Community Calendar

Acclaimed organist Peggy Haas Howell will present a solo organ recital at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 42 E. Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, on Friday, February 27, 2026 at 7:00 PM.

An internationally respected recitalist, Ms. Howell has performed widely throughout the United States and Europe. Known for her commanding musicianship and technical wizardry at the organ console, she won top prizes in many organ playing competitions, including first prize in the National Young Artists Organ Playing Competition of the American Guild of Organists (1974), and a shared top prize in St. Albans International Organ Interpretation Competition in England (1977). She currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and as National Vice President and Councillor for Competitions and New Music for the American Guild of Organists. She is also the Director of Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir, a community group dedicated to bringing classical choral music to the children and youth of central Virginia.

Ms. Howell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music from Susquehanna University and a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, with additional advanced study at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Hamburg, Germany. Her distinguished teachers include James Boeringer, Heinz Wunderlich, Charles Dodsley Walker, Cherry Rhodes, and Harald Vogel. Her extensive career as a recording artist, recitalist, teacher, and church musician was memorably summarized by Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, which praised her as a “play-anything virtuoso.”

Spanning several centuries, this recital program will weave together organ repertoire of grandeur, intimacy, and spiritual depth. Works by Georg Böhm, Johann Sebastian Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and contemporary composer Dan Locklair will be featured, alongside anonymous Renaissance dances from the 1599 Suzanne van Soldt manuscript. Highlights include Bach’s monumental Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor (BWV 542) and Locklair’s Salem Sonata, a work of profound spiritual resonance.

Ms. Howell’s recital promises a compelling and richly varied musical experience, showcasing the expressive power of the organ across historical periods. All are welcome. This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, visit salemstpauls.org.

It’s your moment on stage! Join us at the Music Hall on Friday, February 27th for Karaoke Night with Robert Pennix. From power ballads to crowd-pleasing classics, sing your favorite songs live from 8–10 PM. This event is free and open to the public, with reservations encouraged.

This Saturday (Feb. 28, 4–5:30pm) at McGuffey Art Center, Lua Project will launch Los Appalachianos, a Virginia Humanities–funded digital StoryMap rooted in interviews with Latine residents of the Shenandoah Valley.
Participants include my mother, who has lived in the Valley for over 50 years, alongside others who arrived within the past couple of decades. Together, their stories trace how Latine families across generations are shaping an evolving Appalachian cultural identity — one that speaks to the broader Appalachias.
The project began as an original album inspired by these interviews and has grown into an interactive digital platform featuring video, photographs, mapping, and live music grounded in Appalachian and Latin American traditions.
The launch includes live performance excerpts and projected StoryMap visuals as well as a sampling of some Appalachiano food by Army veteran and chef Cesar Ruiz, whose story inspired one of the songs. Hope to you can join us!

Tartan Terrors bring their Celtic Invasion to festivals and shows across North America, blending the energy of a rock show with humour and stepdance.

With a distinctive sound and a proud tradition of making Celtic music fun and accessible to any audience, the Terrors have played big stages across North America, including The Iridium, Times Square, NYC, Daryl’s House Club, Pawling, NY, Freeman Arts Pavilion, Selbyville, DE, Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival, Florence, MA, and The Celtic Music & Craft Beer Festival in Dunedin, FL.

The Main Street Music Show is a fast-paced live variety show packed with original sketches, comedy, and music—clean, clever, and fun for the whole family. Blending sharp writing with hometown charm, the show delivers laughs, surprises, and memorable musical moments. For this performance, the WhiteOak Ramblers Bluegrass Band will be sitting in, adding high-energy live bluegrass to an already lively night.

Dancing Strings is a local family band with roots here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Four artists coming together to create a dynamic quartet featuring Irish and Celtic favorites, along with pieces that hint at Appalachian roots.With Gail Moore on guitar, daughter Jessica Phaup on violin, son Jonathan Moore on djembe, and close friend Brandon Paine with vocals, these four instrumentalists have come together to create an eclectic ensemble. It is the hope and desire of Dancing Strings to bring something culturally expansive to our local community by creating a warm, engaging, and transportive experience for their audience. With numbers to get your feet stomping and an occasional waltz to dance to, this evening at the Music Hall will be a St. Patrick’s Day celebration that you and your friends won’t want to miss!

Join us for our first concert of the year, our Spring Concert! It could snow that day, who knows, but we'll be thinking SPRING and we have some great songs to share with you!

As always, admission and the reception afterwards is free (but we are a 501c3 non-profit that accepts and appreciates donations!)

