This preview has been provided by the North Carolina Symphony.
William Henry Curry will lead the North Carolina Symphony in a 2012-2013 classical season orchestra highlight of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique,” along with Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to La forza del destino and Triumphal March and Ballet from Aïda, on Friday, May 3, 2013, at noon, in Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The concert is part of the popular “Friday Favorites” concert series.
Scholar Dr. Richard E. Rodda points out that “Tchaikovsky conducted his B minor Symphony for the first time only a week before his death. It was given a cool reception by musicians and public, and his frustration was multiplied when guests avoided discussing the work at a dinner party.” Following his death, a number of memorial concerts were held, including a successful performance in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Rodda continues, “The ‘Pathétique’ was wafted by the winds of sorrow across the music world and became – and remains – one of the most popular symphonies ever written, the quintessential expression of tragedy in music.”
A pre-concert talk, hosted by Finley Woolston of Public Radio East, will be held in Swalin Lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall at 11 a.m. Tickets to the Friday Favorites series program at noon on May 3 are $25. 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. Concert tickets at all performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time.
Partners for the 2012/13 Friday Favorites Series include Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and SearStone. Statewide partnership and support is provided by Progress Energy.
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932 and subsequently made an entity of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, the North Carolina Symphony employs 65 professional musicians under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn and Resident Conductor William Henry Curry. Every year, this orchestra performs over 175 concerts in more than 50 North Carolina counties, with some 60 of those concerts offered in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area.
The Symphony boasts two spectacular home venues: Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh and Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C. The Symphony also travels 12,000 miles each year to present concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington; individual concerts in communities across the state; and one of the most extensive education programs of any U.S. orchestra. For more information, visit the North Carolina Symphony website at www.ncsymphony.org or call toll free 877.627.6724.
