Grant Llewellyn And NC Symphony Announces 2011/12 Season

The North Carolina Symphony's 2011/12 season promises the same masterful programming and compelling guest artists that concertgoers have come to expect of the state's premier performing arts organization. Music Director Grant Llewellyn begins his seventh NCS season with a powerful ensemble of musicians who approach the repertoire with power, passion and panache and whose affinity for great music brings out the colors, textures and moods of a copious range of works.

"As always," says Llewellyn, "the fourteen weeks of the Classical subscription series are conceived with opening, closing and middle structures, providing an arc to the season from September to May. We have devised, we hope, a concert series which celebrates our art form and its future. The focus is, as always, the orchestra. Our players continue to meet the highest standards of their profession and have proved their quality in concerts, broadcasts and recordings to increasing national and international recognition."

The Duke Medicine Raleigh Classical Series opens with performances on September 8 &10, 2011, with three commanding and emotive works chosen to remember the dead and honor the heroes of 9/11 on the tenth anniversary of that tragedy. Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, which begins the performance, has special resonance for Llewellyn, who was performing the work with the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston when the attack occurred. This Thread, by J. Mark Scearce, is the composer's personal response to 9/11. Based on a text by Toni Morrison, the piece is considered his most moving. The final work, Mozart's Requiem, was part of a world-wide commemoration of 9/11 performed around the world by orchestras, including the North Carolina Symphony, on the event's first anniversary in 2002.

Other highlights from the season's repertoire include some of the most artistically muscular works of the orchestral canon including Beethoven's Symphony No. 8; Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5; Mahler's Symphony No. 4; Haydn's Symphony No. 82, "La Poule;" Bizet's Symphony in C; Brahms Symphony No. 1; Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1 and Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra (better known as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Audiences will hear piano concertos by Poulenc, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Mozart as well as concertos for cello and violin, and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. North Carolina Symphony musicians Brian Reagin, concertmaster and Dovid Friedlander, associate concertmaster, will be featured soloists this season.

Guest artists making their debut on the Duke Medicine Classical Series include violinist Augustin Hadelich, cellist Johannes Moser, cimbalom player Petra Berenyi. and sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos. Returning to the North Carolina Symphony will be pianists Pascal Rogé, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Louis Lortie, and Stephen Hough, as well as harpist Catrin Finch and cimbalom player Petra Berenyi. Vocalists include Dominique Labelle, Krista River, Rick Clement, Christopheren Nomura, Christina Pier, Barbara Shirvis, Heather Buck and Jason McKinney. The North Carolina Master Chorale will also make several appearances over the course of the season.
Exciting young guest conductors Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Joana Caneiro and Andrew Grams will lead the orchestra in October, February and March. Harth-Bedoya, Music Director of the Fort Worth Symphony, has conducted all of the major US orchestras and most of the European ones. Peruvian by birth and educated here, he is both acclaimed and sought-after. Also attracting attention in the music world, Portuguese-born Joana Caneiro is Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony and a rising star to watch, as is Andrew Grams, former assistant conductor the Cleveland Orchestra
Out of the fourteen Classical Series concerts, Llewellyn has identified three compelling smaller series. "These are colorful sub-plots, if you will, that we hope will capture people's imaginations," he says. "Piano Icons, Universal Voices and Passports are distinct and meaningful themes within the whole."
The Piano Icons series emerged from a desire to highlight composer-pianists such as Liszt and Rachmaninoff juxtaposed with major world class pianists. Pascal Rogé, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Louis Lortie, and Stephen Hough bring their prodigious skills to great piano works by Poulenc, Beethoven, Liszt and Rachmaninoff.

Universal Voices focuses on some of the great works that celebrate the expressive power of the human voice. Four vibrant evenings will offer some of the most beautiful and profound music to hear live in a concert hall including Mozart's Requiem, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Strauss's Four Last Songs and Orff's Carmina Burana.

