Dear Friends of the Charlotte Symphony,

Happy New Year and welcome to Encore! the Symphony newsletter.

At the start of 2010, the Symphony has good news to report. Our first concerts of the new year were a huge success, with both concert weekends exceeding our projected ticket sales goals.  Click here to read a review of the January 8 performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which featured the Symphony’s own concertmaster, Calin Lupanu.

As 2009 came to a close, the Symphony matched a $500,000 challenge grant offered this summer by Sandra and Leon Levine and completed its drive to raise $1.77 million in special “bridge” funding required to balance our budget for this fiscal year. This “bridge fund” is being raised to help maintain balanced budgets over the next five years as the Symphony continues its work to improve its annual operating revenue and build a larger endowment fund. Thank you to all the many donors who have contributed to this fund.

This month, the Symphony welcomes new additions to the orchestra, the Board, and the staff. Read in Encore! about our new family members, as well as some interesting insights from musicians who have traveled from across the globe to make the Charlotte Symphony their home. Our CSO musicians have played an integral role in rebuilding our financial stability by, in effect, donating nearly $750,000 this year alone back to the CSO in the form of salary reductions as part of their new four-year employment contract. Thank you to all of our musicians – they are the heart and soul of the CSO and are dedicated partners in our rebuilding efforts.

Christopher Warren-Green, the CSO’s Music Director Designate, returns to Charlotte next month to conduct the orchestra in Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 on February 12 & 13. Read here about his love for this work, and get a sneak preview of his debut season!

The Symphony is dedicated to music education, and we are delighted to announce the addition of two education concerts to our Spring calendar. Read about our music and literacy programs for elementary students and the upcoming Youth Festival, sponsored by The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, Inc.. You won’t want to miss this exciting concert on February 24, featuring the Charlotte Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras, and senior winners of The Guild’s Young Artists Competition.

For more than five decades, The Symphony Guild has supported youth music education activities, raising money in part through its Designer House. This spring, see the work of 19 designers at the Metropolitan MetTerraces. I took a tour this week of the properties, and I can tell you first-hand that this will be one of the most exciting, captivating experiences you will have in the many years of successful Designer House projects. Don’t miss it!

In the past six months, the community has confirmed its commitment to the Symphony’s future. As we enter the new year, the Symphony pledges to serve the Charlotte region with renewed dedication. We thank you for being a part of that promise.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Martin
Executive Director

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US Airways Becomes Official Airline of the Charlotte Symphony

The Charlotte Symphony is pleased to announce that US Airways has become the Official Airline of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra for the 2009-2010 season. The US Airways sponsorship will provide support for the travel expenses of guest artists and conductors throughout the season.

US Airways has served as a corporate sponsor of the orchestra since 1997. This year marks the company’s first as the Official Airline. “We greatly appreciate the longstanding commitment of US Airways to the Charlotte Symphony,” said Executive Director Jonathan Martin. “As the Symphony strengthens its operations, rebuilding to better serve the Charlotte region, we are so grateful for US Airways’ growing investment in the Symphony’s future.”

US Airways invests in community organizations and initiatives to enhance the quality of life in the airline’s hub and focus cities. US Airways serves as the Official Airline of the symphony orchestras in its three primary hubs – the Phoenix Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Charlotte Symphony.

“Charlotte’s cultural vibrancy is a key factor in its ability to attract and retain residents and businesses,” said Julie Coleman, US Airways Director, Community Relations. “Supporting the Charlotte Symphony is more than just giving to an orchestra; it is a smart business decision in helping to create a thriving economic future and enhancing the quality of life in our community.”

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Welcome to these New Members of the Charlotte Symphony Family!

	Cissy Shull is the newest member of the Charlotte Symphony Board of Directors. Reared in New Jersey, she came to Charlotte in 1965 as the organist at St. John's Episcopal Church. She later became the assistant organist at Myers Park United Methodist Church, where she also co-directed the children’s choir for 15 years. She was a founding member of the former Charlotte Symphony Pops Board. A gardener, Cissy started an inner city community gardening program – the non-profit Charlotte Green of Mecklenburg County, Inc – in 1991. She and her husband Rush have two children and three grandchildren.
	Joy Payton-Stevens joined the CSO cello section this month in a permanent, full-time position won through a national audition. She comes to the Charlotte Symphony from Miami, where she served as a cellist with the New World Symphony. Growing up in Cleveland, Joy played in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and later attended the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy High School in Michigan. She holds a BM in cello performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she taught free lessons for underprivileged children in the Los Angeles area through the Harmony Project. When not with her cello, she enjoys playing sports, cooking, reading, and sleeping.
	Stephanie Stenglein began work on January 11 in the restructured position of Annual Campaign and Patron Information Manager. Coming to the Charlotte Symphony from Queens University of Charlotte, where she served as Director of Annual Giving, Stephanie holds a BA in Public Relations from the University of Georgia and a Master of Public Administration from UNC Charlotte. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Keep Charlotte Beautiful, a city council committee, and volunteers at the Humane Society of Charlotte.
	Tanya Davis joins the CSO staff on January 25 as Director of Artistic Planning. She comes to the Charlotte Symphony from the Nashville Symphony, where she has worked in a variety of capacities since 2006, most recently as Manger of Artistic Administration. A native of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, Tanya received a Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in the music industry from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. She enjoys playing flute and piano in her spare time, as well as traveling and reading. Back

