This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
The North Carolina Symphony, led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn, will perform with singer and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh at 8 p.m. Giddens will be joined on three selections by fellow members of her Grammy Award-winning band The Carolina Chocolate Drops.
The program will include Ancient Airs and Dances by Ottorino Respighi, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63, “Three Songs From the Black Broadway Era,” by Will Marion Cook, William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, and three minstrel songs by Thomas F. Briggs and Rhiannon Giddens, adapted with words by Giddens.
Rhiannon Giddens, who attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and studied music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a coloratura soprano, is also a co-founder of the famed string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. With their 2010 Nonesuch debut, “Genuine Negro Jig” – which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album – the Carolina Chocolate Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they had so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound.
In early 2012, the Carolina Chocolate Drops released their studio album “Leaving Eden” (Nonesuch Records) produced by Buddy Miller. The album featured founding members Giddens and Flemons, along with multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins and cellist Leyla McCalla, already a familiar presence at the group’s live shows. With Flemons and McCalla now concentrating on solo work, the group’s 2014 lineup features two more virtuosic players alongside Giddens and Jenkins – cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett – illustrating the expansive, continually exploratory nature of the Chocolate Drops’ music.
While Giddens stays busy making music and performing with the Chocolate Drops, she still finds the time to make solo appearances. Last fall, she joined fellow folk artists for “Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of “Inside Llewyn Davis,”” a one-night-only event at New York City’s Town Hall to celebrate the music featured in the Coen Brothers’ most recent film. Her performances that evening were dazzling, prompting rave reviews from many media outlets. The New York Times called her the “concert’s real head turner,” while Variety named her a “breakout star…hold[ing] the capacity crowd spellbound.”
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 Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15 performances, Dr. Jonathan Kramer of North Carolina State University will give a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. in the Swalin Lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall. North Carolina Symphony musicians will be on hand both nights in the lower lobby at intermission to answer questions in “Ask A Musician.”
Tickets to the Raleigh Classical Series performances on Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, range from $18 to $65. Student tickets in both locations are $10. Concert tickets at both performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time.
Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh. Memorial Hall is located at 114 East Cameron Ave., on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Partners for the 2013/14 Raleigh Classical Series include Clancy & Theys Construction, Duke Medicine, Smith Anderson, and Marriott.
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 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.
Headquartered 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.
March 14-15 Concert/Event Listings:
North Carolina Symphony
Rhiannon Giddens
Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, 8 p.m.
Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh, NC
March 14-15 Program
North Carolina Symphony
Grant Llewellyn, Music Director
Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Carolina Chocolate Drops:
Hubby Jenkins
Malcolm Parson
Rowan Corbett
Ancient Airs and Dances, Set 3
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
I. Italiana
II. Arie di corte
III. Siciliana
IV. Passacaglia
Minstrel Songs
Thomas F. Briggs
(Adapted with words by Rhiannon Giddens)
I. “Cornshucking Jig / Camptown Hornpipe”
II. “Better Git Yer Learnin'”
III. “Julie/Kick Up de Debble On a Holiday”
Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Symphonic Variations on an African Air, Op. 63
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Three Songs From the Black Broadway Era
Will Marion Cook /Arr. Aaron Grad
I. “Rain Song”
II. “Wid de Moon, Moon, Moon”
III. “Swing Along”
Rhiannon Giddens, vocalist
Afro-American Symphony
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
I. Longing (Moderato assai)
II. Sorrow (Adagio)
III. Humor (Animato)
IV. Aspiration (Lento, con risoluzione)
