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North Carolina Symphony Celebrates A Carolina Christmas
By: Gabrielle Sierra Oct. 27, 2011
Music Director Grant Llewellyn leads the North Carolina Symphony in a celebration of the holiday season, Carolina style, when Greensboro-based singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett, Grammy-winners Rhiannon Giddens Laffan and Mike Compton, guitar wizard Joe Newberry and the Concert Singers of Cary all join the orchestra for "A Carolina Christmas."
The performances take place at Meymandi Concert Hall, in downtown Raleigh's Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The concerts begin on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8:00 p.m., followed by performances on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
The program features the world premiere of Dossett's "The Gathering: A Winter's Tale in Six Songs," a captivating and heartfelt musical narrative for orchestra and string band about a journey back home.
"I was trying to celebrate all the things we love about family gatherings, as well as capture the more complicated things about it," says Dossett. "I also wanted to share images of the region in the winter: the clear Carolina nights, the lights in the lowlands, the frost in the trees and the diamonds in the pines."
Dossett is one of the most sought-after voices in creative collaborations. A co-founder of folk favorite Polecat Creek and frequent performer at traditional music festivals and shows including Merlefest and "A Prairie Home Companion," she has partnered with Greensboro's Triad Stage on four plays featuring regional folklore and original music.
Now she brings that love of traditional Carolina melodies back to the state's premier symphony, and she's invited some friends. Gifted vocalist Rhiannon Giddens Laffan from the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops joins her on stage. Giddens Laffan last performed with the Symphony to great acclaim across the state during its summer "Around the World in Eighty Minutes" concerts. Mandolinist Mike Compton from Elvis Costello's Sugarcanes band and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? recordings, as well as singer and banjo player Joe Newberry of North Carolina's Big Medicine, complete the dynamic quartet.
"These songs were written specifically to work with the symphony, as well as stand on their own," Dossett says. "To help set a time and place for that story, and to set the atmosphere that's uniquely North Carolinian, I chose these string band musicians who also have the virtuosity to play with the Symphony."
The concert is not just about returning home, but honoring the season with familiar winter melodies. Members of the evening's talented quartet, as well as the Concert Singers of Cary, join with the Symphony for "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "O Holy Night," "Angels We Have Heard on High," the Amen Chorus from Handel's Messiah and many more traditional holiday selections.
The performances also include the Symphony's popular Christmas Singalong, in which concertgoers lend their vocal talents to the orchestra for the classics "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," "Silver Bells" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)."
In partnership with Interfaith Food Shuttle BackPack Buddies Program, the Symphony is collecting donated food items at all three "Carolina Christmas" concerts. The BackPack Buddies Program provides children from food-insecure homes with weekend meals during the school year. For complete information on what to bring, visit www.foodshuttle.org/backpack-buddies.
Regular tickets to the Pops performances of "A Carolina Christmas" on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25-26 range from $33 to $63, with $30 tickets for seniors and $10 tickets students. A holiday four-pack of tickets is also available for $100. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.
"A Carolina Christmas" launches the Symphony's holiday season of statewide performances. This year, the orchestra will present a "Holiday Pops" program in ten venues across the state, Nov. 22 to Dec. 15, before returning to Raleigh on Dec. 22 for "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," including a reading by WRAL anchor David Crabtree of the title storybook classic and a special visit from Santa. Finally, the Symphony's New Year's Eve celebration returns, but with a few twists, including a visit by exquisite soprano Sari Gruber and a vocal performance by Grant Llewellyn himself.
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. The orchestra employs 67 professional musicians under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks.
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 regular concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington and individual concerts in many other North Carolina communities throughout the year.
For tickets, program notes, podcasts, musician profiles, the Symphony blog and more, 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.
Concert/Event Listing:
North Carolina Symphony
A Carolina Christmas
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
With Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry and the Concert Singers of Cary, Lawrence Speakman, artistic director
Fri, Nov 25, 2011, 8pm
Sat, Nov 26, 2011, 3pm & 8pm
Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
Program Listing:
North Carolina Symphony
A Carolina Christmas
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
November 25-26, 2011
Variations on "Joy to the World"
"Hark the Herald Angels Sing"
Felix Mendelssohn/adpt. Cummings/arr. Arthur Harris
Concert Singers of Cary
Festive Sounds of Hanukkah
arr. William Holcombe
"Rise Up Shepherds"
Traditional
Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, Mike Compton and Joe Newberry
"O Holy Night"
Adolphe Adam/arr. Bruce Kiesling
Rhiannon Giddens Laffan
Shepherd's Pipe Carol
John Rutter
Concert Singers of Cary
Christmas Favorites Singalong
arr. Bruce Chase
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" - "Silver Bells" - "The Christmas Song
(Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)"
"Angels We Have Heard on High"
Traditional/arr. Jeff Kern
Concert Singers of Cary
"I Wonder as I Wander"
John Jacob Niles/arr. John Rutter
Rhiannon Giddens Laffan and the Concert Singers of Cary
The Gathering, A Winter's Tale in Six Songs (World Premiere)
Laurelyn Dossett/arr. and orch. Aaron Grad
I. Gathering Night
II. Lights in the Lowlands
III. Redbird
IV. Redbird Lullaby
V. String of Pearls
VI. Diamonds in the Pines
Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry and the
Concert Singers of Cary
Amen Chorus from Messiah
George Frideric Handel
Concert Singers of Cary
Holiday Schedule:
North Carolina Symphony
November 22 - December 31, 2011
Nov 22, 8pm
Holiday Pops
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Paramount Theatre, Goldsboro
Nov 25, 8pm
A Carolina Christmas
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
With Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry and the Concert Singers of Cary
Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, NC
Nov 26, 3pm and 8pm
A Carolina Christmas
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
With Laurelyn Dossett, Rhiannon Giddens Laffan, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry and the Concert Singers of Cary
Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, NC
Nov 27, 3pm
Holiday Pops
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Northside High School Auditorium, Jacksonville, NC
Dec 6, 8pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Warren Citizens Center, Lincolnton, NC
Dec 7, 7:30pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Statesville Civic Center, Statesville, NC
*Dec 8, 7:30pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Hayworth Fine Arts Center, High Point, NC
*open only to students, faculty and staff of High Point University
Dec 9, 8pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Kinston High School Performing Arts Center, Kinston, NC
Dec 10, 8pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
The Roanoke Rapids Theatre, Roanoke Rapids, NC
Dec 13, 8pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Kenan Auditorium, UNC-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
Dec 14, 8pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
Keihin Auditorium, Tarboro, NC
Dec 15, 7:30pm
Holiday Pops
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, New Bern, NC
Dec 22, 7:30pm
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor
David Crabtree, host
Brandi Q. Hancock, soprano
Jason McKinney, baritone
Capital City Girls Choir
Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, NC
Dec 31, 8pm
New Year's in Vienna
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Sari Gruber, soprano
Meymandi Concert Hall, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh, NC
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