This article first appeared in the Alexandria Times on September 3, 2026.
Last month the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) announced that it will be performing nine concerts at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria during its 2026-2027 season while the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is closed for renovations. That news is shining a well-deserved spotlight on Schlesinger, a little-known performing arts center that even many Alexandrians have never set foot inside. And this development presents an opportunity for thousands of potential patrons—even those who never thought of themselves as classical music fans—to experience great performances in this resonant but underutilized space on the West End.
The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (ASO) had the honor of performing the very first concert at the Schlesinger Concert Hall when it opened in September 2001, and the center has remained the ASO’s primary venue ever since. The opening 25 years ago was the culmination of a decade of discussions between Northern Virginia Community College and local art groups about the need for a premier performing arts center on this side of the Potomac. Their vision was for a state-of-the-art hall that could host large performances but also remain affordable to local nonprofits.
The arts center is named for Rachel M. Schlesinger, a violinist and board member of the Arlington Symphony, and one of the center’s early fundraising leaders. She died before it was built, but her husband, former Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy, Dr. James R. Schlesinger, donated $1 million to have the center named in his wife’s memory.
ASO musicians and patrons have been fortunate to have had such a desirable concert venue. But the arts center currently is not meeting the founders’ affordability objective and it remains dark and empty most days. Few performing arts organizations have the NSO’s deep pockets, and even the ASO struggles to fork over the $12,500 required to rent the hall for the rehearsals and performance for each of its main series concerts. (As with most small- and medium-sized professional orchestras, the ASO recovers only about a quarter of the cost of producing a concert from ticket revenue.)
The city’s new strategic framework for economic growth, ALX Forward, contains an initiative to bolster the “experience” economy, including targeting and attracting new uses that enhance Alexandria’s arts and culture assets. The NSO at Schlesinger presents a perfect opportunity for city officials to introduce this west-end asset to the community, to build a more cooperative relationship with Northern Virginia Community College and to understand how potent live orchestral music can be as a catalyst for economic activity. Meanwhile, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra opens its 83rd season at Schlesinger on September 26 with guest conductor Louis Lohraseb (tickets at alexsym.org). One of this season’s main series guest conductors will succeed Jim Ross as the ASO’s fourth Music Director. After eight years at the ASO, Maestro Ross departed in June to become the Director of Orchestral Studies at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he himself was once a conducting student.
Note: While I occasionally post here at Port City Notebook, most of my current writing can be found on Substack at https://melyndawilcox.substack.com/. My newsletter, Democracy in the Balance, is always free to subscribers.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, alexandria-arts-alliance, alx-forward, classical-music, john-f-kennedy-center-for-the-performing-arts, kennedy-center, music, national-symphony-orchestra, news, orchestra
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