About Us

(Founder, Dr. Claiborne T. Richardson)

      The Reunion Music Society, Inc. (RMS) was founded in 1992 by Dr. Claiborne T. Richardson, an educator and musician; a native Virginian and a long-time resident of Fairfax County. The mission of the RMS is to serve the community through music. The goals of the RMS are:

• to recognize the need to nurture and support young and/or unknown composers and performers, and help them to successfully introduce their works to the community;

• to discover and present the compositions of little known composers and offer programs of seldom heard and/or performed music;

• to foster and promote music of different cultures and heritages, and program performances for diverse audiences; and

• to provide financial assistance to local artists and composers, enabling them to reach audiences with their performances throughout the communities of the Greater Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.

      For that purpose, the RMS co-sponsors and produces the Annandale Brass, The NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra and the Reunion Music Society Jazz Orchestra. After Dr. Richardson conceived and produced two concerts Scenes of the Life of a Martyr by Undine Smith Moore and The Sacred Concerts by Duke Ellington - the RMS and the Northern Virginia Community College-Annandale campus entered into a collaborative agreement in 1994 to produce the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra as a college community ensemble. Later, the RMS and the College would collaborate to produce Women in Jazz and Jazz with Strings as part of the College's Jazz Studies Program.

      All of the RMS ensembles represent multi-generational, professional and non-professional community volunteers, as well as students of varied backgrounds and cultures. The RMS brings to the community unique music programs through which local musicians of all ages can showcase their talents, and where the diverse population of Northern Virginia and beyond can hear and appreciate music of diverse cultures and backgrounds that are designed to bring all people together with a love of music as its common cause.