Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra Hosts Reunion, Partners
with CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project Concert features “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by former CSYO musician Ted Gellar-Goad
Hidden Freedom Festival Saturday, May 15 Noon to 4 p.m. – Family Fun 4 to 5:30 p.m. – Toward a Life of Liberty: Chronicling the Paths from Slavery to Freedom St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 3200 Park Rd. FREE
CSYO Spring Reunion Concert Sunday, May 16 @ 3:30 p.m. Halton Theater, CPCC, 1206 Elizabeth Ave. $8 adults; $6 students and seniors 704-972-2000
The Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra (CSYO) hosts its first-ever reunion on May 15 and 16. At the center of the festivities is the performance on May 16 of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by former CSYO musician Ted Gellar-Goad. Based on the famous slave narrative written in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs of Edenton, N.C., the work is scored for narrator and orchestra. Former CSYO violinist Jessica McJunkins will narrate.
In partnership with the CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project, the CSYO will present Toward a Life of Liberty: Chronicling the Paths from Slavery to Freedom, a free community event on Saturday, May 15 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. The event begins on the church grounds at noon with the “Hidden Freedom Festival.” The festival, featuring face painting, storytelling, games, music, and The Symphony Guild of Charlotte Musical Petting Zoo, is followed at 4 p.m. by a program exploring the stories and struggles of freedom fighters such as Harriet Jacobs. Students of the CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project will be joined by composer Ted Gellar-Goad and professors Dr. Jeffrey Leak and Dr. Janaka Bowman Lewis of the UNC Charlotte Department of English.
The CSYO Spring Reunion Concert will take place on Sunday, May 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the Halton Theater, Central Piedmont Community College. In addition to Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the program includes performances by the Junior Division Grand Prize Winners of the Young Artists Competition, Juni Halston Lim and Maura Shawn Scanlin, and a rousing side-by-side performance of Saint-Saens’s Danse Bacchanale by current and former CSYO musicians.
About the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras: The Charlotte Symphony is dedicated to nurturing talent in young musicians.
Led by Charlotte Symphony violinist Dr. Ernest Pereira, the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and Junior Youth Orchestra provide nearly 200 young musicians in the Charlotte region with superior music instruction and orchestral experience. Serving students from fourth through twelfth grades, the two youth orchestras rehearse weekly and receive intensive coaching from Charlotte Symphony musicians. They perform throughout the season. For more information, please visit www.csyo.net.
About CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project:
Each school year the CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project brings together a diverse group of 45 7th-10th graders to enhance their leadership skills, build a strong team, and learn how they can use the stories of the past to shape a vision for the future. The 2009-2010 CONNECTIONS Underground Railroad Project Teen Leaders represent 19 public, five private, and two charter middle and high schools in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Catawba, and Gaston counties.
About Ted Gellar-Goad:
Ted Gellar-Goad is a Ph.D. candidate in Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He grew up in Charlotte and spent two years with the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra on violin and horn before graduating from Northwest School of the Arts in 2000. Ted's compositions have been performed by musicians at UNC, NCSU, Northwest School of the Arts, Winthrop University, Florida State University, the Tanglewood Music Festival, and by the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra. His works range from computer music compositions to indeterminacy-driven performance art with new sound sources to traditional chamber and ensemble works. He has a particular interest in exploring the interactions of music with the spoken word, especially in compositions for narrator and musicians. For more information, please visit www.tedgellar.com.
Founded in 1932, the Charlotte Symphonyaspires to serve the whole community through Classical music that educates, entertains and enriches the human spirit.Read more.
