Sometimes the biggest musicians start off as opening acts.
Taylor Swift opened for Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley. Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees. This weekend at the Richmond Symphony concert at Dominion Energy Center’s Carpenter Theater, Staunton-raised composer Joe Jaxson is opening for Mahler and Mozart.
Symphonies thrive on familiar magnum opus compositions. After previously hearing the sonic alchemy of Symphony Artistic Director Valentina Peleggi interpreting Mahler’s heroic First and transcendent Second Symphonies, local classical audiences will want to hear how she transforms his concise and tender Fourth. Mozart’s Haffner Symphony is one of the composer’s greatest works.
But before that, they get to experience the world debut of Jaxson’s “Born in the Iron Grip,” a piece inspired by Richmond tennis icon Arthur Ashe. The work was commissioned as part of the Richmond Symphony’s championship of new voices.
“It’s definitely been a big mission for them to highlight Richmond stories and artists,” Jaxson says. “It is one of the ways they are looking to engage the community, including people who never come to symphony concerts.”
The name refers to the “iron grip” of segregation in the 1960s. After he practiced on local public courts, Ashe was barred from all-white competitions like the 1958 American Tennis Association Regionals at the Country Club of Virginia, because he was Black. When racist exclusion became illegal, Ashe went on to become the top U.S. amateur player, later winning a total of 51 major titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles. He would become known internationally as a humanitarian while crusading against apartheid in South Africa and the U.S. government’s treatment of Haitian refugees. Ashe died in 1993 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But the new composition focuses on a single event: Ashe’s 1975 singles championship at Wimbledon (Ashe remains the only African American man to win this championship).
“It starts with an introduction of Arthur Ashe, characterized by a theme on the euphonium, a very British brass band instrument,” Jaxson explains. “Then I try to capture the groove, the excitement of the final match against Jimmy Connors, the joy, and the tension.”
He then switches from third person to first person, to Ashe’s point of view, he says.
“The music becomes very centered and succinct. You will hear some tennis rackets used as percussion in this section,” he says. “It ends with a global perspective, much larger than just the match because Ashe was so much more. It includes a well-known hymn that you will recognize, but I am keeping a secret for now.”
Audiences will need to go to the concert to find out.
“Born in the Iron Grip” is Jaxson’s second large scale commission. It is a measure of progress that, unlike Ashe, he can display his talent without artificial limitations.
The Richmond Symphony plays Mozart, Mahler, and Jaxson on Saturday, March 22 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 23 at 3 p.m. (free for audience members 18 and under). Tickets range up to $86.
