This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
The North Carolina Symphony, led by Resident Conductor William Henry Curry, and featuring the Triangle Youth Ballet will enchant young audiences with Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014, at 1 p.m. and again at 4 p.m., in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh’s Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.
The Saint-Saëns classic also features pianists Jeremy Thompson and Clara Yang, and narrator Heather Patterson King. The 1 p.m. performance will also offer audio description for patrons who are visually impaired and American Sign Language for those who are hearing impaired, in partnership with Arts Access.
The 2013/14 NCS Kids Young People’s Concerts are perfect for families and children ages 4-12. Each performance also features fun, interactive activities related to the concert’s theme, beginning in Meymandi Concert Hall’s Swalin Lobby one hour before the concert. Activities include a North Carolina Symphony Instrument Zoo that introduces kids of all ages to Symphony instruments, face-painting, crafts from Marbles Kids Museum, plus appearances by Kidsville News mascot Truman and UNC TV Kids Club mascot Read-A-Roo.
Concert tickets are $20, and are available at the door one hour prior to concert start time. For more information on the NCS Kids program, go to www.ncsymphony.org/kids.
The Series sponsor for NCS Kids is WakeMed. This concert is made possible in part by the Drs. James and Mary Susan Fulghum Fund.
Biographies
Founded in 1995 to produce The Nutcracker with talented local dancers, the Triangle Youth Ballet grew steadily each year. In 2003, it established its own school and now looks back with pride over its student’s accomplishments. As a non-profit dance company and school, the Triangle Youth Ballet continues to honor its mission by bringing the art of dance to the community through professional training and performance opportunities.
Jeremy Thompson was born in Dipper Harbour, a small fishing village in New Brunswick, Canada. From there, he has gone on to perform throughout North America and Europe, thrilling audiences with his virtuosity and the emotional and intellectual depth of his playing. In 2005, he earned a Doctorate of Music in piano performance from McGill University, where he held two of Canada’s most prestigious doctoral fellowships. During his studies he performed with such orchestras as the Saint Petersburg State Academic Orchestra, the Saratov Philharmonic Orchestra, the Georgian National Orchestra, and the McGill Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Thompson has performed and given master-classes at various colleges and universities throughout North America, and is in demand as a collaborative pianist.
Praised by Peninsula Reviews for her “superb technique and extraordinary musical understanding,” pianist Clara Yang is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has performed in venues such as the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Remonstrantse Kerk in the Netherlands, the Seymour Centre in Sydney, the Irvine Barclay Theater, the Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater, and the Sunset Center in Carmel, among many others. As a concerto soloist, she has performed with the European Union Youth Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, and the Eastman Philharmonia, among others, collaborating with eminent conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Grant Llewellyn, Jeff Tyzik, and Carl St. Clair. The 2013-2014 season also included a return engagement with the North Carolina Symphony as she performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto.
Heather Patterson King has been performing in regional theaters, concert halls and cabarets for over 20 years. After receiving her BA in Theatre and Music from Franklin College of Indiana and her MFA in Acting from the University of Louisville, she has continued performing throughout the United States as a musical theater, opera and jazz vocalist. She trained with the Indiana University School of Music and University of Louisville School of Music, and has performed in the Indianapolis Opera’s Tosca, Suzanna and Don Giovanni.
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 66 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 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.