We hope to see you there :-)

On Sunday, March 15 at 3:30pm in Old Cabell Hall, the Piedmont Duo will perform a recital as part of the UVA Chamber Music Series. I-Jen Fang, percussion and Ayn Balija, viola will explore how memories shape and re-shape our lives. Some gently rethink a piece like Caroline Shaw’s Limestone and Felt for viola and marimba while others transform the memory, much like the power of a storyteller’s voice, in Brian Simalchik’s Overlooks. This program also looks back to the simple soundtrack of childhood with three Brazilian tunes by Flavio Chamis while Elise Winkler in The Allegory of the Cave reminds listeners that change makes it impossible to remain the same. Enter a world where sound and expectations feel both familiar and new, where new memories are created while in celebration of the old.

Founded in 2021, the Piedmont Duo comprised of Ayn Balija, Associate Professor of Viola and I-Jen Fang, Professor of Percussion from the Department of Music at the University of Virginia, is a performance and educational based chamber music group dedicated to expanding the musical presence and the sonic possibilities of viola and percussion. They have toured, performed and given masterclasses in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina as well as at the International Viola Congresses in Campinas, Brazil; Paris, France; and the University of Pécs, Hungary. Committed to outreach and collaboration, they have commissioned original works from composers JoVia Armstrong, Leah Reid, and Judith Shatin to be part of a new album that features women composers. I-Jen Fang is a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She serves as the Principal Timpanist and Percussionist for the Charlottesville Symphony. She has performed as a soloist in Austria, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, and U.S., and as a featured performer at PASIC, PAS Day of Percussion, SEAMUS and various festivals. Ayn Balija is a dynamic violist dedicated to expanding the viola's expressive range through innovative performances and collaborations. She holds the position of Principal Violist with the Charlottesville Symphony and has performed as a guest artist across Canada, Hungary, Brazil, New Zealand, and various locations in the United States, premiering new works and highlighting her commitment to musical diversity in performance and education.

Program:

Caroline Shaw: Limestone and Felt

Charles Knox: Music for Viola and Percussion

Flavio Chamis: Three Brazilian Tunes

Brian Simalchik: Overlooks

Kenji Bunch: Four Flashbacks

Elise Winkler: The Allegory of the Cave

Individual Tickets: $15 General / $13 UVA Faculty & Staff / $5 Students / Free for UVA Students who reserve in advance / Free for students under 18.

Tickets are available at the UVA Arts Box Office by calling 434.924.3376, or by visiting artsboxoffice.virginia.edu. Individual tickets will also be available at the door one hour prior to the concert. UVA students need to reserve their tickets 24 hours in advance at the UVA Arts Box Office student ticket portal.

The UVA Chamber Music Series presents innovative performances by the University of Virginia's world-class performance faculty and celebrated guest artists for the University and the central Virginia community. These intimate concerts are programmed to offer both new and traditional works that will delight the novice as well as the well-tempered critic. The UVA Chamber Music Series is directed by Jiyeon Choi. To see all the concerts in the series, please visit https://music.virginia.edu/uvacms.

Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. Directions and parking information can be found here.

Sign up for the weekly UVA Music email (https://music.virginia.edu/subscribe)

All events are subject to change.

Celebrated young concert organist Ryan Chan will present a solo organ recital on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 4:00 PM at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 205 Elmwood Avenue, Lynchburg, VA. Chan was the 1st Prize winner as well as the winner of the audience prize of the 2024 American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance in San Francisco. He also has won top prizes in the International Gottfried Silbermann Organ Competition and the Arthur Poister Organ Scholarship Competition. He has been praised for his “solid technique, imaginative programming, and tasteful creativity in registering orchestral textures” (AGO Charleston Chapter).

A versatile musician specializing in both organ and harpsichord, Chan is equally at home in early and contemporary repertoire. His artistic interests include historical performance practice, antique keyboards, experimentation, and teaching. A native of Hong Kong, he has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe in venues such as Freiberger Dom, the Katholische Hofkirche Dresden, St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, and St. James’ in-the-City in Los Angeles. His playing has been featured on the national radio program Pipedreams.

Chan is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Organ Performance at the Eastman School of Music, studying with David Higgs, and holds a Master’s Degree in Harpsichord Performance. He serves as Organist and Choir Director at the Rochester Christian Reformed Church in New York. His album “Paris Milieu” was recently released by Pro Organo.

His program at St. John’s will include Baroque works by Handel, Bach and Rameau in addition to contemporary pieces by Zsolt Gάrdonyi, Calvin Hampton, David Conte, and Jean Guillou. St. John’s stunning Richard Howell organ, finished in 2011, features three manuals and 32 stops.

The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated. There will be a reception immediately following the recital. For more information, visit stjohnslynchburg.org or ryanchanorganist.com.

Nick W Johnson will bring a full band line up to the Music Hall on Friday March 20th. An undeniable Americana/Roots Rock sound will feature songs from his 2024 album Rolling Hills as well as some newer tunes written with band members Alec Boesel, Mark Adams, & Mike Worley.