This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
North Carolina Symphony audiences are typically more likely to find Music Director Grant Llewellyn conducting a classical concert than a pops show — but Llewellyn will take the podium with NCS in all five performances of Toe-Tapping Pops between Wednesday, October 11 and Saturday, October 14. For the Symphony’s first pops concert of the season, Llewellyn has curated a program of catchy, time-honored hits, reminiscent of his time leading the famous Boston Pops and inspired by that ensemble’s longtime conductor, Arthur Fiedler. The concerts will be performed in New Bern, Southern Pines, and Raleigh.
Llewellyn served as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra toward the beginning of his career, in the early 1990s. In that position, he frequently conducted the Boston Pops, whose programs follow a well-established format developed by Fiedler: progressing from popular classical repertoire to Broadway show-tunes.
That format will be echoed at Toe-Tapping Pops, which begins with works such as Shostakovich‘s rousing Festive Overture, tuneful Mozart arias, Bizet‘s Carmen Suite, and the infamous “Can-Can” (Overture from Offenbach‘s Orpheus in the Underworld); and ends with a medley of songs from Rodger and Hammerstein‘s Broadway musicals South Pacific, The King and I, and Oklahoma!. Symphony favorite Scott MacLeod, baritone, will sing the Mozart arias and several of the Broadway selections.
Largely taken from the worlds of dance, opera, and musical theater, all of the works on the program will be familiar to audience members—music buffs or not. Llewellyn has chosen music that crossed over and reached iconic status in pop culture, whether through television commercials (such as the Gade’s Jalousie, which has been used to sell everything from chocolate to razors) or cartoons (such as the Looney Tunes spoof of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville).
As a veritable “greatest hits” playlist of timeless, upbeat music from classical and Broadway, Toe-Tapping Pops is a perfect opportunity for newcomers to “dip their toes” into the Symphony experience. And, for Symphony veterans, this evening of pure entertainment is sure to have broad appeal — for classical aficionados like Llewellyn and for pops-goers alike.
The North Carolina Symphony gratefully acknowledges October 11 Concert Sponsor CarolinaEast Health System.
North Carolina Symphony
Toe-Tapping Pops
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Riverfront Convention Center (New Bern)
Thursday, October 12, 2017 at 8:00 pm
Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School (Southern Pines)
Friday, October 13, 2017 at 12:00 pm* and 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 8:00 pm
Meymandi Concert Hall, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts (Raleigh)
*The noon concert is a one-hour, abbreviated performance as part of the “Friday Favorites” series
PROGRAM
Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Aram Khachaturian: Three Dances from Gayane
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Non più andrai” from The Marriage of Figaro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” from The Magic Flute
Jacob Gade: Jalousie
Georges Bizet: Suite from Carmen
Gerónimo Giménez: La boda de Luis Alonso
Gioachino Rossini: Overture to The Barber of Seville
Jacques Offenbach/Carl Binder: “Can-Can” from Orpheus in the Underworld
Hector Berlioz: “Hungarian March”
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II/arr. Robert Russell Bennett:
“Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific*
“March of the Siamese Children” from The King and I
“Surrey With the Fringe on Top” from Oklahoma!*
“Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma!*
Pops Hoedown
PERFORMERS
North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, conductor
Scott MacLeod, baritone
TICKETS
Online: ncsymphony.org
By phone: 919.733.2750
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is a vital and honored component of North Carolina’s cultural life. Its 180 concerts and 120 community engagement events annually are greeted with enthusiasm by adults and schoolchildren in more than 90 North Carolina counties — in communities large and small, and in concert halls, auditoriums, gymnasiums, restaurants, clubs, and outdoor settings. The Symphony’s full-time professional musicians perform under the artistic leadership of Music Director Grant Llewellyn.
MCS’s state headquarters venue is the spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. The Symphony’s service across the state includes series in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, and Wilmington, as well as the Summerfest series at its summer home, the outdoor Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. NCS brings some of the world’s greatest talents to North Carolina and embraces home-state artists from classical musicians to bluegrass bands, creating live music experiences distinctive to North Carolina.
Committed to engaging students of all ages across North Carolina, NCS leads the most extensive education program of any symphony orchestra — serving nearly 70,000 students each year. In alignment with the curriculum set by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Symphony provides training and resources for teachers, sends small ensembles into classrooms, and presents full-orchestra Education Concerts that bring the fundamentals of music to life. Music Discovery for preschoolers combines music with storytelling, and at the middle and high school levels, students have opportunities to work directly with NCS artists and perform for NCS audiences.
NCS is dedicated to giving voice to new art, and has presented 47 U.S. or world premieres in its history. In March 2017, NCS appeared at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as one of four orchestras chosen for the inaugural year of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras — an honor that recognized the Symphony’s creative programming and innovative community partnerships.
The first state-supported symphony in the country, NCS performs under the auspices of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. To learn more, visit ncsymphony.org.