International Musicians Make Charlotte Symphony Home

In the Orchestra on Campus 2009 project, the Charlotte Symphony collaborated with Levine Museum of the New South in a series of programs related to the Levine’s current exhibit, Changing Places: From Black and White to Technicolor. That exhibit looks at the impact that newcomers to the Charlotte region are having on our society, explores the challenges that newcomers face, and celebrates their contributions to our culture.

	SACHA BARLOW, violist Where are you from? London, England. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? I have lived here 3 years.   <<More>>
	MONICA BOBOC, violinist Where are you from? Romania. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? Six years. <<More>>
	TOM BURGE, trombonist Where are you from? Sydney, Australia. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? 4 years. <<More>>
	TATIANA KARPOVA, violinist Where are you from? Ekaterinburg, Russia (where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed after the Bolshevik Revolution). How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? <<More>>
	ELINA LEV, violinist Where are you from? St. Petersburg, Russia. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area?  Since August 2009.  <<More>>
	CALIN LUPANU, concertmaster Where are you from? I am from Romania. Born in Timisoara, west of the country in the region called Banat, less than one hour from Béla Bartok's birthplace. I grew up in Bucharest from six years old.  How long have you lived in the Charlotte area?   <<More>>
	ERNEST PEREIRA, violinist Where are you from? Pretoria, South Africa. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area?  24 years  <More>>
	WOLFGANG ROTH, violinist Where are you from? Immenstadt Germany, at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area?  Since 1971.  <More>>
	LEONARDO SOTO, timpanist Where are you from? Santiago de Chile How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? Since August 2009<More>>
	VIARA STEFANOVA, violist Where are you from? I am from Sofia,Bulgaria How long have you lived in the Charlotte area? Lived in Charlotte for two and half years.  <More>>
	NING ZHAO, violist Where are you from? I was born in Guangzhou, China. I lived and studied in Cleveland and Kent, Ohio for eight years. How long have you lived in the Charlotte area?  Since 1995.   <More>> Back

A Conversation with Christopher Warren-Green

Your concert here in February features Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. What is your personal history with that piece, as a conductor and/or violinist?
I’ve always, always adored Rachmaninoff, especially that symphony. I played it as concertmaster in the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Evgeny Svetlanov. What I learned from him about how to conduct it was very useful. And I’ve since conducted it myself several times. It’s such a wonderful, monumental work and it needs a virtuoso orchestra. It’s a long symphony, but if it’s interpreted properly, it doesn’t seem a whit too long. People so often associate Rachmaninoff with the Second Piano Concerto. They don’t realize that he wrote operas, symphonies. He is really one of the great composers across the board.

I know that the repertoire for next season is still under wraps, but could you tell us a little about what you have planned? A few highlights?
There are many themes to the concerts. The first one will be British, where I’m coming from, and the second will be America, where I’m coming to. I knew there were many Scottish descendants in Charlotte, so I’ve planned a surprise concert around Robbie Burns night. Having Pianist Stephen Hough come is very exciting. He will play the Grieg Piano Concerto on a sort of Scandinavian night. What I’ve tried to do is give something to everyone across the board.

You have spoken of your desire to lift up the performing arts in Charlotte as a whole – not just the Symphony, but also N.C. Dance Theatre and Opera Carolina. Could you elaborate a little on that idea?
If the three directors of those institutions can work together, we can all raise the artistic profile in Charlotte. That’s much more along the European lines. Having met with Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, we were both very excited about the ways we could work together – particularly at the Knight Theater. We can go crazy with ideas – things we can do that take us beyond the standard concert programs. There are such wonderful composers who wrote for the ballet. It would be wonderful to invite ballet into the concert experience. And hopefully, North Carolina Dance Theatre won’t have to play with tapes so much.

