Little City Concerts: Our Mission and our History

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Little City Concerts, founded in the summer of 2023 by composer and Falls Church City resident Stephen Gorbos, seeks to present musical events of depth and distinction to Falls Church City, VA. Rooted in a contemporary/experimental aesthetic, events that aim to educate and inform are focused on newly composed music, alongside refreshing takes on older repertoire. Each concert is connected with a social justice theme, and a portion of ticket sales are donated to a specific charity connected with that theme. Little City Concerts is committed to presenting artists and repertoire that reflect the talent and diversity present in Falls Church City, VA: artists presented have some connection to the larger Washington, DC metropolitan area. 

2023-2024 was our first season of pairing music and social justice in Falls Church City. Our three concerts were generously funded by grants from the Falls Church City Arts and Humanities Council and the Randy Hostetler Living Room Foundation, local businesses in our community, and a host of individual supporters, and we were able to give free tickets to students and youth to attend concerts two and three. Our programming featured: Balance Campaign presenting Texture, Terrain, Transformation, an environmentally-inspired program that was paired with EcoAction Arlington; soprano Celine Mogielnicki and pianist Tatiana Loisha presenting SPEAK, a program devoted to voices connected with the LGBTQ+ community that was paired with SMYAL; and David Kim and Friends presenting The Artistry of Clara Schumann: Composer and Performer, which was paired with Doorways. 

In 2024-2025, we expanded our offerings to include a fourth concert; we produced a staged production of Ashi Day's Waking the Witch (our first chamber opera); and we also presented our first Little City Concerts Commission: Keith Butler, Jr's Rest/Imagine: Themes for a Bloodline. Season 2 also saw our first Young Pianist's Masterclass, where two pianists that participated were selected to appear as openers on a Little City Concerts event with pianist Sophia Vastek. We found amazing partners in our community work with in Season 2, including the Falls Church Farmer's Market, the Mary Riley Styles Public Library, and Clare and Don's Beach Shack!

Season 3 promises to be our most exciting season yet! We start on 9/20 with a bang, welcoming Nen Daiko, a taiko drum group from Fairfax, VA, which we are pairing with the Hamkae Center; Mary Voutsas and friends follow on 11/22 with a program for Transgender Day of Remembrance that is paired with SafeSpaceNoVA. Bridge Voices performs David Lang's Pulitzer Prize winning work The Little Match Girl Passion on 2/21, paired with Homestretch; our season finale is with Arlington's 9th Street Quartet on 4/18, performing Kevin Puts' epic string quartet Home, paired with Second Story. 

Please join us for one of our performances!