North Carolina Symphony Welcomes New Board Members, Honors Achievements

The board members of the North Carolina Symphony Society, Inc., and North Carolina Symphony Foundation met in a joint session and annual meeting Tuesday to elect new members.

Officers of the North Carolina Symphony Society Board of Trustees elected at the Annual Meeting included Catharine Arrowood, Chair; Douglas C. Hornberger, Past Chair; Mary Susan Fulghum, Vice Chair; David Strong, Vice Chair; Don K. Davis, Treasurer; Jeffrey B. Sheehan, Assistant Treasurer; Sally C. Johnson, Secretary; and Sandi M.A. Macdonald, President & CEO.

Richard L. Daugherty, Ashley Matlock Perkinson, Ramachandra P. Reddy, Tracey Fodor Smith and Josie Walker were elected as new trustees. Additionally, Clay Jackson was elected to the Symphony's Foundation Board.

Outgoing trustees William Cavanaugh, Edward J. Fritsch, Patricia R. Healy, Joan Siefert Rose and B. Grant Yarber were recognized for their service. Special recognition was also given to Thomas H. Hamilton, Jr., Sidna Rizzo and Margaret Ann Player for the completion of nine years of service on the Society Board and to Thomas Roberg for nine years of service on the Foundation Board.

Special Awards

The Boards of Trustees honored several members for outstanding service during the Symphony's 2010/11 season. Don K. Davis was recognized for his leadership as volunteer interim president & CEO during the 2010/11 season. Robert N. Eby was noted for his service as chair of the CEO search committee.

North Carolina Symphony Vice President for Finance & Administration and Chief Financial Officer Robert Schiller was recognized for his outstanding work guiding the orchestra's fundraising efforts during the final months of the fiscal year.

Five North Carolina Symphony musicians were congratulated for achieving significant tenures. Forty-year service awards were given to Robert Anderson, Associate Principal Bass; Terry Mizesko, Principal Bass Trombone; John Pederson, Principal Bassoon; and Michael Stoughton, Assistant Principal Cello. Leonid Zilper, Cello, was acknowledged for his 35 years of service.

Season Highlights

The 2010/11 season offered North Carolina concertgoers an exciting array of world-class performances from an orchestra that is "the equal of any orchestra in the Southeast, including the vaunted Atlanta Symphony" (Wilmington Star News). Featured repertoire included celebrated performances of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony and Mahler's Ninth and Tenth symphonies, as well as a concert portrait of 20th-century American composer John Adams that "reconfirmed [the orchestra's] supremacy in contemporary fare" (Raleigh News & Observer).

The Symphony's collaboration with PlayMakers Repertory Company for a production of Amadeus was hailed as "a masterstroke of musical theater" by CVNC and "a striking example of fresh programming" by The News & Observer.

Many of the biggest names in classical and pop music joined the Symphony as featured guest soloists, including Lang Lang, Zuill Bailey, Jean-Philippe Collard, Peter Donohoe, Stewart Goodyear, Noriko Ogawa, Navah Perlman, Baiba Skride, Cirque de la Symphonie, Marvin Hamlisch, Idina Menzel and Pink Martini. Special performances honored the Symphony's tenth anniversaries in Meymandi Concert Hall and Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre and the City of New Bern's tercentennial, among other noteworthy events.

Off stage, the Symphony met a substantial financial challenge and raised over $8 million in community support for the second consecutive year. By reaching that funding threshold set by the North Carolina General Assembly, the Symphony qualified for a $1.5 million challenge grant appropriated in the legislature's 2010-11 budget.

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.

 

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