Have you ever wanted to go into space? A virtual reality experience at Blumenthal Arts' new Blume Studios takes you there. "Space Explorers: The Infinite" uses virtual reality goggles to make you feel like you're on the International Space Station. Find out more in this Piedmont Arts podcast, along with a report on the upcoming Halloween concert by…

JazzArts Charlotte has been around for 15 years, promoting jazz through education and concerts with top performers from around the world. On this episode, CEO and co-founder Lonnie Davis talks about the group's origins and how it's growing a new generation of jazz performers and fans through education and concerts. Learn more about JazzArts Charlot…

Charlotte is trying to put itself back on the map as a music city, with an annual conference called Confluence. This year's event is at AvidXchange Music Factory and music venues around the city. On this Piedmont Arts podcast, we'll hear from two of the organizers, Rick Thurmond and Liz Brigham, about what you'll see and hear. Learn more about the …

The North Carolina Brass Band performs a free concert in Charlotte at First United Methodist Church. It's a night of brass band and pipe organ music featuring organist Evan Currie. On this Piedmont Arts podcast, we talk with music director Brian Meixner and cornest Bill Lawing. Plus, we talk with singer-songwriter and classically trained cellist Be…

Museums across the Piedmont are hanging their fall shows. On this Piedmont Arts podcast, we have a preview that includes local and regional art at Charlotte's Mint Museum, Surrealism and African American artists at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, a Wizard of Oz-themed show at UNC Charlotte and more.…

A new season of live music is starting for music groups and venues across the Piedmont. In this Piedmont Arts podcast, we have a few ideas as you plan your listening for the 2024-25 season. We preview what's coming from classical music groups like Bach Akademie Charlotte and 7th Street Concerts , monthly concerts from JazzArts Charlotte , and eclec…

A new season of theater is coming up across the region. This episode previews Broadway shows at The Blumenthal in Charlotte, children's shows at Children's Theater of Charlotte, and productions at professional and community theaters from Charlotte to Salisbury to Hickory. Pictured: Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role of his musical "Hamilton"; By …

Hosts Rachel Stewart and David Boraks preview the 2024 - 2025 opera season at companies around the region. Opera Carolina's James Meena talks about his company's season of classic operas, plus a special benefit concert with famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. Opera Carolina Piedmont Opera North Carolina Opera Greensboro Opera…

If you live near Winston-Salem, Hickory, Salisbury, Rock Hill, Monroe, or, of course, Charlotte, you’ll be close to some great music this year. The orchestras in those communities have a variety of concerts planned with varied repertoire. There's Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but also contemporary composers including a former Miss America who writes …

The inaugural Carolina Youth Orchestra Summer Festival will take place at Davidson College in early August 2024. The three-day clinic is designed to help young musicians develop their musical skills under the tutelage of professional musicians and broaden their connections to our music community. The festival culminates in a free public concert at …

On this Piedmont Arts podcast, we talk with Shante Williams, the new general director of Opera Carolina. Williams is a business owner and venture capitalist who has been on the Opera Carolina board for three years. She talks about the upcoming season, her passion for new operas, and about the group's future.…

Juneteenth marks the date on June 19, 1865, when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached the last remaining enslaved people in Texas. We talk with Davidson College historian Hilary Green about how Texas commemorations in the 19th century led to the declaration of a national holiday in 2021. We also get an overview of the Juneteenth ev…

Bach Akademie Charlotte’s 2024 Bach Festival returns to various locations around Charlotte and this year’s festival is called “Bach Akademie Charlotte Goes to Italy.” While it is indeed a Bach festival, it’s bookended by opening and closing concerts that focus on music from Italy, namely Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 . We …

Trumpeter Rodney Marsalis is a member of the famous New Orleans musical family and the leader of the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. We talk to Marsalis about his career and the group's upcoming concert at Gardner-Webb University. Learn more about the Summer in the Springs with the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass Concert Pictured: Th…

The Salisbury Symphony has been looking for a new music director this season, and they will audition their final candidate at their concert called "Hope and Lifting." Daniel Wiley will conduct the orchestra in music of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and Omar Thomas. Wiley is currently assistant conductor with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops. …

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra is producing an immersive event called "Merge" that combines modern symphonic music with electronic dance music and synchronized visual projections. Resident Conductor Christopher James Lees talks about the symphony's foray into new territory and the collaboration that brought it to life. Learn more about the MERGE:…

Charlotteans Lorne Lassiter and Gary Ferraro helped found the former Mint Museum of Craft and Design in uptown. They've also donated dozens of pieces from their own collection. The exhibit "Craft Across Continents" features many of those works in glass, wood, ceramics, and textiles. On this edition of the Piedmont Arts podcast, we tour the exhibit …