Finally, the Passport series takes a close look at the cultures of three distinct and individual countries, Spain, Hungary and Wales, and features the national instrument of each. The inspiration for these musical explorations came from an audience member attending a post-concert talk. "For some reason," Llewellyn remembers, "Welsh music came up. Someone said 'Why can't we have an entire evening of Welsh music?' I was touched that this would be suggested and as I've thought about it, the idea of developing a quintessentially Welsh program of substance really appeals. We have a great cross section of Welsh composers, including two of the exciting young generation. Karl Jenkins is going to be the most performed composer of the 21st century, if you ask me."
The Pops Series will open September 23-24 with Bernstein on Broadway, a colorful tour of Leonard Bernstein's most popular musicals, led by his daughter, Jamie Bernstein. Along with this showcase of glorious theater music, you'll hear personal anecdotes and family stories to take you behind the scores of one of America's greatest popular composers. The series will also feature The Music of Billy Joel with Michael Cavanaugh, star of the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel smash-hit musical Movin' Out and

Simply Sinatra, featuring Frank Sinatra's greatest modern interpreter, Steve Lippia, in a unique evening that pays homage to the voice of a generation. Back by popular demand is five-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Art Garfunkel for a night of the best from his fifty-year career behind the mic. Later in the season, we'll hop off the train in River City for a semi-staged romp of The Music Man, featuring your favorite selections from MerEdith Wilson's treasured Broadway score. The annual Holiday Pops concert in Raleigh makes the season merry with North Carolina's own singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett, mandolin virtuoso Mike Compton, banjo and guitar wizard Joe Newberry, Grammy-winning vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, and the Concert Singers of Cary in our own home-grown A Carolina Christmas.

NCS Matinees presents Friday Favorites, the Symphony's popular weekday series, again includes three 75-minute daytime concerts with North Carolina Symphony conductors offering insight from the stage into the music they love. Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks's November Friday Favorites concert takes us straight into the intersection of neighboring cultures with a fresh look at how Spanish flavors inspired French music, and vice versa. Her program ¡Espana! includes music from Chabrier, Massenet, Falla, Sarastate, and Bizet's spicy Spanish-flavored opera Carmen. In February, Music Director Grant Llewellyn guides us through one of the most beloved symphonies of all time, Czech composer Dvo?ák's masterpiece New World Symphony. In the Series' final May concert, we shout Viva Italia to Resident Conductor William Henry Curry's invitation to visit Italy through captivating music by Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Wolf, Strauss, Jr., and Tchaikovsky.

Series in Chapel Hill, Southern Pines, Fayetteville, New Bern and Wilmington offer performances that include the same great programs and artists that make up the Duke Medicine Classical Series and Friday Favorites Series, as well as some programs and guest artists heard only in those communities.

"Performing in communities around the state continues to be one of the North Carolina Symphony's most central missions," says Llewellyn. "I am delighted that our relationship with these communities continues to grow. Meeting our audiences around the state is one of the things we most look forward each season."

Summerfest, the Symphony's popular open-air concerts under the pines at Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre, gets underway on May 28, 2011 for Play with the Pros, featuring local instrumentalists of all ages. As always, picnic baskets, blankets and lawn chairs are welcome and children 12 and under are free as we kick off the season with Shostakovich's Festive Overture and Dvo?ák's beautiful Eighth Symphony. The summer celebration continues on June 4 with lead singer of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops Rhiannon Giddens in Around the World in Eighty Minutes. Music Director Grant Llewellyn offers a program of musical gems from the U.K., Germany, Italy, Russia, the Far East and the United States. On June 11, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry leads the orchestra in one of the most delightful Summerfest classical programs ever: Respighi's Pines of Rome, Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite, and Rimsky-Korsakov's fast-buzzing 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, audiences will love this unforgettable evening of great Beatles favorites like "Band on the Run," "Maybe I'm Amazed" and much more. Swan Lake at Symphony Lake will dazzle concertgoers on June 25. We'll hear Tchaikovsky's iconic Piano Concerto, 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. July 9's Pirates! will find us saluting those colorful sea-going scalawags of yore with music from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, The Flying Dutchman, The Pirates of Penzance, Lauralyn Dossett's Bloody Blackbeard and more. Conductor William Henry Curry encourages pirate dress. We'll finish up the Summerfest season on July 16 with Curry's guests, 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. As always, we'll be at Regency Park and on July 4 for all the excitement and fireworks of the Triangle's best Independence Day celebration. This season, we'll also enjoy fireworks at concerts on May 28, June 4, July 9, and July 16.

