Contact:  Meg Whalen, Director of Public Relations
E: megw@charlottesymphony.org
P: 704-714-5114
W: www.charlottesymphony.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                       March 25, 2011

Charlotte Symphony Announces 2011-2012 KnightSounds Series

Building on the highly successful first season of the innovative KnightSounds concerts, the Charlotte Symphony announces today an expanded 2011-2012 KnightSounds series.

Inaugurated in October 2010 with a sold-out performance of Holst’s The Planets, KnightSounds has become a key component of the Symphony’s commitment to serve new audiences and enrich Charlotte’s cultural community through fresh, dynamic programming. KnightSounds redefines the orchestral experience, inviting audiences to engage with the music in a multi-sensory way. Concerts are shorter in length; the staging, lighting, and décor are visually arresting; the programs are thematic, multi-cultural, and include other artistic disciplines; and pre and post-concert activities allow for lively social engagement and a learning experience.

“The buzz was all positive, all glowing as we left the hall,” reported Perry Tannenbaum for Classical Voice North Carolina, following the first KnightSounds concert. “What won me over was the whole transformation of the concertgoing experience,” wrote Lawrence Toppman in The Charlotte Observer.

The upcoming KnightSounds series will expand from three to four programs and, in February 2012, will include two performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. As with the series’ debut season, cultural collaborations are at the core of the 2011-2012 season. For the opening concert in October, the Symphony will join with multiple institutions, including the Mint Museum of Art, in a city-wide celebration of artist Romare Bearden’s centennial. March 2012 brings the Charlotte Symphony, Opera Carolina, and the North Carolina Dance Theatre together for a Tchaikovsky Festival. And the final KnightSounds program will feature a specially commissioned digital animation piece by the internationally recognized artist Matthew Weinstein.

All concerts will take place from 7:30-8:30 pm in the Knight Theater at the Levine Center for the Arts, with a pre-concert reception in the Knight Lobby.
 
Subscriptions are on sale now and are available by calling the Symphony Ticket Office at 704-972-2000 or visiting www.charlottesymphony.org.

Charlotte Symphony 2011-2012 KNIGHTSOUNDS SERIES

KnightSounds 1
Bearden 100—Celebrating the Man through Music
Friday, October 21, 2011
7:30pm
Jacomo Rafael Bairos, conducting
The Charlotte Symphony joins in the community-wide celebration of Romare Bearden’s life and art through a symphonic collage of music by composers such as Duke Ellington and Aaron Copland, paired with Bearden’s images of Harlem, Southern life, and our own Mecklenburg County.

KnightSounds 2
Carmina Burana!
Friday, February 24 & Saturday, February 25, 2012
7:30pm
Scott Allen Jarrett, conducting
Songs of love, lust, and drinking will resonate throughout the Knight Theater, as the Charlotte Symphony joins forces with the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte and Charlotte Children’s Choir to present two performances of Carl Orff’s boisterous and sometimes bawdy Carmina Burana.

KnightSounds 3
To Tchaikovsky with Love
Friday, March 23, 2012
7:30pm
Christopher Warren-Green, conducting
Christopher Warren-Green unites the Charlotte Symphony with the North Carolina Dance Theatre and Opera Carolina in a unique program that highlights the passionate music of Tchaikovsky and his compelling personal story.

KnightSounds 4
Joie de vivre—A Night in Paris
Friday, May 4, 2012
7:30pm
Christopher Warren-Green, conducting
Ooh la, la! The Charlotte Symphony celebrates the Parisian joy of living in a program of sensuous French music. Brilliant digital video animation by New York-based artist Matthew Weinstein will bring Ravel’s alluring Bolero to life on screen.