About Us: Press Releases

WDAV and North Carolina in Broadcast Partnership

Posted: January 01, 2004
	89.9 WDAV, Classical Public Radio and the North Carolina Symphony are pleased to announce the launch of The North Carolina Symphony on WDAV, a new eight-week series of two-hour concert performances recorded live in Meymandi Concert Hall, the Symphony’s home in Raleigh. WDAV will broadcast the concerts on Sundays at 3:00 pm beginning February 8th and running through the end of March. “This symphony enjoys a strong reputation for musical excellence and these performances will be a wonderful addition to our broadcast schedule,” says WDAV Program Director Frank Dominguez. “I am pleased to offer this distinguished concert series to our audience." North Carolina Symphony General Manager Scott Freck agrees. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with WDAV. In our statewide role, our mission is to bring this great music we love to the people of North Carolina, and this series will certainly help us do that in a new way for the listeners of WDAV.” Hosted by WDAV’s Rachel Jeffreys, The North Carolina Symphony on WDAV offers listeners the opportunity to experience highlights from the orchestra’s 2002-2003 season. The series kicks off with the season’s exciting opening concert featuring celebrated pianist Lang Lang in a exhilarating performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The program also includes Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain and Dvorak’s beloved Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” That’s just the first in a great series of outstanding orchestral playing complimented by an exceptional array of musical variety and special guests. Soloist Eric Ruske joins conductor Roberto Minczuk and the orchestra for Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 2, while Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor features artist Alicia Weilerstein. Traditional favorites like Copland’s Billy the Kid Suite and Elgar’s Enigma Variations can be heard along with the film work of Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Listeners will also hear American icon William Bolcom’s Inventing Flight, a world première performance of a piece co-commissioned with the Dayton Philharmonic in honor of the First Flight Centennial. Its home may be Raleigh, but the orchestra’s status as the state symphony of North Carolina goes back to its early history when, in the mid-forties, it was the first orchestra to receive continuous state funding thanks to what became known as the 1943 “Horn Tootin’ Bill.” Today, one-half of the orchestra’s 180 annual concerts take place away from its Raleigh base in various locations from Brevard to Manteo, of which 45 concerts are for grade-school children, performed at schools across the state. Excitement at the symphony has been building over the past few years with the openings of Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh and the Amphitheatre at Regency Park in nearby Cary, both in 2001. Most recently, after a 32-month international search, the symphony announced the appointment of its new Music Director, Grant Llewellyn. Also Music Director of Boston’s venerated Handel and Haydn Society, Llewellyn will begin his duties in Raleigh in September 2004. The Raleigh News & Observer said of Llewellyn, “[he is] just about the hottest thing going in classical music these days.” Though broadcast occasionally in Raleigh, there hasn’t been a regular radio series of North Carolina Symphony concerts since 1990. Discussions with WDAV began a little over a year ago and as LuAnn Ritsema, WDAV’s marketing director explains, “with similar goals and shared missions, this seemed a perfect partnership opportunity.” “Any broadcast performance series offers challenges from securing rights from the various parties to gathering the necessary music and materials needed to bring about a polished and effective radio production ” adds Dominguez. “But the importance of celebrating the music scene in the Carolinas and the quality of these performances make it well worth the effort.” The North Carolina Symphony on WDAV is part of an overall station commitment to broadcasting the best of local and regional artists and performances. In addition to this series, WDAV hosts the Charlotte Symphony in Performance in the fall as well as Carolina Live! a 12-week line-up of concert tapings from around the Carolina region broadcast in the spring. A complete program schedule will be available at the WDAV web site, www.wdav.org, in the On The Air section after January 25th. Back

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