NCS Kids Presents Young People's Concerts that will thrill families and children ages 4-12. The perfect introduction to the art form, these hour-long adventures into the magic of symphonic music will entertain and excite your young maestros. The series opens on November 19 with Beethoven Lives Upstairs, hailed by Billboard magazine as "one of the most completely wondrous examples of children's entertainment ever!" With excerpts from the composer's greatest works and an intriguing storyline, this performance is a great introduction to great music. On January 7, composer and host Robert Kapilow puts a Mozart-inspired spin on Dr. Seuss's best-loved story of Sam-I-Am in Green Eggs and Ham. Finally, on March 10, the orchestra will get buzzy in Bug Songs as they imitate the sounds of bees, beetles, crickets, katydids and more, featuring everyone's favorite Flight of the Bumblebee.

Special Events for the 2011/12 season include An Evening with Yuja Wang on May 15, 2012. Though just 23 years old, pianist Yuja Wang has made a tremendous impression on the classical music world. The Triangle noticed too, and deafening ovations capped her North Carolina Symphony debut in February 2010, as well as demands for her immediate return. On December 31, New Year's Eve in Vienna will find us welcoming 2012 with Grant Llewellyn and his guest soprano Sari Gruber as we pay tribute to one of world's oldest music traditions-a Viennese banquet of gorgeous music.

Information about subscription options, dates, times and ticket prices is available on the Symphony's website at www.ncsymphony.org, through the season brochure, by calling Audience Services at 919.733.2750, 10am-5pm, Monday through Friday or by visiting our box office located at 3700 Glenwood Avenue, suite 130, in Raleigh. 

All concerts begin at 8pm in Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts unless otherwise stated.

September 8 & 10, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Dominique Labelle, soprano

Krista River, mezzo-soprano

Richard Clement, tenor
Christopheren Nomura, bass

North Carolina Master Chorale
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus

J. Mark Scearce: This Thread

Mozart: Requiem
September 30-October 1, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Pascal Rogé, piano
Haydn: Symphony No. 83, "La Poule"

Poulenc: Piano Concerto

Mozart: Concert-Rondo in A Major, K.386

Bizet: Symphony in C
October 14-15, 2011

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor

Augustin Hadelich, violin
Enrique Sono: Danza Fantastica

Sibelius: Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
October 28-29, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser
November 11-12, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Louis Lortie, piano
Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead

Liszt: Totentanz

Liszt: Fantasy on Themes from Beethoven's The Ruins of Athens

Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 1

December 2-3, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Brian Reagin, violin

Christina Pier, soprano

Magnus Lindberg: Chorale

Berg: Violin Concerto ("To the memory of an angel")

Mahler: Symphony No. 4
January 13-14, 2012

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor

Dovid Friedlander, violin

Petra Berenyi, cimbalom
Kodaly: Galanta Dances

Kamillo Lendvay: Concerto semplice for cimbalom and orchestra

Ravel: Tzigane

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
January 27-28, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Coco Trivisonno, bandoneon
Osvaldo Golijov: Last Round

Piazzolla works TBA

Piazzolla: Aconcagua (Concerto for Bandoneon)

Ginastera: Dances from Estancia
February 10-11, 2012

Joana Carneiro, conductor

Johannes Moser, cello
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Elgar: Cello Concerto

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)

February 24-25, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Stephen Hough, piano
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Berlioz: Rakoczy March from La damnation de Faust
Wagner: Prelude to Act I from Lohengrin
Liszt: Mazeppa

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2

March 16-17, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Barbara Shirvis, soprano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

Beethoven: Concert aria "Ah, perfido"

Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Strauss: Four Last Songs
March 30-31, 2012

Andrew Grams, conductor

Christina and Michelle Naughton, duo pianos

Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos

Brahms: Symphony No. 1
April 20-21, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Catrin Finch, harp
Ceiri Torjussen: Momentum

Karl Jenkins: Over the Stone

Pwyll ap Sion: Gwales

Mathias: Symphony No. 3
May 11-12, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Heather Buck, soprano
Barry Banks, tenor

Jason McKinney, baritone

North Carolina Master Chorale
Orff: Carmina Burana

Chapel Hill Series 2011/12

All Chapel Hill concerts begin at 8pm in Memorial Hall on the UNC-CH campus unless otherwise stated.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Pascal Rogé, piano
Haydn: Symphony No. 82, "La Poule"

