North Carolina Symphony Brings Music To An Outdoor Setting

The North Carolina Symphony's popular outdoor concerts will return on May 28 as the 2011 edition of the Rex Healthcare Summerfest Series brings great music for relaxed outdoor listening to Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park. This summer marks the 26th anniversary of performances at Regency Park and the orchestra's 11th season in the spectacular lakeside pavilion built by the Town of Cary.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., but you can bring your picnic and blanket or lawn chairs as early as 5:00 p.m. and enjoy the beautiful surroundings before the music begins. Children 12 and under are admitted free, so hearing the Symphony at Booth Amphitheatre is a beautiful bargain. Some of music's most exciting offerings-as well as costume contests, instrument zoos for the kids, games, prizes, fireworks and so much more-make these evening performances under the pines a special treat for everyone in your family. Let the North Carolina Symphony turn your summer Saturday nights into summer Saturday fun!

The season gets underway with Summertime, Summertime! featuring Play with the Pros, our popular annual Summerfest kick-off concert, May 28. Enjoy the evening as the Triangle's most talented amateur instrumentalists join forces with North Carolina Symphony musicians in a blockbuster program featuring Shostakovich's Festive Overture and Dvo?ák's beautiful and rustic Eighth Symphony.

On June 4, hold on to your picnic basket as Music Director Grant Llewellyn takes you Around the World In Eighty Minutes. This journey across the globe features music you love from the U.K., Austria, Italy, Russia, the Far East and of course, the U.S.A. Enhancing the experience will be guest vocalist Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, lead singer of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

On June 11, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry leads the orchestra in The Pines of Rome, one of the most delightful Summerfest classical programs ever. In a salute to music inspired by the natural world, the orchestra will perform Respighi's glorious Pines of Rome, Grofé's evocative Grand Canyon Suite (who can forget that menacing thunderstorm section?) and Rimsky-Korsakov's dizzying Flight of the Bumblebee.

On June 18, guest conductor Martin Herman brings us Live and Let Die: The Music of Paul McCartney. Featuring uncanny McCartney look and sound-alike Tony Kishman, this will be an unforgettable evening of great Beatles favorites like "Band on the Run," "Maybe I'm Amazed" and much more in a fantastic tribute to one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time.

Swan Lake at Symphony Lake will dazzle concertgoers on June 25. Tchaikovsky's iconic Piano Concerto is performed for the first time in Koka Booth Amphitheatre by prodigiously talented Conrad Tao, who is lighting up the classical music world at just sixteen years of age. Selections from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, it is hoped, will please both the audience and actual swans on Symphony Lake, located next to the Amphitheatre.

As always, we'll be at Regency Park on July 4 for a free concert featuring all the excitement and fireworks of the Triangle's best Independence Day celebration. This patriotic program features all the stirring music you love to hear on the nation's birthday, along with the best pyrotechnical display in the Triangle, provided by the Town of Cary.

On July 9, help us salute those colorful seagoing scalawags of yore in Pirates! We encourage you to don an eye-patch, tri-cornered hat, striped shirt, buccaneer boots or whatever pirate gear you may have lying about and enjoy music from The Flying Dutchman, The Pirates of Penzance, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, Laurelyn Dossett's Bloody Blackbeard and more. Practice your ahrrrrr, mates, and keep a close watch on your doubloons.

We'll finish out the Summerfest season on July 16 with the extraordinary trio Time for Three. Violinists Zachary De Pue and Nicholas Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer absolutely wowed our audience with their blazing skills on New Year's Eve 2008. Don't miss this self-described "classically trained garage band" in a great program of jazz, blues, and bluegrass-infused music. It will be a memorable night of music under the stars and the perfect way to end your summer of fun and entertainment with the North Carolina Symphony. You'll still be talking about it when the autumn winds start to blow.

General admission lawn seating to Rex Healthcare Summerfest Series concerts is $25-$30 in advance, $30-$35 at the door. Covered table seating is also available for $30-$35 in advance, $35-$40 at the door. Children 12 and under are admitted free to all Rex Healthcare Summerfest Series concerts. The Independence Day concert is free and open to the public.

Koka Booth Amphitheatre is located at 8003 Regency Parkway, just off the intersection of US-1 and US-64/Tryon Road, in Cary. Food and beverages, including wine and beer, are allowed on the grounds.

About the North Carolina Symphony

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony performs over 175 concerts annually to adults and school children. The orchestra travels extensively throughout the state to venues in over 50 North Carolina counties. Under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks, the orchestra employs 67 professional musicians.

Based in downtown Raleigh's spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts and an outdoor summer venue at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C., the Symphony performs about 60 concerts annually in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary metropolitan area. It also holds concerts in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, Wilmington and many other North Carolina communities throughout the year.

For tickets, program notes, podcasts-or just to get to know your Symphony's musicians-visit the North Carolina Symphony Web site at www.ncsymphony.org. Call North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724. The State of North Carolina has issued your Symphony an $8 million challenge; learn more at www.ncsymphony.org/challenge.

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