N.C. Symphony Brings A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS to Raleigh, Chapel Hill This Month

Raleigh, N.C. -- The North Carolina Symphony will perform A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS tonight, December 4, at noon and 8 p.m., Saturday, December 5 at 8 p.m. in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall, and again on Wednesday, December 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Led by guest conductor Paul Agnew in the Raleigh concerts and by Symphony Associate Conductor David Glover in Chapel Hill, this festive celebration showcases great music from Bach and Handel, including Bach's Brandenburg Concerto and Mass in B minor, and the Pastoral Symphony and Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, and many more. The concerts will feature the North Carolina Master Chorale, and NCS soloists Dovid Friedlander, violin; Elizabeth Phelps, violin; Anne Whaley Laney, flute; and Mary E. Boone, flute.

The noon performance on Friday, Dec. 4, is part of the Symphony's popular lunchtime Friday Favorites series, performed without intermission. Bach's Concerto No. 2 in E Major for Violin and String Orchestra, featuring Associate Concertmaster Dovid Friedlander will be performed only during evening performances in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

About the Artists:

Conductor Paul Agnew is in continuous demand as an outstanding interpreter of the baroque and pre-classical repertoire. Born in Glasgow, he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, before embarking on a career that has taken him throughout the world as a conductor and as a singer.

Following a highly successful conducting debut with Les Arts Florissants in Paris in 2007, Mr. Agnew was appointed Joint Musical Director of the orchestra in 2013. He has conducted performances of Messiah for Le Concert d'Astrée and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Handel's La Resurrezione at the Atelier of the Opéra national de Paris.

David Glover is the Associate Conductor for the North Carolina Symphony, where his duties include conducting education and evening concerts throughout the state as well as performances on the Pops Series and Young People's Concerts. He has led numerous orchestras including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, North Czech Philharmonic, Bulgarian Opera in Bourgas, and Hungarian Opera-Cluj.

Dovid Friedlander joined the North Carolina Symphony as Associate Concertmaster since 2005. He previously performed with the Columbus Symphony and was the Assistant Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony. He has also played with the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Music Festival and regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony in concerts and on tour, with such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons and Claudio Abbado. In addition to playing with the North Carolina Symphony, Mr. Friedlander is an active chamber musician in the Raleigh area.

Principal Second Violin Elizabeth Phelps grew up outside New Haven, Connecticut, and be­gan playing violin at the age of four. She re­ceived a bachelor's and master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Paul Kantor and Stephen Rose. While a student, she also played in a number of orchestras, including the Can­ton Symphony under Gerhardt Zimmer­mann, where she was Assistant Principal Second Violin. Ms. Phelps joined the North Carolina Symphony in 2013.

Prior to becoming Principal Flute with the North Carolina Symphony in 1986, Anne Whaley Laney was Principal Flute with the Canton Sym­phony and piccoloist with the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She has appeared as flute soloist with the St. Louis Symphony as its 1982 Young Artist winner, playing Mozart's Concerto in D Ma­jor, K.314, and with the Canton Symphony, playing John Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy. Along with her solo performances, one of her most memorable experiences includes a performance at Carnegie Hall in 1987 with the North Carolina Symphony.

Mary E. Boone is Assistant Princi­pal Flute with the North Carolina Symphony. In addition to appearing as a soloist with the NCS, she has appeared with the South Carolina Chamber Orchestra and Augusta Sympho­ny. Formerly Principal Flute with the Au­gusta Symphony, Ms. Boone has also per­formed with the Columbia Philharmonic, Tanglewood Festival, Waterloo Festival, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine and Bellingham Festival in Washington.

The Resident Chorus of the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Master Chorale has been performing choral-orchestral masterworks for more than 60 years. The Master Chorale boasts two renowned ensembles: a 170-voice symphonic choir and a 22-voice professional chamber choir that presents a diverse repertoire from the Renaissance to Contemporary. The Master Chorale regularly collaborates with symphony orchestras, opera companies, ballet and touring productions.

In addition to stellar performances, North Carolina Symphony concertgoers can enjoy pre-concert talks, post-concert discussions, and "Meet the Artists," which feature interactive conversations with guest artists and select orchestra members, at many Symphony events. Before the Raleigh Friday Favorites performance on Dec. 4, Dr. Jonathan Kramer will give a pre-concert lecture at 11 a.m. in the Swalin Lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall. Before the evening performance in Raleigh on December 4, Associate Conductor David Glover will give a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. in the Swalin Lobby. Before the evening performance on Saturday, Dec. 5, Catherine Brand will host a Meet the Artists session in the Swalin Lobby at 6:30 p.m. Before the Chapel Hill performance on Dec. 9, Dr. Letitia Glozer of UNC will give a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall.

Tickets to the Friday Favorites Series performance on Friday, Dec. 4, at noon, are $28. Tickets to the evening performances in Raleigh on Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5, and to the Chapel Hill Classical Series performance on Dec. 9 range from $18 to $75. Student tickets are $10. Concert tickets at all performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time.

Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Memorial Hall is located at 114 East Cameron Ave., on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony gives more than 200 performances annually to adults and school children in more than 50 North Carolina counties. An entity of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the orchestra employs 66 professional musicians, under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry, and Associate Conductor David Glover.

Headquartered in downtown Raleigh's spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and an outdoor summer venue at Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C., the Symphony performs about 60 concerts annually in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary metropolitan area. It holds regular concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington-as well as individual concerts in many other North Carolina communities throughout the year-and conducts one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra.

PROGRAM:

North Carolina Symphony

A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS

Paul Agnew, conductor

David Glover, conductor *

North Carolina Master Chorale

Dovid Friedlander, violin **

Elizabeth Phelps, violin

Anne Whaley Laney, flute

Mary Boone, flute

Friday, Dec. 4, noon and 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m.

Meymandi Concert Hall, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 7:30 p.m.

Memorial Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill

BACH "Jauchzeit, frohlocket!" [Shout, Rejoice] from Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248

North Carolina Master Chorale

BACH "Ich freue mich in dir" [Rejoice In Us] from Cantata, BWV 133

North Carolina Master Chorale

HANDEL For Unto Us a Child is Born" from Messiah

North Carolina Master Chorale

BACH Concerto No. 2 in E major for Violin and String Orchestra, BWV 1042 **

I. Allegro

II. Adagio

III. Allegro assai

Dovid Friedlander, violin

BACH Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen"[Beloved Emmanuel, Prince of the

Devout]from Cantata 123

BACH Mass in B minor, BWV232

Et incarnatus est

Crucifixus

Et resurrexit

BACH Magnificat, BWV 243

I. Magnificat anima mea

II. Et exultavit

III. Quia respexit -

IV. Omnes generations

V. Quia fecit

VI. Et Misericordia

VII. Fecit potentiam

VIII. Deposuit

IX. Esurientes

X. Suscepit Israel

XI. Sicut locutus

XII. Gloria Patri

HANDEL "Lift Up Your Heads, Oh Ye Gates" from Messiah

HANDEL Pifa (Pastoral Symphony) from Messiah

BACH "Wie sol lich dich empfangen" [How Shall We Fitly Greet Him] from Christmas

Oratorio, BWV 248

North Carolina Master Chorale

BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049

I. Allegro

II. Andante

III. Presto

Anne Whaley Laney, flute

Mary Boone, flute

Elizabeth Phelps, violin

BACH "Das neugeborne Kindelein" [The Newborn Infant Child] from Cantata, BWV 122

North Carolina Master Chorale

HANDEL Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah

* Chapel Hill Performance only

** Evening performance only

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