The Charlotte Symphony (CSO) announces today the 2011-2012 Classics series and second season of Music Director Christopher Warren-Green. Founded in 1932, the 2011-2012 season marks the 80th anniversary of the Charlotte Symphony.
Warren-Green will conduct eight of the ten programs in a Classics series that continues the Symphony’s tradition of highlighting emerging, exceptionally gifted soloists who are the brightest of their generation. Guest performers include pianist Martina Filjak, cellist Joshua Roman, pianist Joyce Yang, violinist Chad Hoopes, and Swedish soprano Klara Ek. Guest conductors include the esteemed Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony, Grant Llewellyn, and Michael Stern, conductor of the Kansas City Symphony in Kansas City, Missouri.
Christopher Warren-Green opens the season on September 16 and 17 with the passionate music of beloved Russian composers – Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Mussorgsky. Featured soloist is the young Croatian pianist Martina Filjak, who will perform Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor. Filjak was the winner of the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition and took First Prize at both the 2007 Viotti International Music Competition and the 2008 InternationalMusicCompetitionMariaCanals.
The third program of the Classics series, on November 11 and 12, features “subscribers’ choice.” Classics subscribers will vote for their choice of a Mozart symphony to be performed on the concert with Mozart’s Requiem. Long absent from Classics concerts, instrumental music by J.S. Bach will be performed on two programs this season: the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in November and the Orchestral Suite No. 1 in April.
Classics 8 celebrates the music of Tchaikovsky as part of a month-long Tchaikovsky Festival, presented in collaboration with Opera Carolina and the North Carolina Dance Theatre. In addition to the Classics concerts, festival performances throughout the month of March include Opera Carolina’s production of Eugene Onegin, ballet with NCDT, and a special KnightSounds series concert by the Charlotte Symphony.
“When I moved to Charlotte, it was a treat to discover the presence of the North Carolina Dance Theatre and Opera Carolina in the city,” says Music Director Christopher Warren-Green. “I saw the opportunity for the Symphony to collaborate with both of these wonderful arts organizations to showcase the talent of Charlotte. The Tchaikovsky Festival in March 2012 promises to be an exciting partnership.”
The 2011-2012 season comes to a magnificent conclusion in May with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, performed with the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte. In addition to the Symphony’s 80th year, this season also marks the 60th anniversary of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte. Missa Solemnis is arguably one of Beethoven’s greatest achievements, contemporaneous with his famous Symphony No. 9.
The complete 2011-2012 Classics series is below. All concerts take place at 8 p.m.at the Belk Theater, Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. “Musically Speaking” pre-concert talks begin at 7 p.m. Season subscriptions are available by calling 704-972-2000 or online at www.charlottesymphony.org.
Charlotte Symphony 2011-2012 CLASSICS SERIES
Sept. 16 & 17, 2011
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Martina Filjak, piano
SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture; TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1; & MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition
Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 2011
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Calin Lupanu, violin
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio Espagnol; SARASATE Gypsy Airs; SARASATE Carmen Fantasy; FALLA Three Cornered Hat; & RAVEL Bolero
Nov. 11 & 12, 2011
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Oratorio Singers of Charlotte
MOZART Symphony No. 40 or 41; & MOZART Requiem
Nov. 18 & 19, 2011
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, Calin Lupanu, violin, & Elizabeth Landon & Amy Orsinger Whitehead, flutes
BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture; BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4; & BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5
Jan. 13 & 14, 2012
Grant Llewellyn, conductor, & Joyce Yang, piano
LISZT Mazeppa; RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 2; & RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances
Feb. 3 & 4, 2012
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Chad Hoopes, violin
STRAUSS Don Juan; MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto; & BRAHMS Symphony No. 4
Feb. 17 & 18, 2012
Michael Stern, conductor
COPLAND Symphony No. 3; & Other repertoire to be determined
March 30 & 31, 2012
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Joshua Roman, cello
TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from Swan Lake, Variations on a Rococo Theme, & Symphony No. 4
April 27 & 28, 2012
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Klara Ek, soprano
BACH Orchestra Suite No. 1; & MAHLER Symphony No. 4
May 11 & 12, 2012
Christopher Warren-Green, conductor, & Oratorio Singers of Charlotte
BEETHOVEN Missa Solemnis
About the Charlotte Symphony
The Charlotte Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in the Charlotteregion and the largest professional orchestra in the central Carolinas, employing more than 100 musicians, 62 on full-time contracts. The orchestra performs nearly 100 concerts each year, reaching more than 200,000 listeners. The CSO also operates the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras and the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte and is committed to broad educational outreach. The CSO is supported by ticket revenue, generous corporate and individual giving, and foundation grants and receives operating support from the N.C. Arts Council and the Arts & Science Council.
