This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.

The North Carolina Symphony continues an annual tradition this Dec. 31 with a year-ending concert spectacle to usher in the New Year with style. In addition to unforgettable melodies from Vienna that are so perfect for New Year’s Eve, this year’s concert, “Vienna With a Twist,” also features legendary jazzman Jeff Tyzik leading the orchestra, along with famed drummer Dave Mancini, in big band classics by Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and more.

The concert takes place at Meymandi Concert Hall, in downtown Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, on Monday, Dec. 31 at 8:00 p.m.

For well over a century, the dance music of the Strausses, first family of the waltz, has serenaded classical music lovers into every new calendar year. The Vienna Philharmonic concerts on New Year’s Day have maintained the time-honored tradition since the 1870s, to worldwide audiences of millions.

Local music lovers can enjoy the live version on New Year’s Eve—and make it home in time for the fireworks—when the Symphony offers a program of music honoring the best of Vienna. The orchestra will perform classic waltzes and polkas by members of the Strauss family, alongside favorite selections by Bedřich Smetana, and more.

The evening begins with the Orchestra playing Tyzik’s arrangements of some of the most beloved big band songs found in the American songbag.  Selections include “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Satin Doll,” “One O’Clock Jump” “A String of Pearls,” “St. Louis Blues,” and “The Drummer’s Medley,” featuring drummer Dave Mancini.

Grammy Award-winner Jeff Tyzik is recognized as one of America’s most innovative pops conductors. Described by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle as “among the best pops conductors in America,” Tyzik is known for his brilliant arrangements, original programming, and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. Now in his 19th season as Principal Pops Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Tyzik also currently serves as Principal Pops Conductor of the Oregon Symphony and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Earlier in 2012 he became the Principal Pops Conductor of the Florida Orchestra.

Mancini has most recently toured and performed as the drummer for the legendary trumpet player and former Tonight Show bandleader, Doc Severinsen. He has also toured with jazz artists Maynard Ferguson and Chuck Mangione.  He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he was also awarded the Performer’s Certificate. As an artist/clinician, he makes numerous appearances each year at colleges, high schools, and junior high schools around the country where he performs as a guest soloist and presents hands-on workshops and master classes for the students. He is also the author of Drum Set Fundamentals, which is published by William Allen Music and available through Sons of Sound.

Tickets to “New Year’s With a Twist” range from $40 to $60, with $40 tickets for seniors.

For tickets, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call the North Carolina Symphony Box Office at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.

About the North Carolina Symphony

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony performs over 175 concerts 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 65 professional musicians, under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, and Resident Conductor William Henry Curry.

Based in downtown Raleigh’s spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress 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.