North Carolina Symphony Brings Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony to Raleigh and Southern Pines

The North Carolina Symphony explores two sides of the musical spectrum when soprano Barbara Shirvis joins the orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Grant Llewellyn, for "Beethoven's Eighth Symphony."

The performances, which pair "lighthearted, playful melodies with particularly majestic masterpieces," all by Beethoven and Richard Strauss, first take place at Lee Auditorium at Southern Pines's Pinecrest High School on Thursday, March 15.

Weekend performances follow at downtown Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday and Saturday, March 16-17. All three concerts begin at 8:00 p.m.

Josiah Stevenson hosts a "Meet the Artists" event in the Pinecrest High School band room on Thursday, March 15 at 6:45 p.m.

In Raleigh, Dr. Jonathan Kramer of North Carolina State University presents a pre-concert talk on the music on Friday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. Catherine Brand of WUNC-FM hosts "Meet the Artists" on Saturday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. Both Raleigh events take place in the Swalin Lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall.

The concert program begins where contemporary classical music concerts typically end: with a symphony. Esteemed New York Times critic Olin Downes wrote that Beethoven's Eighth Symphony, more than any other Beethoven work, showcases the composer as "completely and recklessly the master. The audacity and extravagance of his invention are without end, being subject, at the same time, to a supreme command of form and technique."

British musicologist Sir Donald Francis Tovey labeled the Eighth's finale "one of Beethoven's most gigantic creations," and it offers a commanding yet accessible opening salvo as concertgoers enjoy a night of engaging contrasts.

"To start a concert with a Beethoven symphony is unusual in modern times," says Llewellyn, "but it certainly wasn't unusual in Beethoven's time. He tended to add a couple of other symphonies, concertos and concert arias as well."

The North Carolina Symphony follows Beethoven's example with a very rare live performance of Beethoven's dramatic concert aria "Ah! Perfido." The work's powerful extremes and vocal decorations make it one of the most imposing challenges in the soprano repertoire. More than equal to the task is guest Barbara Shirvis, a veteran of concert and opera performances across the world who has been celebrated for her "gorgeous tone, technical security and a touching vulnerability" by the Boston Globe.

Shirvis also joins the orchestra on-stage for a soaring concert finale in Strauss's Four Last Songs, the final compositions of the composer's illustrious career.

"The Four Last Songs are everything you would wish for," says Llewellyn. "There's nothing quite like them. It's a big challenge for the singer in terms of stamina. It's an enormous challenge for the orchestra, because they read like symphonic poems…[and] can all too often come over as a romp for orchestra with a singer desperately hanging on for dear life. They're absolutely sublime."

Balancing the emotional force of this final masterwork is another Strauss favorite, one of the most irresistible pieces in the classical music canon and the composer's personal favorite among his tone poems: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks.

Based on the wildly popular tales of a mischievous character from German folklore, Till Eulenspiegel was an instant success upon its premiere in 1895. Berlin Philharmonic music director Wilhelm Furtwängler labeled it "a stroke of genius, worthy of Beethoven," and it quickly drew comparisons to the works of Haydn and Mozart.

"Till Eulenspiegel is probably the Beethoven Symphony No. 8 of Strauss," concludes Llewellyn. "It's his most colorful, virtuoso, witty symphonic poem, full of humor. It is an absolute sparkler."

Regular tickets to the Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh performances of "Beethoven's Eighth Symphony," featuring works by Beethoven and Strauss, Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, range from $33 to $63, with $30 tickets for seniors.

Regular tickets to the Southern Pines Series performance on Thursday, March 15 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.

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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