This article first appeared in the Alexandria Times on August 13, 2025.

Here’s a secret: You don’t need to cross the river to hear a world-class orchestra concert. In fact, all you need to do is drive a few miles west on Braddock Road until it ends and then park for free in the garage across the street from the Schlesinger Concert Hall on the campus of NOVA Community College.

Moreover, you don’t need to cross the river to hear music that will move you. For the past six years, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra music director James Ross has delivered program after program in which the all-professional orchestra musicians tell an inner story that connects the past with our modern-day lives in northern Virginia. Whether it’s through beloved and familiar pieces from the classical canon and the Americana tradition or works by undiscovered and under-appreciated composers, Maestro Ross firmly believes that live orchestral music can have a profound impact on the lives of those it touches.

Live concerts foster community and connection. Listening together with others in a hall with wonderful acoustics, such as Schlesinger, creates a shared emotional experience—joy, awe, nostalgia and perhaps sorrow—and a sense of belonging. The immersive resonance of both the sight and sound of 60 or more musicians performing together can ease stress and divert our focus away from daily worries and into the present moment. Attending an ASO concert might just be your very best antidote to the chaos and dissonance on the other side of the river.

The ASO’s upcoming season, its 82^nd, will be both special and bittersweet. This will be Maestro Ross’ last season as music director, and though we are sad to say goodbye, we are excited that he will be continuing his work helping young conductors find their own unique voices. Ross has been recruited to lead not just one but two of the most prestigious conductor training programs in the country—the Orchestral Studies program at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the conducting faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center in western Massachusetts.

Highlights of the upcoming season include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, and pianist Michelle Cann returning to play Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F in late September; Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with soloist Michael Rusinek in November; and singers from the Cafritz Opera Program performing scenes from La Boheme in February. Ross’ final concert of the season in April will include Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 as well as Alexandria native and violinist Alexander Kerr playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.  Subscriptions for the five concert weekends (alexsym.org) begin at $99—less than what you would pay for parking across the river, by the way.

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