Poulenc: Piano Concerto

Mozart: Concert-Rondo in A Major, K.386

Bizet: Symphony in C
Thursday, October 27, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser
Thursday, November 10, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Louis Lortie, piano
Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead

Liszt: Totentanz

Liszt: Fantasy on Themes from Beethoven's The Ruins of Athens

Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 1

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Dovid Friedlander, violin

Petra Berenyi, cimbalom
Kodaly: Galanta Dances

Lendvay: Concerto semplice for cimbalom and orchestra

Ravel: Tzigane

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Thursday, January 26, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Coco Trivisonno, bandoneon
Osvaldo Golijov: Last Round

Piazzolla works TBA

Piazzolla: Aconcagua (Concerto for Bandoneon)

Ginastera: Dances from Estancia
Thursday, February 16, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
An in-depth exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
Sunday, March 25, 2012

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bizet: Suite from Carmen

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Chabrier: Espana

Massenet: Ballet Music from Le Cid

Falla: Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Jodi Burns, soprano

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Wagner: Prelude to Act I from Lohengrin

Mozart: "Martern aller arten" from The Abduction from the Seraglio

Wagner: Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin

Beethoven: Concert aria "Ah, perfido!"

Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Tuesday, May 8, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, "Italian"

Tchaikovsky: Allegro con brio e vivace from Souvenir de Florence

Wolf: Italian Serenade

J. Strauss, Jr.: Where the Lemon Trees Bloom Waltzes

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien

Southern Pines Series 2011/12

All Southern Pines concerts begin at 8pm at Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School unless otherwise stated.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Grieg: Suite from Peer Gynt
Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great"

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor

Augustin Hadelich, violin
Enrique Sono: Danza Fantastica

Sibelius: Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Thursday, November 3, 2011

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bizet: Suite from Carmen

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Chabrier: Espana

Massenet: Ballet Music from Le Cid

Falla: Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Joana Carneiro, conductor

Johannes Moser, cello
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Elgar: Cello Concerto

Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1945 version)

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Barbara Shirvis, soprano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

Beethoven: Concert aria "Ah, perfido"

Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Strauss: Four Last Songs
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Andrew Grams, conductor

Christina and Michelle Naughton, duo pianos

Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 10 for Two Pianos

Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Thursday, May 3, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, "Italian"

Tchaikovsky: Allegro con brio e vivace from Souvenir de Florence

Wolf: Italian Serenade

J. Strauss, Jr.: Where the Lemon Trees Bloom Waltzes

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien

Wilmington Series 2011/12

All Wilmington concerts being at 8pm in Kenan Auditorium on the UNC-Wilmington campus unless otherwise stated.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Grieg: Suite from Peer Gynt
Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great"

Sunday, November 6, 2011 - 3pm matinee

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bizet: Suite from Carmen

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Chabrier: Espana

Massenet: Ballet Music from Le Cid

Falla: Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Holiday Pops
Saturday, February 4, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

John Noel, piano
Kodaly: Dances from Galanta

Chopin: Andante spianato and Grande polonaise brillante

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Thursday, February 23, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Stephen Hough, piano
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Berlioz: Rakoczy March from La damnation de Faust
Wagner: Prelude to Act I from Lohengrin
Liszt: Mazeppa

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Catrin Finch, harp
Ceiri Torjussen: Momentum

Karl Jenkins: Over the Stone

Pwyll ap Sion: Gwales

Mathias: Symphony No. 3

New Bern Series 2011/12

All New Bern concerts begin at 7:3opm at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center unless otherwise stated.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Grieg: Suite from Peer Gynt
Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great"

Thursday, December 15, 2011

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Holiday Pops
Sunday, February 19, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
An in-depth exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
Saturday, March 24, 2012

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bizet: Suite from Carmen

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Chabrier: Espana

Massenet: Ballet Music from Le Cid

Falla: Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat

Fayetteville Series 2011/12

All Fayetteville concerts begin at 8pm. Locations noted below.

Friday, September 16, 2011 - REEVES AUDITORIUM, METHODIST COLLEGE

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain

Grieg: Suite from Peer Gynt
Schubert: Symphony No. 9, "The Great"

Saturday, February 18, 2012 - SEABROOK AUDITORIUM, FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
An in-depth exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

Saturday, May 5, 2012 - SEABROOK AUDITORIUM, FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, "Italian"

Tchaikovsky: Allegro con brio e vivace from Souvenir de Florence

Wolf: Italian Serenade

J. Strauss, Jr.: Where the Lemon Trees Bloom Waltzes

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien

Pops Series 2011/12

All Pops Series concerts begin at 8pm in Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh.

