NC Symphony Launches Season with Free Concert in Raleigh Amphitheater

By: Aug. 02, 2011
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Maestro William Henry Curry and the North Carolina Symphony wave goodbye to the summer heat wave and kick off a bold new concert season with "Pops in the City," a free concert in Raleigh Amphitheater, Sunday, Sept. 4, at 7:30 p.m.

Families, friends and music lovers can grab a seat in the heart of downtown Raleigh for a unique sampling of their state's premier orchestra. The concert program features something for every taste, from classical masterworks including Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture and music from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake to traditional, all-American marches by W.C. Handy and John Philip Sousa.

In between, the orchestra offers a few selections by contemporary leading lights John Williams and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Concertgoers will get a taste of adventure-as well as a live performance of one of Hollywood's most popular movie themes-with the march from Raiders of the Lost Ark, before the orchestra, with special emphasis on the brass section, performs Williams's powerful anthem for the 2006 Atlanta Olympics, Summon the Heroes. A medley of themes from Webber's smash-hit musical Phantom of the Opera completes this unforgettable night out in downtown Raleigh.

The concert helps to launch the Symphony's 2011/12 concert season, opening in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall with a powerhouse program headlined by Mozart's Requiem on Thursday, Sept. 8. Other season highlights include the return of pianist Yuja Wang, one of the music world's most celebrated young talents and a performer who causes listeners to "re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Symphony's Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh and Pops seasons feature standout performances of Carmina Burana, Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, three explorations of national music, celebrations of Leonard Bernstein and Billy Joel, a visit from Art Garfunkel and more. The orchestra will also welcome world-renowned piano soloists Pascal Rogé, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Louis Lortie, Stephen Hough and Christina and Michelle Naughton to North Carolina as part of the five-concert "Piano Icons" series, presented in partnership with Fidelity Investments.

Subscriptions to the Symphony's Classical and Pops series in Raleigh and concert series in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington are currently available.

Individual concert tickets for all 2011/12 Symphony performances go on sale Monday, August 8, at 10:00 a.m. For tickets, visit the Symphony online at www.ncsymphony.org or call Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

Raleigh Amphitheater is located downtown, across the street from the Raleigh Convention Center, at the corner of Lenoir and McDowell streets. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.

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. Under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks, the orchestra employs 67 professional musicians.

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 concerts in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, Wilmington and many other North Carolina communities throughout the year.

For tickets, program notes, podcasts-or just to get to know your Symphony's musicians-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
Pops in the City
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Sept. 4, 2011, 7:30pm

Raleigh Amphitheater

Program Listing:
North Carolina Symphony

Pops in the City
William Henry Curry, Resident Conductor

Radetzky March
Johann Strauss, Sr.

Overture to The Consecration of the House, Op. 124
Ludwig van Beethoven

Music from Swan Lake
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Savannah River Holiday
Ron Nelson

Raider's March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
John Williams

Summon the Heroes
John Williams/arr. Custer

Music from Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber, arr. Custer

St. Louis Blues March
W.C. Handy/arr. Holcombe

The Stars and Stripes Forever
John Phillip Sousa

 



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