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Charlotte Symphony: Cheap tickets, new gig, and a beer thrown in

The next time you see Christopher James Lees, he may have a beer in his hand. You will almost certainly have a beer in your hand, because Bach and a bock go together.

That's the thinking behind Symphony on Tap, the new mini-season announced by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Lees, the CSO's new assistant conductor, will lead three shows at NoDa Brewing Co., which will create libations for each occasion. The opening concert at 2921 N. Tryon St. offers Hellesbock, a pale bock dubbed "Neighborhood Bach Party."

That's apt, as the series kicks off Nov. 29 with an arrangement of the Capriccio from Bach's Partita No. 2 in C Minor. It goes on to the allegro from Mozart's Divertimento K. 136, the "Hoedown" from Copland's "Rodeo," a string quartet arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," Turtle Island Quartet's "Skylife," Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, a piece by Lee Kesselman titled "o lente lente currite noctis equi," the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" and Gloria Estefan's "Turn the Beat Around."
The symphony will give similar parties, with or without Bach and bock, Jan. 31 and April 25. They will all start at 6:30 p.m., with musicians hanging around afterward to meet you. The $10 ticket price includes, remarkably, both a beer and a pint glass coozie.

And what apter candidate could be found to lead these concerts than Lees? His name means "the sediment of a liquor left by fermentation and aging."

By Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer

Full story here.