This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
Grant Llewellyn will lead the North Carolina Symphony in a 2012-2013 Raleigh Classical Series season orchestra highlight of Edward Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, “Enigma,” Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, featuring pianist Ingrid Fliter, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner.” The performances take place on Friday and Saturday, March 15 and 16, at 8 p.m. in Meymandi Concert Hall in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.
Mendelssohn wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1 at the age of 20, unveiling the piece on October 17, 1830 to enthusiastic audiences. Scholar Dr. Richard Rodda says that the concerto “became grouped with the Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture as Mendelssohn’s most celebrated successes during his lifetime.” Pianist Ingrid Fliter, who will perform the concerto with the North Carolina Symphony, has won the admiration and hearts of audiences around the world for her passionate yet thoughtful and sensitive music making played with an effortless technique.
Dr. Rodda points out that “throughout his life, Edward Elgar had a penchant for dispensing startling or mystifying remarks just to see what response they would elicit… Turning that trait upon his music, he added the sobriquet ‘Enigma’ above the theme of this splendid set of orchestral variations.”
Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner,” was named after the patron of the composition, Salzburg, Austria, mayor Siegmund Haffner, who commissioned the work to mark his elevation to the nobility.
Tickets to the Raleigh Classical Series performance on March 15-16 range from $18 to $64. 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.
In addition to stellar performances, North Carolina Symphony concertgoers can enjoy pre-concert talks and “Meet the Artists,” which feature interactive conversations with guest artists and select orchestra members, at many Symphony events. For the Raleigh performances on March 15-16, Randolph Foy of N.C. State University will give pre-concert talks at 7 p.m. in Swalin Lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall. There will be “Ask A Musician” opportunities in front of the stage at intermission.
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.
This concert is made possible in part by The Charles E. Potts/Fanny R. Potts Guest Pianist Fund.
Statewide partnership and support is 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 65 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 Duke 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. For more information, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call toll free 877.627.6724.
Statewide partnership and support is provided by Progress Energy.
Concert/Event Listings:
North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn conducting
Ingrid Fliter, piano
March 15-16, 2013 8pm
Meymandi Concert Hall, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh
Program Listing:
Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K.385, “Haffner.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
- Allegro con spirit
- Andante
- Menuetto
- Presto
Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Ingrid Fliter, piano
- Molto Allegro con fuoco
- Andante
- Presto – Molto Allegro e vivace
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, “Enigma”
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Enigma: Andante
Variation I (C.A.E.): L’istesso tempo
Variation II (H.D. S.-P.): Allegro
Variation III (R.B.T.): Allegretto
Variation IV (W.M.B.): Allegro di molto
Variation V (R.P.A.): Moderato
Variation VI (Ysobel): Andantino
Variation VII (Troyte): Presto
Variation VIII (W.N.): Allegretto
Variation IX (Nimrod): Adagio
Variation X (Dorabella): Intermezzo: Allegretto
Variation XI (G.R.S.): Allegro di molto
Variation XII (B.G.N.): Andante
Variation XIII (* * *): Romanza: Moderato
Variation XIV (E.D.U.): Finale: Allegro
