Sound of Charlotte Blog
Threads of the 2025–26 Season
August 5, 2025Music that connects -- across time, place, and experience. Woven through our season are questions of who we are, where we come from, and what binds us together.
These threads explore the meaning of home, the shaping of American identity, and the stories we share.
These threads explore the meaning of home, the shaping of American identity, and the stories we share.
America @ 250
Reflect on our nation's musical identity through works by American voices past and present, including Amy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, and George Walker. --> Explore the Classical Series
Perspectives on Home
Explore how composers from around the world wrestle with what it means to belong -- from Dvořák's longing for home in the "New World" Symphony to Anna Clyne's response to pandemic isolation in The Years, receiving its U.S. Premiere. --> Explore the Classical Series
Spotlight: Gabriel Kahane
Take a closer look at composer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Kahane in a season-long exploration of his poignant musical stories, culminating in the powerful season finale, emergency shelter intake form. --> Dive into the Spotlight Series
Iconic Fifths
Revel in three of the most iconic Fifth Symphonies: Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky -- timeless works that explore strength, struggle, and triumph. --> Explore the Classical Series
One Season. Thousands of Young Musicians Inspired.
July 2, 2025
During the 2024-25 season, the Charlotte Symphony reached nearly 15,000 students through dynamic, hands-on learning experiences that brought music to life in classrooms, rehearsal spaces, and concert halls. From early childhood education to advanced ensemble training, our programs nurtured creativity, confidence, and connection through music.
Here's a snapshot of our impact:
11,362 students attended the One Musical Family concerts at Belk Theater, a cornerstone of our season that introduces young audiences to the orchestra through an interactive and engaging performance
227 hours of in-school coaching provided by CSO musicians, reaching 931 students to build instrumental skills and confidence.
133 young musicians enrolled in after-school programs, including Project Harmony and our partnership with Charlotte Bilingual Preschool, fostering musical development through ensemble learning.
And perhaps, most impressively, 5,216 snacks were consumed by the hardworking young musicians in Project Harmony!
And perhaps, most impressively, 5,216 snacks were consumed by the hardworking young musicians in Project Harmony!
100 students participated in Music and the Holocaust, a moving interdisciplinary program that uses music to explore themes of history, identity, and resilience.
230 students performed in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestras, receiving high-level training and performance opportunities throughout the season.
Every number represents a meaningful interaction a young person picking up an instrument, hearing a live performance for the first time, or discovering their voice through music. Learn more about the Charlotte Symphony's learning programs and how you can get involved.
Spring Gala: A Homecoming
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The Charlotte Symphony returns to the Carolina Theatre, 93 years after its inaugural performance.
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Gala guests gathered in the Luski Gallery for pre-concert cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
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Among the guests were the grandchildren of the Charlotte Symphony's founding Music Director, Guillermo de Roxlo: Katherine Roxlo, Jim Roxlo, Charles Roxlo, and his wife, Xina Quan.
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Sandra Levine and Laura Yates Clark enjoy the evening's festivities.
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County Commissioner George Dunlap, Sandra Stinson, and Michael Marsicano pose for a photo during the reception.
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The lights dim in the newly renovated Carolina Theatre as a nearly sold-out audience awaits the performance.
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Charlotte Symphony President & CEO David Fisk and Mayor Vi Lyles take the stage to welcome the audience.
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Renée Fleming joins the Orchestra to perform works by Handel, Fauré, and Rodgers & Hammerstein.
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The audience leaps to their feet after Ms. Fleming's second encore, O mio babbino caro.
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Following the concert, the celebration continues in the Luski Gallery with Stephan Willen, Elizabeth Willen, Paige Burgess, and Steve Burgess.
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Will Sparks, Ken Walker, and Jet Taylor enjoy cocktails after an unforgettable evening.
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Charlotte Symphony musicians David Horak, Jenny Topilow, Lenora Leggatt, and Angela Watson share a post-concert moment.
The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra celebrated its Spring Gala on Friday, March 28, with a historic return to the Carolina Theatre -- the site of its inaugural concert in 1932. Renée Fleming, one of the world's most celebrated sopranos, joined the Orchestra to perform selections from her Grammy Award-winning album Voice of Nature, and gala guests mingled over food and cocktails next door at the Luski Gallery, surrounded by stunning art at the Foundation for the Carolinas.
The Making of Become Ocean
February 11, 2025
Imagine stepping into a space where music surrounds you. Where light shimmers and shifts like the surface of the water. Where sound flows in waves, washing over you from every direction. This is Become Ocean, a groundbreaking immersive concert experience presented by the Charlotte Symphony in partnership with Blumenthal Arts, coming to Blume Studios on February 28 and March 1.
John Luther Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Become Ocean is a musical exploration of the ocean's vast, mysterious power, and the ecological challenges of rising sea levels. Bringing this powerful concept to life in a way that fully immerses the audience requires a careful blend of artistic vision and technical expertise. Two Creative Directors from Visuell Immersive joined us to discuss how they're working with the Charlotte Symphony's creative team to shape this one-of-a-kind experience.
Creating an Oceanic World
Unlike a traditional concert hall, Blume Studios provides a flexible space where sound and visuals can fully surround the audience."We approached this with simplicity in mind -- not to overwhelm, but to create something elemental," explains Ian Robinson, one of the artistic minds behind Become Ocean. "Water, light, movement, and sound -- all blending into a singular, meditative experience that allows space for each audience member to bring their own 'in ocean' emotions to the surface."
From the moment audiences arrive, they will feel immersed in this world. "In the lobby, the waves greet you -- lapping at the edges, soft but vast, setting the stage for what's to come. But inside the performance space, you're pulled under, into the deep, where everything moves with weight and grace."
