This preview provided by North Carolina Symphony.

The North Carolina Symphony, led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn, will open its 2015/16 Southern Pines/Moore County season with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, performed by Andrew Tyson on Friday, Oct. 2, at 8 p.m. in Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines. The Symphony has a seven concert series in 2015-16 in Southern Pines/Moore County. The concert program also includes Festive Overture by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

Hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” American Andrew Tyson is consistently recognized for his commanding performances, replete with imaginative interpretations and exceptional artistry.  Recipient of a highly coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, Mr. Tyson won Fifth Prize and was awarded the Terence Judd – Hallé Orchestra prize at the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition. From this honor arose an extensive partnership not only with the Hallé Orchestra, with which he has performed numerous times to critical acclaim, but also with the Hallé Soloists, with whom he has appeared in chamber music concerts throughout the UK.

After early studies at the University of North Carolina, Mr. Tyson attended the Curtis Institute of Music, where he worked with Claude Frank.  He later earned his Master’s degree and Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School with Robert McDonald, where he won the Gina Bachauer Piano Competition and received the Arthur Rubinstein Prize in Piano. 

Other concerts in the 2015/16 Southern Pines/Moore County Series include:

  • “Favorite Light Classics” on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m., with Associate Conductor David Glover. Thrill to your favorite light classical music, including Rossini’s Overture to William Tell, Humperdinck’s Prelude to Hänsel and Gretel, Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and highlights from John Williams’ Jurassic Park.
  • “A Baroque Christmas” on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m., with Conductor Paul Agnew. The holiday season will be uplifted by the beautiful music of Handel and Bach. Enjoy the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 and much more.  This North Carolina Symphony concert features the North Carolina Master Chorale, plus Symphony musicians Elizabeth Phelps, violin, Mary E. Boone, flute, Anne Whaley Laney, flute, and Dovid Friedlander, violin.
  • “Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, at 7:30 p.m., with Conductor Marcelo Lehninger. Inon Barnatan performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor.” The concert also features the orchestra performing Brahms’ Tragic Overture, and “Suspend,” by Andrew Norman.
  • “Orchestral Love Stories” on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, at 8 p.m., with Music Director Grant Llewellyn. Classic love stories through the ages, with selections from Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Samson and Delilah and Tristan and Isolde, plus much more.
  • Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on& Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 8 p.m. The concert, which features the talents of Symphony musicians Karen Strittmatter Galvin, violin, Elizabeth Phelps, violin, Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, violin, Dovid Friedlander, violin, and Rebekah Binford, violin, will showcase Vivaldi’s masterpiece, plus Musica celestis from Aaron Jay Kernis, and “Seeing is Believing” by Nico Muhly. Grant Llewellyn conducts.
  • Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at 8 p.m., is the Season Finale. Led by Grant Llewellyn, the violin concerto will be performed by Noah Bendix-Balgley. The orchestra will also perform “Absolute Jest” by John Adams.

Tickets to the Southern Pines Series performance on& Oct. 2 range from $24 to $48. 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.

In addition to stellar performances, North Carolina Symphony concertgoers can enjoy pre-concert talks, post-concert discussions, and“Meet the Artists,” which feature interactive conversations with guest artists and select orchestra members, at many Symphony events. Before the Oct. 2 performance, Josiah Stevenson will host a Meet the Artist session at 7 p.m. in the Pinecrest High School Band Room.

The partner for the 2015/16 Southern Pines/Moore County series is St. Joseph of the Pines.

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.

Based 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.

Concert/Event Listings:

North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, conductor
Andrew Tyson, piano
Oct. 2, 2015 8 p.m.
Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, Southern Pines, NC

Program Listing:

North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, conductor
Andrew Tyson, piano

SHOSTAKOVICH Festive Overture, Op. 96

RACHMANINOFF Concerto No. 3 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 30
  Allegro ma non tanto
  Intermezzo
  Finale
    Andrew Tyson, piano

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique”
  Adagio – Allegro non troppo
  Allegro con grazia
  Allegro molto vivace
  Finale:  Adagio lamentoso