The Highlands Community Orchestra will present a fall concert beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Highland Center in Monterey, Virginia. Admission is free. A reception will follow the concert, allowing attendees time to meet the musicians.
Pendleton County musicians performing are Anna Blount and son, Elliot, India Chester, Katie Gatian. Sophia Harper and Hannah Scrafford.
The concert is loosely based on the idea of “The Arc of a Life Well Spent” — Childhood Remembered by Rosano Galante; Into the Storm by Robert Smith and arranged by Robert McCashin (the former longtime orchestra professor at James Madison University); Waltz by Ilari Hylkilä; The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky and arranged by Jack Bullock; and Cumberland Cross by Carl Strommen, who wrote on the front of the score, “The central portion of this original piece brings the unrestrained exuberance of bluegrass fiddling to the orchestra. In a lovely contrast, the piece opens and closes with a slow chorale, suggesting sunset and sunrise over the mountains.”
