“Daniel W. Boothe, music director and conductor of Symphonicity, and Gary Ryan, executive director of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, had batted around the idea of the Virginia Beach entities working together,” writes Denise Watson in Wednesday’s (11/4) Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA). “The pandemic, ironically, provided a unique opportunity. On Nov. 8 and 15, visitors are invited to walk-through concerts that will take them through current exhibitions while listening to live classical music that ties into the themes of the work…. 60 patrons will be divided into four groups and will be escorted through the galleries at staggered times…. MOCA opened the ‘Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black and Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art from the Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman’ at the end of March [that] looks at race and identity…. Boothe and his volunteer musicians had planned a 40th anniversary season called ‘Breaking Barriers’ that was going to highlight composers from different ethnic backgrounds, particularly underrepresented artists…. Symphonicity will play George Walker’s renowned ‘Lyric for Strings’ [and] work by Harvey Stokes, principal oboist with the symphony and a professor of music at Hampton University [and] music by the late Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.”
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