What is your foremost goal in your first year as Music Director? What do you wish to accomplish first?
Working like crazy to maintain and improve the standards musically. But in order to do that, we have to raise more money. We need more strings; we need to restore the musicians’ performing weeks to where they were. I’m going to fight like a tiger to make sure that every concert is scintillating and exciting so that people will want to come back and bring someone with them.

How are your plans coming for the move here? When do you expect to settle in Charlotte?
They are coming along. We’re hoping that we’re going to be able to buy the house that we like. I think in February we will make a decision on it. I was hoping to be there by June, but it looks like it might be the latter part of July. I’ve got tremendous commitments in Europe in the summer. It’s pretty busy, and I really want to find a time when I can move in with my family. I don’t want my family to move in alone.

Since your appointment as Music Director, you have traveled to Charlotte several times. What has pleased or excited you the most in these visits?

Everything about Charlotte! I’m very sort of mystical – you get a feeling about a place. When you live in a 600-year-old cottage in the English countryside, it takes a special place to want to move to, and Charlotte is all that. I love the people. One of the best things that I love is that, in England, there can often be a feeling of defeatism. I just love the way things really do happen in Charlotte, and they happen quickly. I had a board member say to me recently, “We’re going to do this. We don’t know how, but we will do it.” And we did. There is such a positive attitude.

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Symphony Ignites Imaginations with "Explorations through Music”

The thump of a big drum evokes a “lumbering” elephant; the shimmer of a rain stick calls forth the spray from its trunk. With help from musicians Julie Johnson and Geoff Whitehead, third graders in Ms. Richmond’s class at Pinewood Elementary School are performing poems about animals – reciting the words they have written while accompanying themselves on an array of percussion instruments with colorful names like “thunder tube” and “ocean drum.” Johnson and Whitehead, teaching artists in the Charlotte Symphony’s Educational Explorations through Music program, have brought music into the third grade classrooms of Pinewood Elementary on Seneca Place, teaching eight and nine-year-olds how the sounds of instruments can tell a story or create a picture or bring language to life.

Julie Johnson works with a student at Pinewood Elementary School

Now in its eleventh year, Educational Explorations through Music is one of the Symphony’s multiple in-school programs designed to place the study of music into the broader educational landscape. Working with the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Pinewood and the fourth grade at Nathaniel Alexander Elementary School, teaching artists link music to literacy, enabling children to listen more intently and express themselves more creatively. Students examine music and words and how they relate, listen to and analyze musical scores that are descriptive in nature, and explore the unique sound qualities of traditional symphonic instruments, as well as percussive instruments from all over the world.

“The reason that I really like this program for our kids is that it gives them an opportunity that, because of their economic situation, they wouldn’t have otherwise,” says Dorothy Glick, music teacher at Nathaniel Alexander. Nathaniel Alexander is a Title I, or high-poverty, school. “My students haven’t had the chance to participate in many activities outside of school. When it comes to testing, like the fourth-grade writing test, it’s hard for them to make connections to other things (such as the arts). This program helps them make those connections, between poetry and music, etc.”

Provided to the children free of charge, Educational Explorations through Music is funded this year with a grant from the Arts & Science Council and corporate support from Nordstrom.

Glick gave her students a pre-test and a post-test to see what they had learned from the Symphony program. Students listened to Tchaikovsky’s music for The Nutcracker and wrote descriptions of what they heard. “I noticed that in the post-test, the kids were much more elaborate and more descriptive,” says Glick. “They used similes and metaphors.” And they were listening on a much more sophisticated level. “They hear the different layers. They’re noticing that the flutes are doing this and the clarinets are doing that. They can really hear the instruments. It’s very exciting for them.”

Back at Pinewood, Ms. Richmond’s third grade class applauds as an “inky” squid tackles an “enormous” shark, with a bang and a sizzle and a whoosh.

For more information about the Charlotte Symphony’s education programs, visit www.charlottesymphony.org/Education.asp.

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Youth Festival Shows Off Young Stars 

On Saturday, January 23, Dana Auditorium of Queens University will become home to judges and jitters as 53 of the region’s finest young musicians strut their stuff in the annual Young Artists Competition. Sponsored by The Symphony Guild of Charlotte, this concerto competition for students in 7th through 12th grades rewards winners with a cash prize.

