This preview provided by North Carolina Symphony.

Pre-Concert Fundraising Dinner Benefits Music Education in Moore County

The North Carolina Symphony, led by Grant Llewellyn, will perform some of the most romantic music ever composed in the program “Orchestral Love Stories,” Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, at 8 p.m. in Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines.

Selections include the Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila by Glinka, Psyché and Eros from Psyché by Franck, selections from Bizet’s Carmen, Danse Bacchanale from Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah, Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and the Overture to Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day early, the Moore County Chapter of the North Carolina Symphony will hold a special fundraising dinner before the concert that highlights music education in Moore County at Pinehurst Country Club on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, at 5 p.m. The pre-concert dinner will feature remarks by Maestro Llewellyn. For concert ticket holders, dinner is $50 per person. For non-concert ticket holders, $85 per person includes dinner and a concert ticket. RSVP by Jan. 29, 2016, at (877) 627-6724 or online at ncsymphony.org/pinehurstdinner.

Other concerts in the 2015/16 Southern Pines/Moore County Series include:

  • Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 8 p.m. The concert which features the talents of Symphony musicians Karen Strittmatter Galvin, violin, Elizabeth Phelps, violin, Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, violin, Dovid Friedlander, violin, and Rebekah Binford, violin, will showcase Vivaldi’s masterpiece, plus Musica celestis from Aaron Jay Kernis, and “Seeing is Believing” by Nico Muhly. Grant Llewellyn conducts.
  • Beethoven’s Violin Concerto on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at 8 p.m., is the Season Finale. Led by Grant Llewellyn, the violin concerto will be performed by Noah Bendix-Balgley. The orchestra will also perform “Absolute Jest” by John Adams.

Tickets to the Southern Pines Series performance on Feb. 4, 2016 range from $24 to $48. 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. Tickets are also available at The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., in Southern Pines, the Campbell House, 482 East Connecticut Ave. in Southern Pines, and one hour prior to the concert outside Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines, N.C., 28387.

The Concert Sponsor is St. Joseph of the Pines.

In addition to stellar performances, 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. Before the Feb. 4, 2016, performance, Josiah Stevenson will host a Meet the Artist session at 7 p.m. in the Pinecrest High School Band Room.

About the North Carolina Symphony

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony gives more than 200 performances annually to adults and school children in more than 50 North Carolina counties. An entity of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the orchestra employs 66 professional musicians, under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry, and Associate Conductor David Glover.

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.

Feb. 4, 2016 Concert/Event Listings:

North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, conductor
Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, 8 p.m.
Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School
Southern Pines, N. C.

GLINKA:  Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila

FAURÉ:  Prelude to Pelléas and Mélisande

GLUCK:  Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Orfeo and Euridice

FRANCK: Psyché et Eros from the Suite from Psyché

BIZET: A Short Suite from Carmen
    I.  Prelude to Act 1 (Suite 1)
   II.  Habanera (Suite 2)
  III.  Aragonaise (Suite 1)
  IV.  Danse Bohéme (Suite 2)
   V.  Les Toréadors (Suite 1)

SAINT-SAËNS:  Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah

WAGNER:  Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde

TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture