Brevard Music Center Announces 2019 Summer Festival Season

Brevard's renowned summer music festival unites tens of thousands of music-lovers
in the Blue Ridge mountains of western North Carolina Brevard, NC Each summer from June through August, 40,000 music-lovers celebrate Brevard Music Center's (BMC) mission by attending its acclaimed summer music festival and supporting 500 gifted young musicians who are redefining the future of classical music alongside an artist faculty from world-renowned orchestras and universities.

Amid the scenic beauty of western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, BMC Artistic Director and alumnus Keith Lockhart Principal Conductor of the Boston Pops and Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra presides over a ten-week summer music festival featuring more than eighty performances and events spanning a multitude of genres and musical tastes. In the 2019 season, symphony, chamber and opera masterpieces by Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Chopin, and others take center stage. Musical legends including David Sanborn, The Temptations and The Four Tops, Michael Feinstein, and B la Fleck headline a superstar lineup of non-classical talent. A two-week Festival Within a Festival celebrating composer Aaron Copland provides an immersive experience for students and audiences alike. And special family-friendly evenings featuring performances like Raiders of the Lost Ark in Concert (movie + live symphony) expose classical music to audiences of all ages.

Brevard Music Center is as one of this country's premier summer training programs and music festivals, said Brevard Music Center President & CEO Mark Weinstein. Each season, the next generation of classical musicians continue to raise the bar, resulting in an exceptional and rewarding experience for both new and loyal patrons. Coupled with our esteemed faculty and guest artists and ticket prices that start at $20 it doesn't get much better than this! We invite everyone to join us lakeside, under the stars, or in an intimate concert hall to experience an unprecedented variety of classical and non-classical offerings. Bring your friends and enjoy our best season yet!"

OPENING WEEKEND OF FESTIVITIES: FRIDAY, JUNE 21 TUESDAY, JUNE 25
On Friday, June 21, BMC Principal Guest Conductor JoAnn Falletta sets the stage for an inspiring summer of music with an all-Tchaikovsky opening night concert featuring Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 and violinist Chee-Yun "a talented instrumentalist, with the kind of high-gloss tone that pulls sensuously at the listener's ear" [New York Times] in the powerful and evocative Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. On Saturday, June 22, BMC Presents (the Music Center's non-classical series) brings two Motown legends together, The Temptations & The Four Tops, for an unforgettable evening of R&B and soul. On Sunday, June 23, Maestra Falletta leads performances of Resphigi's illuminating Church Windows and GRAMMY-winning composer Michael Daugherty's Trail of Tears, featuring renowned flutist and BMC faculty member Amy Porter.

The 2019 opening weekend celebration continues through Tuesday, June 25 with Michael Feinstein the multi-platinum selling, five-time GRAMMY-nominated entertainer dubbed "The Ambassador of the American Songbook." Feinstein returns to Brevard with the lush crescendos and piano genius that define him as one of the premier interpreters of American standards.

A FESTIVAL WITHIN A FESTIVAL CELEBRATING Aaron Copland
For its fourth Festival Within a Festival, BMC honors Aaron Copland, "the Dean of American Composers," with two weeks of symphonic and chamber master works including Appalachian Spring, the Clarinet Concerto, and the Sextet, as well as BMC's production of the acclaimed Copland and Mexico featuring music, multi-media, and film experiences curated by cultural historian Joseph Horowitz.

ADDITIONAL SEASON HIGHLIGHTS FEATURE SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!
The exquisite natural beauty of Brevard provides the perfect backdrop for an array of symphony and chamber concerts including Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, Brahms's Symphony No. 4, Dvo k's Serenade for Strings, and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, as well as the return of The Shanghai Quartet in year two of their esteemed Beethoven Cycle.

Two perennial audience favorites return to BMC's Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium in 2019: the rousing Fourth of July concert, Pendergrast Patriotic Pops, and a very special night at the movies featuring the "deliriously funny, ingenious, and stylish" Raiders of the Lost Ark, with live symphony performing John Williams's Academy Award-winning score.

Throughout much of its 83-year history, opera has been an integral part of BMC programming. This summer, opera lovers enjoy a dazzling selection of three fully staged operas Floyd's Susannah, Gounod's Rom o et Juliette, and Strauss, Jr.'s Die Fledermaus plus two recitals including Opera's Greatest Hits and Broadway in Brevard: An Evening of Frank Loesser Favorites. All operas are staged in the Scott Concert Hall at the Porter Center (on the Brevard College campus) on Thursdays and Saturdays and complemented by English supertitles above the stage.

The season finale performance of Mahler 2, the composer's impassioned and apocalyptic Resurrection Symphony, provides yet another powerful ending to Brevard Music Center's summer festival as Keith Lockhart leads hundreds of artists on the Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium stage.

Among non-classical guest artists like Michael Feinstein and The Temptations and The Four Tops, the Music Center is also pleased to introduce jazz legend David Sanborn to Brevard audiences (June 7), and welcome back Harpeth Rising (July 16) and B la Fleck, who headlines a Blue Ridge Banjo Concert (August 17) in conjunction with his second annual banjo camp. The B la Fleck concert is produced in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions.

For a complete 2019 summer music festival schedule including dates, times, and locations of all performances and events, please visit brevardmusic.org.

SUBSCRIPTION AND TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets to most Brevard Music Center's Summer Festival performances start at $20. Lawn seating at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium, BMC's 1800-seat, open-air auditorium, is free for children under 17* (with a paying adult) and students 18 and older* (with a valid ID). All guest artists, programs, pricing, and dates are subject to change.
*excludes Opening Night, Season Finale & BMC Presents performances

Early Bird subscription and single ticket sales begin February 11 for BMC donors. Subscription renewals and single ticket sales for subscribers/non-donors begin on February 25. On April 1, single tickets become available to the general public. On May 13, the BMC Box Office opens and remains open for subscription and single ticket sales throughout the summer season.

For more information about BMC's Summer Music Festival and to purchase tickets for the 2019 season: visit brevardmusic.org, contact BMC's subscription line at 828-862-2130, or email subscriptions@brevardmusic.org