Kalena Bovell, a candidate for Salisbury Symphony Music Director, will lead the orchestra in a program called "Musical Inspirations." Bovell made her professional debut as the Chicago Sinfonietta's Assistant Conductor in 2015 and has led performances at the BBC Proms and the Kennedy Center. She also recently had her opera debut at Volcano Theatre w…

The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) shared news that the organization has raised more than $40 million toward a goal of $50 million for its endowment. CSO President and CEO David Fisk discusses why having a significant endowment makes the orchestra stronger, and he provides details about the vital programs the endowment campaign will enable in t…

Charlotte's nonprofit Blumenthal Arts hosts touring Broadway shows, symphony concerts and the ballet, among other things. But it's also branching out to other kinds of events, like the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit a couple of years ago. David Boraks talks with Blumenthal Arts CEO Tom Gabbard about another big immersive exhibit coming to Charlotte and…

The Charlotte Shout! festival is produced by Charlotte Center City Partners and showcases Charlotte's creativity, innovation, diversity, and resilience. It includes music acts, art installations, community conversations, culinary events, and more. We talk to Rick Thurmond from Charlotte Center City Partners about the festival's importance to our cu…

Traditionally, composers have written music with a group of musicians in mind, painstakingly transcribing or notating their ideas as sheet music. But these days, many work on a computer loaded with a digital library of instruments and sounds. That’s the case for the next generation of composers in training at Davidson College. We visit with music p…

The Marriage of Figaro considered one of the greatest operas of all time, is billed as a comic opera but addresses serious themes such as tension between the social classes. Find out more about this masterpiece, and its important place in history by listening to a conversation with Dr. Scott MacLeod, associate professor of music and director of Hig…

One Voice Chorus was founded in Charlotte in 1990 to bring together lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and LGBTQIA+ affirming people to celebrate their lives through song. Since that time the chorus has grown in membership from 25 to more than 90 singers. Executive Director Micah Deer fills us in on the organization's history, purpose, and progra…

Thorgy Thor, a classically trained musician who first came to national prominence on the television series RuPaul’s Drag Race , is the guest on this episode of Piedmont Arts. After a recent appearance at Davidson College, she spoke to us about how she developed the concert program Thorgy and the Thorchestra which has been performed with orchestras …

The Salisbury Symphony is auditioning candidates for music director. Michelle Di Russo, a candidate for the position, will conduct their "Enchanting Sounds" concert in Keppel Auditorium. She'll lead a program of music by Piazzola, Saint-Saens, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Di Russo is from Argentina, and currently the Associate Conductor in her second seaso…

Each year, Charlotte Master Chorale presents a "Unity Concert" with the goal of building bridges in the community through the shared experience of choral music. This year's concert is called "Unity: Earth" and is Saturday, March 9 at 4pm at First United Methodist Church in Charlotte. The ensemble will perform the North Carolina premiere of Jake Run…

One of the most extraordinary figures in American classical music is someone you may never have heard of. Mary Cardwell Dawson, born in 1894 in Madison, NC, was a musician, teacher, and founding director of the National Negro Opera Company, the longest-running, all-Black opera company which helped launch the careers of many singers. Now her story i…

Research suggests there are significant neurological and academic benefits to children who learn to play a musical instrument. However, most school systems wait until 6th grade to offer band or orchestra programs, and many kids simply do not have access to instrumental instruction until it's offered at school. Cornelius Youth Orchestras wants to ch…

Burnt Reeds is a reed quintet of local professional instrumentalists. Their concert called "Homegrown Melodies" features newly commissioned works by local composers. It's a project that brings together not only composers but also music producers, local independent mixed media artists, and of course musicians -- from a variety of backgrounds. Three …

The Charlotte Master Chorale's Chamber Singers will present concerts called "Art & Science" at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte and Davidson College Presbyterian Church in Davidson. The centerpiece of the concerts is a multi-media symphony, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci , by composer Jocelyn Hagen. The work uses the latest video syncing te…

The inaugural Black Notes Project Music Festival makes it debut at Charlotte's Knight Theater. The two-day festival celebrates and amplifies Black music and artistry and will honor the classical orchestral tradition while situating it alongside contemporary musical innovation. Nationally known artists such as harpist Brandee Younger and opera singe…

North Carolina Baroque Orchestra will perform concerts called "Splendid Music from the Time of King George III and Queen Charlotte" in locations across the Charlotte region. The program includes works by Chevalier de Saint Georges, Handel, Mozart, Avison, and others. Frances Blaker, the ensemble's artistic director and conductor, explains how the c…

The Metropolitan Opera's Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition has auditions across the country. The competition is designed to discover promising young opera singers and assist the development of their careers. The North Carolina District holds auditions and approximately 25 singers will compete to move on to Regionals in Atlanta. The event is op…

