This preview is provided by the North Carolina Symphony.

The Moore County Chapter of the North Carolina Symphony will hold a dinner to celebrate music education in Moore County at Pinehurst Country Club on Thursday, March 12, from 5-7 p.m.  The club is located at 1 Carolina Vista Drive in Pinehurst. A concert led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn will follow at 8 p.m. at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines.

The pre-concert event will feature remarks by Llewellyn, plus music by Union Pines High School Orchestra students Kea McKibben and Emma Short.  For concert ticket holders, dinner is $50 per person.  For non-concert ticket holders, $85 per person includes dinner and a concert ticket.  RSVP by March 2 at (877) 627-6724 or online at ncsymphony.org/pinehurstdinner.

The March 12 concert will feature the North Carolina Symphony performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” in Lee Auditorium on the campus of Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines.  The program will also include Bach’s Jesu, meine Freude, and Brahms’ Schicksalslied [Song of Destiny], featuring the North Carolina Master Chorale.

Tickets to the concert range from $24 to $45.  Student tickets are $10.  To purchase tickets, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call the Symphony Box Office at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.  Tickets are also available at The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., in Southern Pines, the Campbell House, 482 East Connecticut Ave. in Southern Pines, and one hour prior to the concert outside Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines, N.C., 28387.

 

March is National “Music in our Schools Month;”

Education Key to North Carolina Symphony Mission

March is national “Music in our Schools” month, and the North Carolina Symphony has a number of activities planned in Moore County. Education Concerts will be performed on Wednesday, March 18 at 10 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. in Lee Auditorium on the campus of Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, led by Associate Conductor David Glover.  The concerts are made possible by funds raised by the Moore County Chapter and grant-in-aid from the State of North Carolina.

This year’s curriculum-based education concert program theme is “What makes music MUSIC?” In the program, the Symphony pulls out the building blocks of music-making to illustrate five key characteristics of symphonic music, including Melody, Rhythm, Dynamics, Tempo, and Texture.  Students are also introduced to each section of the orchestra, and learn how the musicians work together. The repertoire for each Education Concert consists of important composers and their most exciting works to introduce and demonstrate those fundamentals of classical music.

Other Symphony education activities in March in Moore County and nearby counties include PNC Grow up Great-funded North Carolina Symphony Music Discovery programs for preschoolers, Thursday, March 12, at 3 p.m. at Sandhills Children’s Center with Symphony violinist David Kilbride; Saturday, March 14 at 10 a.m. at the Lee County Library in Sanford, and at 3 p.m. at the Southern Pines Public Library with Symphony flutist Mary Boone; and Tuesday, March 17, at 10:30 a.m. at Aberdeen Primary School, with the Symphony String Quartet. Two Ensembles in the Schools performances by the Symphony String Quartet will take place on March 17, at 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. at Aberdeen Elementary School, made possible by the Moore County Community Foundation.

Symphony Vice President & General Manager Martin Sher will speak at Sandhills Community College on Wednesday, March 18, and Principal Orchestra Librarian Deborah Nelson will speak on Wednesday, March 25, as part of the college’s North Carolina Symphony Lecture Series.

Sher will speak on how a concert season is built, including details about guest artist booking, programming philosophy, and the “quest for the perfect concert.” Nelson will discuss the work of the Symphony’s music acquisition, preparation and maintenance, archival record keeping, and research carried out by the orchestra librarian.  Both lectures will take place from 2-3:30 p.m. in 109 Van Dusen Hall on the campus of Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst.  While free, registration is required.

About the North Carolina Symphony

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony gives more than 200 performances annually to adults and school children in more than 50 North Carolina counties. An entity of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the orchestra employs 66 professional musicians, under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry, and Associate Conductor David Glover.  Partners for the 2014/15 Southern Pines/Moore County series include First Bank, St. Joseph of the Pines, and BB&T Wealth.

Headquartered in downtown Raleigh’s spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts and an outdoor summer venue at Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C., the Symphony performs about 60 concerts annually in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary metropolitan area. It holds regular concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington — as well as individual concerts in many other North Carolina communities throughout the year — and conducts one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra.