FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News media contact
Joey Burdette
336.725.1035 or jburdette@wssymphony.org
The Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Take the Stage in a Free Concert
North Carolina’s First Lady Kristen Cooper to Offer Opening Words
WINSTON-SALEM, NC (November 11, 2022) – North Carolina’s First Lady, Kristen Cooper, will offer opening remarks for the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Fall Extravaganza at 7 p.m. Monday, November 14, 2022. The concert is free and open to the community. Cooper uses her platform to improve the well-being of children throughout the state. Cooper’s platform ensures that all children have access to play and thrive creatively. Her mission is a natural fit with the Symphony’s mission to foster young musicians’ greatest artistic and personal development by providing them with experiences that challenge and develop their musical abilities, inspire imagination and excellence, and create future stewards of the arts.
All four Youth Symphony groups will take the stage starting at 7 p.m. Monday, November 14, 2022, at the Stevens Center of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, located in downtown Winston-Salem at 405 W. Fourth Street.
The Youth Symphony will perform Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet, Dance Bacchanale from “Samson and Delila” by Camille Saint-Saens, and Pinball Wizard by Pete Townshend, arr. Patrick Roszell. The Youth Philharmonic will perform Procession of the Sardar by M. Ippolitov, March of the Scaffold by Hector Berlioz, selections of Peer Gynt Suit by Edvard Grieg, and Wagner’s Suite from Tannhauser. The Premiere Strings will perform Breakbeat by Doug Spata, Arpeggio Antics by R. Anne Svendsen, and Our Heroes by Susan H. Day. Chamber Sinfonia will play Viking by Soon Hee Newbold, Skeleton Waltz by Kate O’Hara LaBrie, and Terra Nova by Richard Meyer.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras and Education Programs
The Winston-Salem Symphony offers many opportunities to young people who want to step out of the audience and onto the stage to make music as part of the Youth Orchestras and P.L.A.Y. Music programs. The current Youth Orchestras Program was founded in 1973 under the auspices of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Over the decades, the program grew and officially became a part of the Winston-Salem Symphony in 2007.
The Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras program has over 150 students across four different ensembles ranging from first graders to high school seniors. The Youth Symphony is a full orchestra of the most advanced students who have a passion for music and stand out in their schools for their tremendous talent. The other full orchestra is the Youth Philharmonic, which gives intermediate-level students experience playing in a large orchestra. Premiere Strings and Chamber Sinfonia are strings-only ensembles for the youngest musicians. Premiere Strings is for those new to playing in an ensemble with a conductor, and Chamber Sinfonia is for the young musicians with more advanced skills preparing for the full-orchestra experience.
The program recently grew from three to four ensembles due to an influx of students who started playing violin in the Symphony’s P.L.A.Y. (Piedmont Learning Academy for Youth) Music Program. P.L.A.Y. was founded because many of our area’s in-school music programs are underfunded, and a survey of educators reported that existing programs reached at-risk students too late. P.L.A.Y. is now at three elementary schools, two of which are Title 1 schools where participation is entirely free of charge. Beyond teaching music, the program helps students excel academically and supports social and emotional growth that will lead to a lifetime of success. As a result, you will now see current and former P.L.A.Y. students in the ensembles of the Youth Orchestras Program.
About the Conductors
Margaret Rehder is the Youth Symphony and Youth Philharmonic Music Director. She brings decades of experience to the stage, having led the orchestra programs at R.J. Reynolds High School and Wiley Middle School until her retirement in 2020. Dr. Ryane Dunnagan is the Premiere Strings and Chamber Sinfonia Conductor. She received both her Undergrad and Masters’ degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and her Doctorate from the University of Georgia. Dunnagan is the lead teacher for the Winston-Salem Symphony’s P.L.A.Y. Program. Barbara Bell is the assistant conductor for the Premiere Strings and Chamber Sinfonia groups. She was named Orchestra Director of the Year for 2013-2014. She currently teaches at Clemmons Middle School and West Forsyth High School.
About the Winston-Salem Symphony
Proud to be one of the Southeast’s most highly regarded regional orchestras, the Winston-Salem Symphony will celebrate its 75th Anniversary across 2022. The Symphony inspires listeners of all ages throughout North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad with various concerts, education programs, and community engagement initiatives each year.
The Symphony is supported by Season Presenting Sponsors Bell, Davis & Pitt, P.A.; 2022 Classics SeriesGuest Artist Sponsors Salemtowne; Symphony Unbound/Etherbound Presenting Sponsors Chris and Mike Morykwas; 75th Anniversary Season Sponsor Betty Myers Howell; the Arts Council of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and other dedicated sponsors. Subscriptions and single tickets can be purchased online at wssymphony.org or by calling the Symphony Box Office at 336-464-0145.
# # #
