The fall issue of Opus magazine, due out in November, includes a profile of the North Carolina Symphony’s assistant concertmaster Karen Strittmatter Galvin. You’ll read about the wedding business she started with two of her sisters when she was just seven years old, her thoughts about being a musician and her dreams for downtown Raleigh as a force for new music.

To that end, she and Shawn, her percussionist husband, along with Symphony violinist Maria Evola have started New Music Raleigh, a collective of classically trained musicians creating and performing contemporary music. “We’re interested in presenting music by living composers that is reflective of our time,” she says. Here’s your chance to check out NMR’s first concert of the season, Sunday, September 12, 7pm at The Murphey School on 224 Polk St. in Raleigh. Cost is just $10 (cash only). The performance features works by John Luther Adams, Cameron Britt and Paul Lansky. The concert is intended to take the listener on a journey from the Alaskan expanses which inspire Adams' music to urban spaces that Lansky's work, "Dancetracks," for electric guitar evokes. Performing along with Karen and Shawn will be Emily Rupp, bass; John Noel, piano; D.J. Sparr, guitar; and Julia Thompson, percussion.

And be sure to get your copy of the fall Opus in November to read more about Karen!