Hopefully the State of North Carolina’s $8 million challenge to the North Carolina Symphony is one of the worst kept secrets in town. As we originally reported in this space on August 7, the State of North Carolina’s General Assembly as a part of last summer’s budget package allocated an additional $1.5 million of funding for the benefit of the Symphony, provided the Symphony generate $8 million in funds from the community-at-large. Since then, we’ve been working hard to communicate this challenge to our audience and donor base, in hopes of motivating everyone who believes in our orchestra, its music, and our statewide music education mission to make an investment in the organization. (Call to action: you can make a convenient online donation with just a few clicks, just mouse over to “Donate Now” just under the monthly calendar on the homepage, or click here.)

Along the way there have been some wonderful outpourings of support, including some that garnered a significant amount of media attention. Rather than face a postponement of the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos, Pascal Rogé together with his wife and concert pianist in her own right Ami offered to play for no performance fee. Walking out on to stage hand in hand, they enjoyed a heartwarming reception from our audience before they had even played a note! Violinist superstar Joshua Bell offered to arrive one night early in order to play a special mini-recital in the home of a donor who made a special $10,000 gift to the Symphony for the privilege. And donors of all sizes have made gifts to sustain their orchestra through challenging times.

Through all of it, the orchestra has continued its music education programs unabated and has performed some astonishing concerts along the way. We were delighted to see our new associate conductor Sarah Hicks make her classical season debut with a program that included Dvorak’s 8th Symphony and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the outstanding baritone Randall Scarlata, and just a few weeks later resident conductor William Henry Curry led a program that brought the audience to its feet for Yuja Wang’s rendition of the Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto. This past weekend’s Brahms’s 4th Symphony was excellent, too. The orchestra continues to perform at an exceptional level, which is relevant to this challenge grant business because every single ticket purchase counts toward our goal as well. So whether it’s a charitable gift, or perhaps buying a couple of extra tickets so you can invite your neighbors to attend a concert with you, every dollar of community support counts toward this unprecedented State challenge.

As of this writing, the Symphony stands at $5.14 million toward its $8 million goal. And that number will surely increase as individual and corporate donors renew their annual support of the Symphony through the spring. Getting to the full $8 million will take the collective energy and commitment of supporters statewide, and I hope that if you have not yet made a commitment to the Symphony this season you’ll take an opportunity to do so! Thanks to the several thousand North Carolinians who have already voted with their feet and attended a performance this season. If you’re still just thinking about it, join us, you’ll be glad you did.