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Charlotte Symphony Roadshow Takes Music to the Masses

Lawrence Toppman, WDAV -- 

Administrators and conductors like to remind concertgoers to enjoy "your Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO)." But what does "your" really mean?

The mostly white, prosperous, educated people who attend performances at Belk and Knight theaters? (This includes me.) The donors, corporate or individual, whose gifts pay the largest part of the bills? Or does "your" orchestra mean "everybody's?"

The city's busiest performing arts group cast a vote for the latter Sunday, when the CSO Roadshow made its debut.

This new mobile stage, bedecked with sprightly paintings by Charlotte artist Rosalia Torres-Weiner, opened in the parking lot behind the Latin American Coalition building.

You'd have expected Latino music lovers, especially when the concert built to a performance by Ultima Nota, a septet whose twin percussionists set bodies shaking. But the music on this sunny afternoon reached the most ethnically diverse classical music audience here in recent memory.

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