September 23-24, 2011

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor

Jamie Bernstein, narrator
Bernstein on Broadway

Jamie Bernstein presents a colorful tour of her father's best-loved musicals, offering up personal anecdotes and family stories to take you inside the scores of one of America's greatest popular composers. Hear the Bernstein you've never heard in this glorious musical theater showcase.
November 25-26, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens, Mike Compton and Joe Newberry
Concert Singers of Cary

Holiday Pops: A Carolina Christmas

Come home for the holidays as Grant Llewellyn and your Symphony debut a new, heartfelt work by North Carolina singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett. But that's not all! We put a distinctly Carolina stamp on your holiday favorites with the help of Grammy winning vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, banjo and guitar wizard Joe Newberry, mandolin virtuoso Mike Compton and the choral flair of the Concert Singers of Cary.

January 20-21, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Michael Cavanaugh, piano and vocals

The Music of Billy Joel
"The new voice of the American rock and roll songbook" -Billboard

Michael Cavanaugh, star of the Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel smash-hit Broadway musical Movin' Out, takes over the stage and the piano for this high-energy night of American rock and pop favorites. The Grammy and Tony nominee will have you singing along with chart toppers including "Just the Way You Are," "Uptown Girl," "It's Still Rock 'n' Roll" and more.
March 2-3, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Art Garfunkel
Winner of five Grammys, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and half of one of the most popular singing duos of all time. The incomparable Art Garfunkel joins your Symphony for a night of the very best from his fifty-year career behind the mic.
April 13-14, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

The Music Man
Hop off the train with us in River City for a fun and lively visit with fast-talking con man Harold Hill, Marian the Librarian and the rest of your old friends. For more than fifty years, The Music Man's timeless story of love and devotion-as well as trouble with a capital T-has delighted audiences of all ages. Now we're staging your favorite selections from MerEdith Wilson's treasured Broadway score, and we don't need all seventy-six trombones to make it a musical showcase you won't soon forget.
May 18-19, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Steve Lippia, vocalist

Simply Sinatra

Before The Beatles, before Elvis, before rock 'n' roll, there was Frank. We salute The Chairman of the Board with a one-of-a-kind concert featuring Frank Sinatra's greatest modern interpreter, Steve Lippia. Don't miss this chance to hear the voice of a generation, one more time.

NCS MATINEES PRESENTS Friday Favorites Series 2011/12

Friday Favorites concerts begin at 12pm in Meymandi Concert Hall in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts

Friday, November 4, 2011

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bizet: Suite from Carmen

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Chabrier: Espana

Massenet: Ballet Music from Le Cid

Falla: Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat

Friday, February 17, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
An in-depth exploration of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
Friday, May 4, 2012

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4, "Italian"

Tchaikovsky: Allegro con brio e vivace from Souvenir de Florence

Wolf: Italian Serenade

J. Strauss, Jr.: Where the Lemon Trees Bloom Waltzes

Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien

Summerfest 2011

All Summerfest concerts begin at 7:30pm at Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park
Saturday, May 28, 2011

Summertime, Summertime!

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director

Jump-start your summer break with a popular tradition, Play with the Pros. The Triangle's most talented amateur instrumentalists join your Symphony to perform the perfect tunes to kick off Summerfest 2011, including Shostakovich's Festive Overture and Dvo?ák's beautiful and rustic Eighth Symphony.
Saturday, June 4, 2011

Around the World in Eighty Minutes

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Music Director Grant Llewellyn takes you on a whirlwind journey across the globe with musical gems from the U.K., Austria, Italy, Russia, the Far East and, of course, our own United States. Helping us along the way is one of our favorite collaborators, Rhiannon Giddens, lead singer of the 2011 Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

The Pines of Rome

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director

Take a seat beneath the pines of Regency Park for a performance of Respighi's glorious, towering masterpiece, The Pines of Rome. Also featured in this toast to music inspired by the natural world: music from Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite and Rimsky-Korsakov's breakneck Flight of the Bumblebee.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Live and Let Die: The Music of Paul McCartney