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March 25, 2011: Charlotte Symphony Announces 2011-2012 KnightSounds Series
Building on the highly successful first season of the innovative KnightSounds concerts, the Charlotte Symphony announces today an expanded 2011-2012 KnightSounds series.
Inaugurated in October 2010 with a sold-out performance of Holst’s The Planets, KnightSounds has become a key component of the Symphony’s commitment to serve new audiences and enrich Charlotte’s cultural community through fresh, dynamic programming. KnightSounds redefines the orchestral experience, inviting audiences to engage with the music in a multi-sensory way. Concerts are shorter in length; the staging, lighting, and décor are visually arresting; the programs are thematic, multi-cultural, and include other artistic disciplines; and pre and post-concert activities allow for lively social engagement and a learning experience.
“The buzz was all positive, all glowing as we left the hall,” reported Perry Tannenbaum for Classical Voice North Carolina, following the first KnightSounds concert. “What won me over was the whole transformation of the concertgoing experience,” wrote Lawrence Toppman in The Charlotte Observer.
The upcoming KnightSounds series will expand from three to four programs and, in February 2012, will include twoperformances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. As with the series’ debut season, cultural collaborations are at the core of the 2011-2012 season. For the opening concert in October, the Symphony will join with multiple institutions, including the Mint Museum of Art, in a city-wide celebration of artist Romare Bearden’s centennial. March 2012 brings the Charlotte Symphony, Opera Carolina, and the North Carolina Dance Theatre together for a Tchaikovsky Festival. And the final KnightSounds program will feature a specially commissioned digital animation piece by the internationally recognized artist Matthew Weinstein.
All concerts will take place from 7:30-8:30 pm in the Knight Theater at the Levine Center for the Arts, with a pre-concert reception in the Knight Lobby.
Subscriptions are on sale now and are available by calling the Symphony Ticket Office at 704-972-2000 or visiting www.charlottesymphony.org.
Charlotte Symphony 2011-2012 KNIGHTSOUNDS SERIES
KnightSounds 1: Bearden 100 – Celebrating the Man through Music – Friday, October 21, 2011, at 7:30pm
Jacomo Rafael Bairos, conducting. The Charlotte Symphony joins in the community-wide celebration of Romare Bearden’s life and art through a symphonic collage of music by composers such as Duke Ellington and Aaron Copland, paired with Bearden’s images of Harlem, Southern life, and our own Mecklenburg County.
KnightSounds 2: Carmina Burana! – Friday, February 24 & Saturday, February 25, 2012, at 7:30pm
Scott Allen Jarrett, conducting. Songs of love, lust, and drinking will resonate throughout the Knight Theater, as the Charlotte Symphony joins forces with the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte and Charlotte Children’s Choir to present two performances of Carl Orff’s boisterous and sometimes bawdy Carmina Burana.
KnightSounds 3: To Tchaikovsky with Love – Friday, March 23, 2012, at 7:30pm
Christopher Warren-Green, conducting. Christopher Warren-Green unites the Charlotte Symphony with the North Carolina Dance Theatre and Opera Carolina in a unique program that highlights the passionate music of Tchaikovsky and his compelling personal story.
KnightSounds 4: Joie de vivre – A Night in Paris – Friday, May 4, 2012, at 7:30pm
Christopher Warren-Green, conducting. Ooh la, la! The Charlotte Symphony celebrates the Parisian joy of living in a program of sensuous French music. Brilliant digital video animation by New York-based artist Matthew Weinstein will bring Ravel’s alluring Bolero to life on screen.
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