This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
Music Director Grant Llewellyn will lead the North Carolina Symphony in the finale of the orchestra’s 80th Anniversary Season as he conducts Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring, along with Stravinsky’s Fireworks, Op. 4, and works by Claude Debussy and Franz Joseph Haydn, in performances in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, May 16-18, 2013.
The concerts will take place on Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m., at Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Friday and Saturday, May 17-18 at 8 p.m. in downtown Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The program will also feature Claude Debussy’s “Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun” and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, “Le Soir.”
The Rite of Spring premiered on May 29, 1913. Even after a century, Igor Stravinsky’s ground-breaking music still resonates, thrills and inspires. In addition to the Raleigh and Chapel Hill concerts, the Symphony will examine the centennial of the work through special events such as a Soundbites concert and dinner at Humble Pie in Raleigh on Monday, May 13, at 6 p.m., a free talk by Music Director Grant Llewellyn on Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, as well as pre-concert talks and panel discussions. The Rite of Spring Centennial is part of the Symphony’s Explorations initiative, which examines how music, art, and literature can provide a tool for examining culture more deeply. For a complete listing of events, go to www.ncsymphony.org/riteofspring.
In addition to stellar performances of The Rite of Spring, 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. For the Chapel Hill performance on May 16, Dr. Letitia Glozer of UNC will host a pre-concert talk in Gerrard Hall at 7 p.m. A post-concert Q&A panel will feature Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Principal Bassoon John Pederson. For the Raleigh performances, Dr. J. Mark Scearce of N.C. State University will lead a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. in Swalin Lobby on Friday, May 17. There will be a “Meet the Artists” opportunity in Swalin Lobby, hosted by Catherine Brand of WUNC-FM at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 18 featuring Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Principal Bassoon John Pederson. A Q&A panel featuring Llewellyn, Pederson, and Scearce will take place following the Friday, May 17 concert, and Llewellyn and Pederson will lead a Q&A panel following the Saturday, May 18 concert. There will be “Ask A Musician” opportunities in the lobbies at intermission both evenings in Raleigh.
Tickets to the Chapel Hill Classical Series performance on Thursday, May 16, range from $18 to $60. Tickets to the Raleigh Classical Series performances on Friday and Saturday, May 17-18, range from $18 to $70. Student tickets are $15. Concert tickets at all performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time.
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.
Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Memorial Hall is located at 114 East Cameron Ave., on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Partners for the 2012/13 Chapel Hill Series include Carol Woods Retirement Community, Harrington Bank, and The Businesses of Market Street, Southern Village.
Partners for the 2012/13 Raleigh Classical Series include Clancy & Theys Construction; Duke Medicine; Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan, LLP; The Freelon Group; and Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC.
Statewide partnership and support provided by Progress Energy.
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932 and subsequently made an entity of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the North Carolina Symphony employs 67 professional musicians under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn and Resident Conductor William Henry Curry. Every year, this orchestra performs over 175 concerts in more than 50 North Carolina counties, with some 60 of those concerts offered in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area.
The Symphony boasts two spectacular home venues: Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh and Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C. The Symphony also travels 12,000 miles each year to present concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington; individual concerts in communities across the state; and one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra.
Program Listing:
North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Symphony No. 8 in G Major, “Le Soir”
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
- Allegro molto
- Andante
- Menuetto
- “La Tempesta”: Presto
Fireworks, Op. 4
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
The Rite of Spring
Igor Stravinsky
Part One: The Adoration of the Earth
Introduction – Dance of the Young Girls – Mock Abduction – Round Dance – Games of the
Rival Clans – Procession of the Wise Elder – Adoration of the Earth – Dance of the Earth
Part Two: The Sacrifice
Introduction – Mystical Circles of the Young Girls – Glorification of the Chosen Victim – The
Summoning of the Ancients – Ritual of the Ancients – Sacrificial Dance