At Blume Studios, Ian Robinson (far right) and Aaron McCoy (seated, right) discuss Become Ocean with creative teams from the Charlotte Symphony and Blumenthal Arts.
Merging Music and Motion
To bring this vision to life, the production team is designing projections and lighting that move with the same fluidity as the music. These elements won't serve as just a backdrop, but as an extension of the music itself."The project aims to create a transformative environment that embodies the verb 'become' in Become Ocean by transporting the audience into a contemplative, beautiful, and emotionally connected oceanic space," says Aaron McCoy, Creative Director from Visuell Immersive.
At times, the space will be bathed in deep blues and shifting silvers, mimicking light refracting through water. Elsewhere, projections will ripple across the walls, expanding and contracting with the ebb and flow of the orchestra.
"The way light moves in water is unpredictable -- sometimes a shimmer, sometimes a rush," Robinson says. "Our projections mimic that fluidity, creating an environment that doesn't dictate but suggests, allowing the audience's imagination to take over."
"This isn't just a concert; it's a journey."
Floating Between Sound and Light
Rather than simply illustrating an oceanic landscape, the production invites audiences to experience the sensation of drifting within it."This isn't just a concert; it's a journey," Robinson explains. "We wanted the audience to feel like they are adrift, floating between sound and light, between the surface and the depths, with no clear beginning or end -- just the pulse of the ocean carrying them."
McCoy adds, "By the end, the light dissolves into an infinite fade, a slow retreat into silence. The ocean remains -- vast, unknowable, and ever-moving."
Experience Become Ocean
Join us for this immersive performance of Become Ocean at Blume Studios on February 28 and March 1.
... Read more
Mario Bauzá, “The Original Mambo King”
February 4, 2025
If you know the mambo, rumba, or cha-cha, you have the Afro-Cuban jazz musician, bandleader, and composer Mario Bauzá to thank. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1911, Bauzá was among the first musicians to spread Afro-Cuban music in the United States through the New York City jazz scene during the Harlem Renaissance. By collaborating with orchestra musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Machito to create Afro-Cuban jazz combinations, "The Original Mambo King" cemented West African influences in jazz music, popularizing the new fusion and transforming the future of an American genre.
A clarinet prodigy raised by Spanish godparents in Cuba, Bauzá was trained in classical music from a young age and was only 9 years old when he held a chair as bass clarinetist in the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra in 1922. He later joined dance bands, and as a teenager, he traveled with Antonio María Romeu's charanga ensemble to New York City in 1927, where Harlem's community made a life-changing impact on the impressionable musician. "I fell in love with jazz then," Bauzá later recalled to DownBeat magazine.
Determined to return to New York, he picked up saxophone to play full time in jazz clubs but found dwindling employment. When the opportunity opened for a trumpet player to record with the Orquesta Don Azpiazú in 1930, the story goes that an inspired Bauzá told singer Antonio Machín, "If you buy me a trumpet I'll play for you." With just three weeks of practice, Bauzá went into the studio and recorded "La Mulata Rumbera." He was hired as the lead trumpeter for Chick Webb's Orchestra in 1933, which brought him closer to the thriving music community where he would find inspiration and create fusion.
After joining the Cab Calloway Orchestra in 1938, Bauzá convinced Calloway to hire a talented fellow trumpeter he met during his time in Chick Webb's Orchestra -- Dizzy Gillespie. As the connection developed between Bauzá and Gillespie, a new musical fusion followed, intertwining Gillespie's bebop with Afro-Cuban polyrhythms and Pan-American styles. Gillespie later reflected, "with Mario Bauzá in the [Cab Calloway] band, I really became interested in bringing Latin and especially Afro-Cuban influences into my music...No one was playing that type of music where the bass player, instead of saying, 'boom, boom, boom, boom,' broke up the rhythm, 'boom-be, boom-be, boom-be, boom-be.' No one was doing that. I became very fascinated with the possibilities for expanding and enriching jazz rhythmically and phonically through the use of Afro-Cuban rhythmic and melodic devices."
Machito, Mario Bauzá, and René Hernández, pioneers of mambo in New York, The Wolfsonian-FIU, Vicki Gold Levi Promised Gift
Seeking more musical avenues as co-founder of the diverse orchestra Machito and the Afro-Cubans in 1939, Bauzá sprinkled the rhythms of Havana with jazz arrangement techniques and influences from band members of Italian, Filipino, Latin, Black, and Jewish heritage alongside the vocalist and maraca player Frank "Machito" Grillo. The conga drum, bongos, timbales, and the West African rhythm structures they voiced became inseparable from Latin jazz.
Blending Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz harmony in his own composition was inevitable. Bauzá's "Tangá," recorded in 1943, is noted by its organizing clave rhythm, brass jazz harmonies, and improvised solos as the first true Afro-Cuban jazz or Latin jazz song -- from which emerged the genre and its many musicians, including Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdés, Celia Cruz, and Tito Puentes. Becoming known as "The Original Mambo King," Bauzá believed the new Afro-Cuban fusion he created with Machito and the Afro-Cubans was "a marriage. Each [music] preserving its identity but walking together."
Explore the world of Afro-Cuban music with the Charlotte Symphony at Havana Nights on February 21st and 22nd, featuring soprano Camille Zamora and the Mambo Kings.... Read more
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Latest Posts
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- Why Gil Shaham Calls Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto “Iconic”
- Threads of the 2025–26 Season
- One Season. Thousands of Young Musicians Inspired.
- Spring Gala: A Homecoming
- The Making of Become Ocean
- Mario Bauzá, “The Original Mambo King”
