Charlottesville High School Orchestra performed a free concert at the Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center as a thank you to the community. The orchestra raised over $320,000 to fund its trip to London. Photo by Matthew Rosenberg of The Daily Progress.

Laura Thomas, CHS’s orchestra teacher, conducted Friday night’s performance.

By Jay Jenkins
DailyProgress.com blogger

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor knows he will have a tough time replacing 1B/LHP Sean Doolittle and a number of outfielders next season.
Finding a replacement for Casey Lambert, his late-game specialist, might be a tougher task.
Take Friday for example.
O’Connor paced around in first-base dugout at Virginia Tech contemplating how to make it a one-inning game. Find a way to get through eight frames, give the ball to Lambert and head for the bus with a series-opening win.
It was, in fact, that simple.
Lambert, nicknamed “The Bulldog” by O’Connor, was dominant. He threw 10 strikes (one was called a ball) as the Hokie hitters whiffed and whiffed again at nasty breaking balls.
“Casey has been really, really sharp of late,” O’Connor said. “He is throwing all his pitches for strikes. He is getting after it out there and he is putting them away with his hard breaking ball.
“If he continues to do that we have a chance to win a lot of games.”
Better yet, Lambert has a chance to leave Virginia as the top closer in ACC history - the southpaw needs two saves to tie the league’s all-time record of 41, which was set by former North Carolina hurler Thad Chrismon in 1995.
Not bad for a guy that Major League teams stayed away from last year in the draft.

Welcome to the Charlottesville High School Orchestra’s London blog!

Thanks to community support, CHSO is on its way to one of the most sophisticated capitals in the world for the Heritage London Music Festival. Friday evening the orchestra hosted a bon voyage concert and today the students leave for this long-anticipated trip.

Continue to visit our blog for updates from students and parents, including photographs and tidbits about what’s happening in London along the way.

Cheers!

By Anne McKenzie
DailyProgress.com blogger

Tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. the Charlottesville High School Orchestra leaves for London! Last summer when the trip was announced, London was 9 months and $320,000 away. With the support of this amazing community we call home and thousands of hours fundraising, the dreams of Laura Thomas and 140 aspiring musicians will come true. Tonight, the Charlottesville High School Orchestra will treat the entire community to a Bon Voyage concert at the Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Become part of the experience and be swept away by the selections to be performed at the Heritage Festival.

Among the rehearsals, our musicians will experience London first hand.

Big Ben, the Tower of London, the Globe Theatre and a final performance at St. Sepulchre-Without-Newgate round out the adventure.  A few might even brave the London Eye. Donned in matching fleece jackets and water bottles, the trip will culminate at the Royal Academy of Music on April 5th. Join us on our 7 day journey.

Evan watch.
Hey all you EA extras, turn on your VCRs, DVR or whatever recording device you have hooked up to your televisions. Tonight (March 29) during “The Office” marathon on NBC, Universal said that it would be airing a new trailer from “Evan Almighty.”
I know a lot of you traveled from near and far—from across the street and D.C.—to watch the first test trailer of the upcoming film at the Virginia Film Festival. I know, I saw you there.
Sure, we all know that it will be a wide angle long-shot that we will even make on the big screen, but that’s OK. We had fun, and we made a lot of new friends. Right, Leslie, Monique, Neil?
So even if you don’t see yourself tonight, it will be a great chance to get your Steve Carell fix. Five repeat episodes of the “The Office” will air from 8 to 11 p.m. Somehow, one half-hour of the new “Andy Barker, P.I.” snuck in the middle of the marathon at 9:30.
Don’t forget your DVR. You can play back the “Evan” trailer --very slowly—to get a good look at the background. If you see a coral and tan blob, that could be me.