For decades, our community has celebrated the holiday season with the North Carolina Symphony (NCS). This year, the Symphony offers an opportunity for a new holiday tradition, with the concert A Candlelight Christmas on December 23 at 7pm at Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh.
This new holiday program, opening with a candlelight processional, evokes the peaceful spirit of a Christmas Eve service. Led by Associate Conductor David Glover, it will combine traditional hymns with seasonal classical favorites, such as the Corelli “Christmas Concerto” and “Winter” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, featuring Associate Concertmaster Dovid Friedlander as soloist.
One aspect that makes the holiday season so special is the familiar music we hear year after year; for musicians, this also translates to the music they play. “Even after many years performing “Greensleeves,” it still brings a sentimental tear to my eye,” Associate Principal Cello Elizabeth Beilman says of the English folk song that will be heard in its arrangement by Ralph Vaughan Williams on this program. “The piece never fails to evoke the ancient mystery and beauty of the Christmas story.”
For the vocal selections, NCS created a new choral ensemble, the Raleigh Children’s Christmas Chorus, made up of talented students from 28 local elementary schools. The chorus is directed by Jeremy Tucker, conductor of the Raleigh Boychoir.
The following week, for New Year’s Eve, NCS continues its tradition of presenting an evening of waltzes and swing at Meymandi Concert Hall. This creative program featuresthe North Carolina Symphony with North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra—forming the biggest band in the state!
New Year’s Eve in Vienna will be conducted by Associate Conductor David Glover. “I'm really looking forward to our unique version of the Peer Gynt suite, alternating the orchestral originals with the Duke Ellington band arrangements,” says the conductor, who will lead the orchestra—and concertgoers—in ringing in the New Year in style.
North Carolina Symphony
A Candlelight Christmas
Friday, December 23 at 7pm
Meymandi Concert Hall
Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts
PROGRAMTraditional: “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”
Corelli: Concerto Grosso, Op, 6, No. 8 “Christmas Concerto” Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on GreensleevesRutter: Five Meditations for Orchestra Traditional: “The First Noel” Britten: Men of Goodwill, Variations on a Christmas Carol Vivaldi: “Winter” from Four Seasons
PERFORMERSNorth Carolina Symphony
David Glover, conductor
Raleigh Children’s Christmas Chorus (Jeremy Tucker, Director)
Tickets start at $21
Online: ncsymphony.org (TicketMaster fees apply)
By phone: 919.733.2750 ($4 handling fee applies)
In-person:
NCS State Headquarters Offices (3700 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh)
North Carolina Symphony
New Year’s Eve in Vienna
Saturday, December 31 at 8pm
Meymandi Concert Hall
Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts
PROGRAMJohann Strauss, Jr.:Overture toDie FledermausFranz Lehar:Gold and Silver WaltzesEdvard Grieg:“Morning Mood” fromPeer GyntEdvard Grieg/arr. Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn:“Ase’s Death” and “Anitra’s Dance” fromPeer GyntEdvard Grieg:“In the Hall of the Mountain King” fromPeer GyntGeorge Gershwin/arr. Bill Holcombe:Strike Up the BandDuke Ellington/arr. Bill Holcombe:Duke Ellington MedleyGeorge and Ira Gershwin/arr. George Stone:They Can’t Take That Away From MeDuke Ellington/arr. Don Sebesky:C-Jam BluesJohann Strauss, Jr.:On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Waltzes, Op. 314Emerich Kalman:“Potpourri” fromCountess MaritzaBrian Setzer/arr. Bill HolcombeRock This TownJimmy Dorsey/arr. Bill HolcombeContrastsGlenn Miller/arr. Bill HolcombePennsylvania 6-5000Louis Prima/arr. Benny Goodman and Bill Holcombe:Sing, Sing, SingTraditional:Auld Lang Syne
PERFORMERSNorth Carolina Symphony
David Glover, conductor
North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra (James Ketch, Music Director)
Tickets start at $26
Online: ncsymphony.org (TicketMaster fees apply)
By phone: 919.733.2750 ($4 handling fee applies)
In-person:
NCS State Headquarters Offices (3700 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh)
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony is a vital and honored component of North Carolina's cultural life. Its 175 concerts and events annually are greeted with enthusiasm by adults and schoolchildren in more than 90 North Carolina counties—in communities large and small, and in concert halls, auditoriums, gymnasiums, restaurants, clubs, and outdoor settings. The Symphony’s 66 full-time musicians perform under the artistic leadership of Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Associate Conductor David Glover.
NCS’s state headquarters venue is the spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. The Symphony’s service across the state includes series in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, and Wilmington, as well as Summerfest concerts at the outdoor Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. NCS brings some of the world’s greatest artists to North Carolina, including Lang Lang, Stephen Hough, and Augustin Hadelich in the 2016/17 season. Committed to engaging students across North Carolina, NCS conducts the most extensive education program of any U.S. orchestra. In alignment with the music curriculum set by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Symphony provides training and resources for teachers, sends small ensembles into classrooms, and presents full-orchestra Education Concerts experienced by more than 52,000 4th and 5th graders each year. At the middle and high school levels, students have opportunities to work directly with NCS artists and perform for NCS audiences.
NCS is dedicated to giving voice to new art, introducing North Carolina audiences to 20 works by living composers—including two co-commissions—in the past year. In its 83-year history, the Symphony has given 46 U.S. or world premieres. NCS will appear at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in spring 2017, as one of four orchestras chosen for the inaugural year ofSHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras—an honor that recognizes the Symphony’s innovative community partnerships and creative programming that inspires increased interest in new music. The Symphony will present works by composers with ties to North Carolina, including Sarah Kirkland Snider, Caroline Shaw, Mason Bates, andRobert Ward.
The first state-supported symphony in the country, NCS is an entity of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