Martin Herman, conductor
Join us for an unforgettable tribute to one of the greatest rock and rollers of all time. Tony Kishman, hailed as "the quintessential Paul McCartney," lends his uncanny vocals to "Live and Let Die," "Band on the Run," "Maybe I'm Amazed," Beatles favorites and so much more.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Swan Lake at Symphony Lake

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Conrad Tao, piano
"It would be silly to advise keeping an eye out for Conrad Tao, or to suggest that this young man is going places. He's already there, and he's only going to get better." -San Francisco Chronicle

Majesty and a little mystery cap an evening dedicated to one of music's most beloved composers. William Henry Curry leads the orchestra in selections from Tchaikovsky's evocative Swan Lake. Then hear Tchaikovsky's iconic Piano Concerto, performed for the very first time in Koka Booth Amphitheatre by 16-year-old music phenom Conrad Tao.

Monday, July 4, 2011
Independence Day

 

Join us in celebrating our nation's 235th year with patriotic favorites and the Triangle's biggest fireworks display.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Pirates!

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director

Avast ye scurvy wrecks! We run up the colors for this musical salute to those infamous sea dogs, PIRATES. Hear selections from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, The Flying Dutchman, The Pirates of Penzance, North Carolina singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett's musical Bloody Blackbeard and more. Don't forget to dress like your favorite scallywag. There's treasure in these waters.
Saturday, July 16, 2011

Time for Three

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director

They're back! Violins Zachary De Pue and Nicolas Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer wowed our audience with their blazing skills on New Year's Eve 2008. Now self-described "classically trained garage band" Time for Three returns to your Symphony for all the jazz, blues and bluegrass-infused musical mayhem you can handle.

NCS KIDS PRESENTS Young People's Concerts 2011/12

All YPC concerts take place in Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh. Times noted below.
Saturday, November 19, 2011, 11:00am & 4:00pm

William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Classical Kids Live!
Beethoven Lives Upstairs

"One of the most completely wondrous examples of children's entertainment ever!" -Billboard
A madman has moved in upstairs, and young Christoph and his uncle are on the hunt to find out just what's going on up there. Delight in this hour-long romp into the work of Ludwig van Beethoven, including excerpts from many of his greatest works. Enjoy live performances of the "Moonlight" Sonata, Für Elise, the Fifth and Ninth symphonies and more.

Saturday, January 7, 2012, 11:00am & 4:00pm

Robert Kapilow, conductor, composer and presenter

Green Eggs and Ham

"Kapilow is a kind of Bill Nye the Science Guy for classical music." -Time Out New York
Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse? Would you like them on a ball? How 'bout Meymandi Concert Hall? Join Robert Kapilow, composer of The Polar Express, as he puts his unique spin on Dr. Seuss's beloved story about Sam-I-Am and his green eggs and ham.

Saturday, March 10, 2012, 11:00am & 4:00pm

Sarah Hicks, Associate Conductor
Bug Songs

Dress like your favorite insect and win prizes!

The bugs are swarming your concert hall! But don't fret, they're here for the music. Come and listen to the orchestra imitate the sounds of the greatest musicians in the bug world: bees, beetles, crickets, katydids and more. You'll also hear great music inspired by your smallest friends, including everyone's favorite, Flight of the Bumblebee.

SPECIAL EVENTS 2011/12

Concerts to take place in Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Sari Gruber, soprano

New Year's in Vienna

We pay tribute to one of the music world's oldest traditions-ringing in the New Year with the sophisticated sounds of old Vienna. But our version comes with a bang, and we're not just talking about the midnight fireworks. The exquisite vocal talents of soprano Sari Gruber, star of our 2007 production of The Marriage of Figaro, help welcome in a wonderful New Year.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Grant Llewellyn, Music Director

Yuja Wang, piano
"The arrival of Chinese-born pianist Yuja Wang on the musical scene is an exhilarating and unnerving development. To listen to her in action is to re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played." -San Francisco Chronicle

Though just 23 years old, pianist Yuja Wang has made an impression on the classical music world and in the Triangle. Huge ovations capped her North Carolina Symphony debut in February 2010, as well as demands for her immediate return. We listened. Don't miss this rare second chance to see one of music's breakout talents.

 

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