North Carolina Symphony to Tour Western North Carolina This Spring

Music Director Grant Llewellyn and the North Carolina Symphony head west to Lexington, Mars Hill, Cherokee and Flat Rock, April 24-27, with "Beethoven and Beyond," a program focusing on great works by Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner and Liszt. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.

The final performance of the tour brings the orchestra closer to home for an April 28 concert at Memorial Hall, on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, beginning at 8:00 p.m.

"As we near our 80th anniversary in May 2012, I can't think of a better way of celebrating this orchestra's tremendous legacy of serving the state by taking this program of timeless and thrilling music to these five communities," says Scott Freck, North Carolina Symphony Vice President for Artistic Operations and General Manager.

"Highlights along the way include visits with friends old and new in Lexington, Cherokee and Flat Rock," he adds. "We have particularly meaningful stops at Mars Hill College, the alma mater of our founder Lamar Stringfield, and also in Chapel Hill, where the North Carolina Symphony first began its mission nearly 80 years ago."

The performances take place at:

Edward C. Smith Civic Center in Lexington, Tuesday, April 24, 7:30 p.m.
Moore Auditorium at Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, Wednesday, April 25, 7:30 p.m.
Cultural Arts Center at Cherokee Central Schools, Cherokee, Thursday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Blue Ridge Conference Hall at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, Friday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.
Memorial Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill, Saturday, April 28, 8:00 p.m.

The concerts open with Franz Liszt's dramatic Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, by far the best known from a set of 19 such rhapsodies written by the composer. Born in Hungary, Liszt was strongly influenced by the native folk music he heard as a child. The work reflects the unique gypsy scale, along with the rhythmic spontaneity and direct, alluring expressions of that genre.

The program includes the preludes from Act I and Act III of Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin. Taken from medieval German "Knight of the Swan" lore, the opera apparently so moved King Ludwig II of Bavaria (sometimes known as "The Fairy-tale King" or "Mad King Ludwig") that he built the famous, fairy-tale castle Neuschwanstein, or "New Swan Stone," and dedicated it to Wagner. The castle's interior walls feature murals inspired by Lohengrin and other of the composer's operas.

Guest soprano Jodi Burns joins the orchestra for "Martern aller Arten" from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio. A rising young star in the opera world, Burns has been praised by the Columbus Dispatch for "her ability to insinuate sensuality into every note" and is well-suited to take on the challenges and delights of this brilliant aria.

Burns returns for Beethoven's "Ah! Perfido," one of the seminal works in the classical repertoire for dramatic soprano and orchestra. Full of emotion, "Ah! Perfido" is the cry of a woman who has been betrayed in love, wavering between despair at her loss and utter fury at her rejection. One minute she calls down the wrath of the gods and the next minute she softens, begging that her unfaithful lover not be harmed.

The program comes to a fun and dynamic conclusion with Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, the shortest of his nine symphonies. "In some ways," says Llewellyn, "it is also his most classical, as well as warm and witty. It's incredibly compact and full of fun."

"I am delighted to be taking the North Carolina Symphony to western North Carolina," Llewellyn adds. "Each season, I learn more about the state, and I look forward to getting to know the audiences in these communities. And of course, it will be wonderful to end the week with our friends in Chapel Hill."

Tickets to the Lexington performance of "Beethoven and Beyond" on Tuesday, April 24 range from $15 to $40 and are available now at www.smithciviccenter.com. The Edward C. Smith Civic Center is located at 217 S. Main St. in Lexington.

Tickets to the Mars Hill College performance on Wednesday, April 25 begin at $25 and are available now by visiting the concert event page at www.ncsymphony.orG. Moore Auditorium at Mars Hill College is located at 79 Cascade St. in Mars Hill.

Tickets to the Cherokee performance on Thursday, April 26 will be available at www.visitcherokeenc.com and at the door on concert night. The Cultural Arts Center at Cherokee Central Schools is located at 1968 Big Cove Rd. in Cherokee.

For the Flat Rock performance on Friday, April 27, Blue Ridge Conference Hall is located at Blue Ridge Community College, 180 W. Campus Drive, in Flat Rock.

Regular tickets to the Chapel Hill Series performance of "Beethoven and Beyond" on Saturday, April 28 range from $18 to $38, with $30 tickets for seniors and $10 tickets for students. Tickets are available now at www.ncsymphony.org or by calling North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724. Memorial Hall is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at 208 E. Cameron Ave.

For complete information on the Symphony's Western Tour, 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.

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