After a search that has lasted more than two years, the Charlotte Symphony has announced their next Music Director: Kwamé Ryan. Originally from Trinidad, Ryan has an impressive resume and has worked around the globe. He was General Music Director of the Freiburg Opera from 1999 to 2003 and Musical and Artistic Director of the National Orchestra of …

Caritas a Cappella ensemble presents a concert of Christmas and holiday music in Charlotte. The set will include settings of familiar carols as well as beautiful motets written by modern and Renaissance composers. And this time, the ensemble will be led by their new artistic director, Dr. Jeremy Mims. By day, Jeremy is Associate Professor and Direc…

The Charlotte Civic Orchestra presents its annual Christmas Extravaganza at the Halton Theater at CPCC’s Uptown Campus. The program features a sixty-piece orchestra, performances by the Charlotte Youth Ballet and Diamond Elite Dancers, the Holiday Singers, and soloists, plus the combined choirs of the Marvin Ridge and Porter Ridge High Schools. Dr.…

Composer, pianist, and social justice activist Margaret Bonds is one of the twentieth century's more remarkable American artists, and her reputation is growing in stature among twenty-first century music lovers. There's a terrific opportunity to learn more about this remarkable woman and her music when Queens University hosts the Margaret Bonds Sym…

Piedmont Opera in Winston-Salem is opening their new season with Verdi's Il Trovatore and they're welcoming home Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Tichina Vaughn. Vaughn was raised in Winston-Salem, and she is a graduate of UNC School of the Arts. After getting her start with the Metropolitan Opera, she went on to international acclaim performing many y…

In the month of October, Davidson College will present several great concerts. Renowned vocal group Stile Antico performs a program celebrating William Byrd. And the Amerigo Trio, whose members are all internationally acclaimed musicians, is in concert. And later in the month, Davidson faculty members will present a benefit tribute to Burt Bacharac…

The Charlotte Master Chorale comes to the Cain Center in Cornelius and Queens University in Charlotte respectively this fall. The theme of the concerts is freedom and oppression across communities and features the North Carolina premiere of R. Nathaniel Dett's The Ordering of Mose s as well as Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Dr. Marques L.A. Garrett…

Heartland Baroque is an ensemble specializing in music of the 17th and 18th centuries. They perform regularly in our region and will give a concert at St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Davidson. Violinist Martie Perry is founder and artistic director of Heartland Baroque. She explains how Heartland Baroque's historically informed performances provide…

Charlotte Ballet is gearing up for the 2023-2024 season which will be the first one fully curated by artistic director Alejandro Cerrudo. Several world premieres by notable choreographers are highlights, and the season kicks off with a performance in Toronto, the first time since 1981 Charlotte Ballet is traveling abroad. Cerrudo describes some of …

The Rock Hill Symphony welcomes a new music director this season -- Christopher James Lees. Lees is already known to the area's classical audiences through his work as the Charlotte Symphony's Resident Conductor. Now he's poised to lead the region's newest orchestra in its next chapter. Lees talks about the symphony's future aspirations and their f…

In the coming year, the Salisbury Symphony will be looking for a new music director. One of their candidates, Peter Askim, will lead the first concert of the season at Catawba College. Askim is on the faculty at N.C. State University, leads the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, and is a composer and bassist as well as a conductor. He ta…

The Winston-Salem Symphony recently announced their new music director -- Michelle Merrill. Merrill served four years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as assistant then associate conductor under Leonard Slatkin. She will be the Winston-Salem Symphony's first female music director and the only woman to lead a professional orchestra in the Carolin…

Opera Carolina is going international this summer through a new partnership with International Lyric Academy. More than 100 opera singers and musicians from across the globe have arrived in the Queen City for three weeks of immersive mentorship, followed by two weeks in Vicenza, Italy. Part of the experience is a summer festival of free and tickete…

The Charlotte Bach Festival returns to the Queen City with a full schedule of recitals, concerts, and educational opportunities, drawing talented musicians from across the country to celebrate the artistic legacy of J. S. Bach. On this episode, Aisslinn Nosky, Laura C. Atkinson, Margaret Carpenter Haigh and Derrick Miller provide insights into what…

Kazem Abdullah leads the Charlotte Symphony in their final classics concerts of the season. Abdullah was General Music Director of the City of Aachen in Germany from 2012 to 2017. He has also served as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, and has guest conducted around the country for both opera productions and orchestral concerts. He …

Conductor Lan Shui joins the Charlotte Symphony (CSO) for concerts at Belk Theatre in Charlotte. He gives us a rundown of the works on the CSO program, and he explains why he loves being a guest conductor. Pictured: Lan Shui by Singapore Symphony Orchestraبقلم WDAV Classical Public Radio