Christina and Michelle Naughton Join Andrew Grams and North Carolina Symphony, 3/29-31

The North Carolina Symphony offers concertgoers guest conductor Andrew Grams leading twin sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton and the orchestra in Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos and Brahms's First Symphony.

The program, titled "Mozart's Two Pianos," is first performed at Lee Auditorium at Southern Pines's Pinecrest High School on Thursday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. Timothy Haley of Sandhills Community College presents a pre-concert talk on these famous compositions in the Pinecrest High School band room beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Weekend concerts follow in downtown Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday and Saturday, March 30-31 at 8:00 p.m. Dr. Tom Koch of North Carolina State University will present pre-concert talks in the Swalin Lobby prior to both performances, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Praised by the San Francisco Examiner for "stellar musicianship, technical mastery and awe-inspiring artistry," twenty-somethings Christina and Michelle Naughton have been performing with the world's finest orchestras since they debuted at Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre with the New Jersey Symphony and at the Mann Center with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2008/09.

They are joined on-stage by guest conductor Andrew Grams, one of America's most promising and talented young conductors. A protégé of Franz Welser-Möst who served as assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 2004 to 2007, Grams has since led the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, National Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Hamburg Symphony, among many others.

These celebrated artists come together with the North Carolina Symphony for one of the most charming and lighthearted Mozart concertos, though one rarely heard live. The Concerto for Two Pianos "is a work of happiness, gaiety, overflowing richness of invention and joy in itself," wrote noted music historian Alfred Einstein.

"I am really excited," adds North Carolina Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn, whose familiarity with the Concerto dates back to his time as a cello student in Italy in an orchestra accompanying an international piano competition that used the Concerto as the central competitive piece.

"We've heard Christine and Michelle, and [their performance] was sparkling and light and bubbly and wonderfully synchronized. That's everything you hope for in the Two Piano Concerto."

Also included in the program is the at times dramatic, at times mystical Overture to Carl Maria von Weber's groundbreaking Romantic opera Der Freischütz, or The Free Shooter. The evening is completed by one of the towering masterpieces in all of classical music, Brahms's First Symphony.

Begun in 1855 when Brahms was only 22 years old, the First Symphony was a clear attempt to live up to the label placed on Brahms in print by an equally celebrated composer, Robert Schumann. The latter called the rising star the savior of German music and the rightful heir of Beethoven's legacy.

"You have no idea how it feels to hear behind you the tramp of a giant like Beethoven," Brahms once remarked.

Many false starts, doubts and smaller-form successes delayed the completion of the First Symphony for over two decades. It premiered in September 1876 and would eventually be credited with revitalizing the symphonic form. Profoundly emotional, masterfully blending heartwarming melodies with an elaborate musical structure, the work has become the most performed of Brahms's symphonies. It rightfully remains as one of the most cherished pieces in the orchestral literature.

"I am happy for Andrew to have it," says Llewellyn of the First Symphony. "It's an opportunity for a real statement for a young conductor, especially a new conductor for an orchestra. I think it's the perfect calling card."

Regular tickets to the Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh performances of "Mozart's Two Pianos," including Brahms's First Symphony, on Friday and Saturday, March 30-31 range from $33 to $63, with $30 tickets for seniors.

Regular tickets to the Southern Pines Series performance on Thursday, March 29 range from $27 to $42.

Students receive $10 tickets in both venues.

For tickets, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

The Raleigh performances are the final concerts in the Symphony's Piano Icons miniseries, presented with support from Fidelity Investments.

Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Lee Auditorium is located at Pinecrest High School, 100 Pinecrest School Road, in Southern Pines.

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