystal Folkestad, Ned Haskins, John Winn, and Anthony Burnham! Read their bios below.
Krystal Folkestad
The career of composer-pianist Dr. Krystal J. Folkestad, nee Grant, spans from giving lecture-recitals in elementary schools of her hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, to arranging and accompanying for a musical theater club at a senior center in Brooklyn, New York. Through her experience teaching in college classrooms, after-school programs, and a homeless shelter, she loves seeing how music can build community. She majored in piano performance and Spanish at Vanderbilt University. With her Ph.D. in composition from Stony Brook University, she has taught composition and music theory in Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. She lives with her husband and son in Richmond, Virginia, where she creates an oasis of inclusivity within classical music by collaborating with performers and teachers to curate repertoire by underrepresented composers. https://arsarvole.com/
Ned Haskins
Ned Haskins, a Richmond native, is an instrumentalist, composer, producer, teacher, and web developer. He has taught and been an orchestral cellist and freelancer in Virginia, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Boston, and New York City. He returned to Richmond in 2012, where he currently manages and books events for Ninja Strings, a local collective of professional string players offering music for public and private events across the Eastern Seaboard, and is a substitute cellist with the Virginia Symphony. He has been involved in over a dozen central Virginia-area theatrical productions as a cellist, having performed with the Virginia Repertory Theatre, Capitol Opera Richmond, TheatreLAB, the Swift Creek Mill Theatre, and the Firehouse Theatre.
Ned holds a BM in cello performance from Florida State University, where he was a scholarship student of Lubomir Georgiev, Kim Jones, and Greg Sauer, and studied with and was the graduate teaching assistant of David Schepps at the University of New Mexico. He enjoys music of all kinds, gardening, chess, difficult hikes, and being outdoors in general. He has also previously taught and designed the curriculum for the upper grades math classes at the Richmond Waldorf School.
John Winn
John Winn is a composer and musician living in Richmond, Virginia. A former student of Allan
Blank and Doug Richards at VCU, he received his Master of Music degree in Composition in
1995. John has composed music for independent film, for jazz ensemble, Shakespeare plays and various chamber music configurations.
Mr. Winn’s string quartet The More Things Change… was commissioned in 2009 for the Oberon String Quartet and was premiered by that ensemble in Richmond. It was also programmed in 2016 as part of the summer chamber music festival Loon Lake Live! (Loon Lake/Saranac Lake, NY). John is also a songwriter and his song cycle Songs for Modern Times for string quartet and his own vocal has been recorded by LLL and performed numerous times.
John also maintains an active career as a performer in the jazz and pop/rock genres as well as musical theater pit orchestras.
Anthony Burnham
Anthony Burnham is an active composer, arranger, and educator based in Richmond, Virginia. Recently transplanted from Nebraska, Anthony studied music at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and earned his BM (Performance) and MM (Composition) degrees before beginning a ten-year music-teaching career in higher education.
Anthony has worked with performers at every level and has taught and performed with groups that have toured the United States and Europe. He has written and arranged music for many ensembles across the country and has been commissioned by high schools and professional ensembles alike. Anthony has found particular success in the world of the marching arts, where his groups have come first-in-class in regional indoor circuits, Best-of-Show at Drum Corps International’s Soundsport Championships, and fourth-in-class at the Winter Guard International World Championships. Many of these groups were formed from nonprofit organizations, prompting Anthony to pursue and earn a MS degree in Nonprofit Administration.
When not doing something musical, Anthony enjoys hiking, rock climbing, photography, and spending time with his partner, Sarah, and their menagerie of animals.
Last night, at Classical Incarnations, we revealed the 2023 Mozart Festival poster, designed by Katie McBride!
This year, we are keeping the Mozart Festival fresh and interesting by contextualizing Mozart and bringing cultural perspective to the music, the legacy, and the man himself. We are continuing our commitment to quality programming by featuring experts and musicians from the Richmond area, and expanding our lineup of events to reach even more audience members than ever before!
This free, day-long festival will run from 9 am to 9 pm in Church Hill on Saturday, October 7th.
Our exciting program for the day will include, among many exciting events, a discussion of Mozart’s treatment of African characters by Dr. Allison Smith, Black Opera Research Network; a yoga class featuring Mozart’s music; an interactive children’s event; and, of course, stellar performance by Richmond’s own One Voice Chorus and other members of the CRRVA community!
Join us following the day’s events at the Poe Museum for an after party with music by Gold Rush and others!
RSVP on Facebook here!
