Under the baton of Maestro Moody, the concerts will take place on Sunday, November 15 at 3 p.m. and Tuesday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, 405 W. Fourth Street, Winston-Salem.
Tickets for “Mahler & More” range from $20 – $67 and are available in advance by calling the Symphony Box Office at 336-464-0145 or online at WSSymphony.org. A “Music Lovers’ Luncheon,” a fun and informative pre-concert lunch with Maestro Moody and guest artist soprano Kathryn Mueller will take place Friday, November 13, at noon at The Piedmont Club at 200 West Second Street in downtown Winston-Salem. The luncheon is a great opportunity to learn more about the concert in a relaxed atmosphere. Reservations are requested for the Music Lovers’ Luncheon and can be made by calling 336-724-7077. Club membership is not required.
The concerts will open with Virginia born and raised Mason Bates’ Rusty Air in Carolina. This work was composed in 2005 – 2006 for Robert Moody in honor of his appointment as Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony and received its world premiere in Winston-Salem in May 2006. Bates met Robert Moody at the Brevard (NC) Music Festival when Bates was a teenager and Maestro Moody was Assistant Conductor of the festival.
The piece depicts summer in North Carolina, including the thick buzzing of cicadas and katydids and bluesy influences of the music of the American South. The four movements of the piece are indicative of those Southern summers: “Nan’s Porch,” “Katydid Country,” ”Southern Midnight,” and “Locusts Singing in the Heat of Dawn.”
Knoxville: Summer of 1915, by composer Samuel Barber, sets excerpts from James Agee short prose poem of the same name to music. Composed in 1947, it is a beautiful and poetic musical treatment of Agee’s work, which depicts a summer in evening in the American South as seen through the eyes of a child. Poignant, subtle, and masterful, Barber’s piece leads the audience through many emotions, transporting them back to their own collective youth.
The centerpiece of these concerts will be Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major. Gustav Mahler was born May 7, 1860 in Kalischt, near Iglau [now Kaliště, Jihlava], Bohemia and died May 18, 1911 in Vienna. His Symphony No. 4 was first performed in Munich on November 25, 1901. In this work, Mahler depicts (among other themes) a child’s vision of death and heaven. Beautiful melodies for the orchestra and soprano make this work a masterful and evocative piece.
This concert and the Winston-Salem Symphony are sponsored by Season Presenting Sponsor Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A; Classics Series Presenting Sponsor EY; the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County; and the North Carolina Arts Council.
About Kathryn Mueller
Kathryn Mueller is based in Raleigh, NC and is on the voice faculty at East Carolina University. Her frequent solo concert engagements across the United States include appearances with American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Washington Bach Consort, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Phoenix Symphony, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Winston-Salem Symphony, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Miami’s Firebird Orchestra, Atlanta’s New Trinity Baroque, and Chicago’s Ars Antigua. She collaborates as a guest artist with the award-winning early music group Wayward Sisters, and has also sung operatic roles with companies including Arizona Opera and Bach Collegium San Diego. 2015 – 2016 performances include Mueller’s debuts with the Pacific Symphony and Mallarmé Chamber Players, and repeat engagements with American Bach Soloists, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Wayward Sisters, and Seraphic Fire. Mueller holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in music from Brown University and The University of Arizona, respectively, and spent a summer in Salzburg studying Lieder at the Mozarteum.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony
The Winston-Salem Symphony began its 69th season in September 2015 as one of the Southeast’s most highly regarded regional orchestras. Under the baton of Music Director Robert Moody, the performance season includes Classics and Kicked-Back Classics series, Plugged-In Pops series, Discovery Concerts for Kids, annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, a special concert in May 2016 featuring Tony- and Emmy-award winning comedian Martin Short, a concert featuring Winston-Salem Symphony and Youth Symphony musicians, holiday concerts, three youth orchestra ensembles, and a multitude of educational and community engagement programs. For more information, visit WSsymphony.org.
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