North Carolina Symphony to Continue Pops Series with CASABLANCA, 2/13-14

The North Carolina Symphony continues its 2014-15 Pops Series on Valentine's Weekend with performances of the romantic classic Casablanca in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated score will be played live by the Symphony, while the film is projected on the giant screen. Constantine Kitsopoulos will conduct.

The film is the dramatic story of a man torn between love and honor that features iconic performances by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The music from the original 1942 film was digitally removed from the soundtrack, while retaining the dialogue, sound effects and even "As Time Goes By" from Dooley Wilson and his combo from the famous scene in Rick's Café Américain.

Max Steiner was a well-known Hollywood composer; among his many credits were the original King Kong and Gone with the Wind. The Austrian-born Steiner was steeped in the Viennese classical tradition - taught by Brahms and Mahler, the composer Richard Strauss was his godfather.

Constantine Kitsopoulos has made a name for himself as a conductor whose musical experiences comfortably span the worlds of opera and symphony, where he conducts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, where he can be found leading orchestras on Broadway. Kitsopoulos is in his sixth year as Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and continues as General Director of Chatham Opera, which he founded in 2005. He serves as Music Director of the Festival of the Arts BOCA, an extraordinary multi-day cultural arts event for South Florida, and was most recently appointed Artistic Director of the OK Mozart Festival, Oklahoma's premier music festival. In addition to his orchestral and classical commitments, Kitsopoulos is much in demand as a theater conductor, both on Broadway and nationwide. Kitsopoulos recently served as Music Director and Conductor of The Gershwins' "Porgy and Bess", the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical revival featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis.

Tickets to the North Carolina Symphony's performance of Casablanca range from $30 to $65. Student tickets are $15. For more information, go to the North Carolina Symphony's website at www.ncsymphony.org, or call 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

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