Port City Notebook

News, views and random observations around Alexandria

Tag Archive for ‘Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’

Schlesinger in the Spotlight

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 […]

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Torpedo Factory: Status Quo is Not an Option

Vision and imagination were at the heart of a 1974 initiative to transform a World War I-era munitions facility on Alexandria’s waterfront into an innovative art center. Thanks to the leadership of Marian van Landingham, who served Alexandria in the House of Delegates for 24 years, and the late Mayor Charles Beatley Jr., the building was converted from a storehouse for federal documents to the nation’s first collection of publicly […]

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