But, while the money is nice, it is not the big trophy. The Grand Prize is a moment in the spotlight – the opportunity to perform as a soloist with a live orchestra, a rare opportunity for most students. The Grand Prize Winners – there could be more than one – of the Junior Division competition (grades 7-9) will solo with the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra at its Spring Concert on May 16. The Grand Prize Winner(s) of the Senior Division (grades 10-12) will solo with the Charlotte Symphony in the Youth Festival at Ovens Auditorium on February 24.

“I went into the audition because I knew it would be good for me,” says flutist Sarah Sullivan, who was one of the Grand Prize Winners of the Senior Division last year. “When I actually won, it was such an amazing feeling.” Sarah performed the brilliant Carmen Fantasy with the Charlotte Symphony. “Before the concert, I just practiced like crazy and I had tons of mini-recitals – lots of role-playing to act like it was the real thing. One time my teacher invited her neighbors into my lesson for a performance; one time I played for her other students…. In my dressing room before the concert, I was so nervous, but as I walked out on stage and saw all the people, I was calm. It was a great experience to play with such a fine orchestra. You learn so much being with professionals.”

Sarah Sullivan, CSYO Principal Flutist and 2009 Young Artists Competition Winner

You won’t want to miss this year’s prize performances. The Youth Festival, presented by The Symphony Guild and the Charlotte Symphony on February 24, is an all-out orchestral celebration. In addition to the competition-winning concertos, both the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Junior Youth Orchestra will play stirring symphonic music, such as the rambunctious “Danse Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah. The concert ends with a stunning richness of sound, as more than 150 musicians of the Charlotte Symphony and the Youth Orchestra join to perform Liszt’s Les Preludes, side-by-side.

The Spring Concert on May 16 will not only feature the Junior Division winners, but will be a special reunion concert, with former youth orchestra musicians from across the years returning to play side-by-side with the current CSYO.

For tickets to both concerts, call the Charlotte Symphony Ticket Office at 704-972-2000.

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Designer House Returns!

The Symphony Guild Designer House returns after a one-year hiatus, and this year’s promises to be extraordinary. Nineteen designers will decorate three Metropolitan MetTerrace units in midtown’s newest condominium complex. The homes feature stunning terraces with views of the greenway and city skyline. For more about MetTerraces, visit http://www.metmidtown.com/metropolitan-metterraces.htm.
The Symphony Guild Designer House will be open to the public from April 17 through May 9. Tickets will be available at the door – just $15 for individuals and $12 for those in groups of 12 or more. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Charlotte Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras, and Guild-sponsored youth music education activities.

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Oratorio News

From the Director

Dear Friends of the Oratorio,

Happy New Year and warm greetings this mid-winter. The Oratorio Singers and I are coming off a tremendously successful autumn, with our performances of Bach's Mass in B Minor, the Magic of Christmas, and Messiah - possibly our most successful Messiah yet, both musically and in terms of the box office sales.

I'm pleased to report that we have added an additional 15 singers in our January mid-year auditions - all extremely talented and experienced singers, each of whom joins the Symphony family with wonderful enthusiasm and expectation for an exciting spring with Oratorio.

This is an interesting year for the Oratorio Singers; by the end of the season, we will have worked with each conductor in our artistic staff - Magic of Christmas with Albert-George Schram, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances with Christopher Warren-Green, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Christof Perick, and the Bach and Handel with me. This is one of the hidden reasons why membership in Oratorio can be such a marvelous and rewarding experience: Beyond the fantastic repertoire, we have regular interaction with the world-class leaders of our orchestra.

I'm particularly pleased to invite you to a special concert on May 8 at Myers Park Baptist Church at 7:30PM. Building on the successes of the autumn and the strength and diversity of the repertoire planned for the spring, we are adding this performance to feature the Oratorio Singers in Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, better known as the Vespers. Sung in Russian and based on ancient Russian Orthodox melodies, this is one of the most cathartic and tender pieces of music I know - a true desert island piece! The timelessness of the ancient church music clad in the rich harmonic language of Rachmaninoff combine in a simple delicacy to create some of the most transforming and transcendent music imaginable. Mark your calendar and make certain to include this evening with us. I promise, you won't want to miss the experience of this piece.

Personally, I'd like to express my encouragement and thanks to our Symphony staff, led by Jonathan Martin, in ensuring the success and future of the Charlotte Symphony and Oratorio Singers. My gratitude extends to each of you whose support, both active and financial, continue to build and grow a stronger Symphony for Charlotte. I'm excited about where we are musically and organizationally and am looking forward to this spring of music-making together with you.

Scott Allen Jarrett
Director, Oratorio Singers of Charlotte

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