IRVINGTON—Acclaimed pianist Fei-Fei Dong dazzled a capacity crowd at the Northern Neck Orchestra’s (NNO) first concert of the 2026-27 season with a breathtaking performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Lancaster High School Auditorium & Performing Arts Center in Irvington.
The virtuosic performance Saturday, October 10, generated a prolonged standing ovation from the audience for the pianist, the orchestra and its Grammy-winning music director Michael Repper. The program also featured the vibrant Festive Overture of Dmitri Shostakovich and the lyrical Symphony no. 2 by Ruth Gipps.
The concert also marked the debut of the NNO’s new Steinway Model D concert grand piano, the gift of an anonymous donor. The new piano features Steinway’s groundbreaking Spirio technology, a high-resolution player piano system that provides access to an extensive library of performances reproduced with remarkable fidelity. Spirio also allows artists to record, edit, preserve and replay their own performances with extraordinary precision.
Through its internet connectivity, the piano can also transmit live performances from the Northern Neck to other Spirio pianos around the world, while also bringing performances from distant artists directly to the community, all in real time. The NNO is the first orchestra in the world to own the Spirio version of the Steinway Model D…..
