We receive many emails from patrons with questions or concerns, compliments and suggestions, etc. This recent one really caught our attention and we thought it would be great to share some positive news. This gets to heart of why we do what we do…enjoy!

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Thank you so much for the April 3rd performance. I had the pleasure of bringing 43 young musicians and staff members from the Athens Drive High School band program who thoroughly enjoyed and were inspired by the program.

Two weeks ago, the ADHS Percussion Ensemble was one of eight percussion ensembles invited to perform at the Music for All's National Festival in Indianapolis. After hearing the wonderful high school ensembles performing, the Honor Orchestra of America, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, they were insistent on hearing more symphonic music. At their request, I looked into tickets to the NC Symphony. Finding the program eight days later to be absolutely perfect for us, I called about tickets on Thursday, and Friday during school, members of all band classes at ADHS were asked to reply by the end of school on Monday. Over thirty band students made the quick decision to come tonight (the first night of spring break).

The program tonight was perfect. Appalachian Spring was featured prominently in our marching band show two years ago, and the symphonic version delighted our students. The Antaeus captivated our students as none of us knew the double bass was capable of such a rich solo! Very beautiful. Adagio for Strings is always so beautiful. Two of our instructors cite this as a favorite work, and have talked to the students on numerous occasions. And the Percussion Concerto was outstanding. The students were in awe of Colin Currie's skills, particularly the percussionists. The wind players have new appreciation for percussionists, and all of our musicians now have an interest in strings, too.

“It was absolutely amazing, it made me cry it was so beautiful. I will be honest when the NC Symphony was playing Suite from Appalachian Spring I totally teared up. It was so breathtaking. The musicians played with so much emotion. I loved it!” said Nicole Wright, a senior clarinetist.

After the performance, the students congregated in the hallway discussing the performance with their instructors, asking for new music to play and marveling at what they heard tonight. Senior flautist Meredith Magnuson, “It was flawless and amazing. You could definitely tell they loved what they played. I would love to go again.”

They had particularly wanted to talk to the musicians, and we did get Colin's autograph, but we didn't make it to the stage to talk to anyone else. We left only at the urging of the security guard who wanted to close up!

We enjoyed the Symphony Essentials talk, too. Several of the students were diligently taking notes, and it was clear from there questions and comments during the intermissions that they absorbed much of what the speakers had to say. They loved hearing first-hand the thoughts of the conductor, soloists, and composer.

THANK YOU so much to the box office for accommodating so many people on a week's notice! And thank you to the musicians who truly inspired some very talented young musicians.

Again, thank you. It was terrific to see the students so excited and enthusiastic about classical music.

- Della Martin, ADHS Band Booster Co-President