Out-of-This-World Symphony Experience at The Planets: LIVE! Nov. 18 and 19
For immediate release ‐ November 02, 2016
Contact: Jon Pishney, 919.707.8083. Images available upon request
Map of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
N.C. Symphony and N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences Partner on Exciting Performance
RALEIGH, N.C. – Enjoy an out-of-this-world experience that combines the music of Gustav Holst’s famous symphonic suite The Planets with stunning images from NASA missions sent to explore the planets of our solar system during a performance of the North Carolina Symphony in collaboration with imagery from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Led by conductor Carlos Izcaray, two multi-media performances will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19 in Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall.
“I am thrilled at this continuing collaboration between the ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ sides of our department, and it’s so exciting to see them align in this spectacular performance,” said Secretary Susan Kluttz of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “I am thankful to Governor Pat McCrory for his vision in recognizing the synergy that the Museum of Natural Sciences, along with the rest of our natural resource programs, would bring not only to the North Carolina Symphony, but to all of our cultural resources. This is another example of the wonderful things we can accomplish together.”
Mars rendering: Screen shot from video rendering of Mars with Milky Way in the background, created using OpenSpace software. Image Credit: R. Smith, NC Museum of Natural Sciences/Appalachian State University.
Simultaneously with the music being performed, audience members will see spectacular planetary imagery created using innovative new software called OpenSpace, a new NASA-funded collaboration between the Museum of Natural Sciences and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In addition to video imagery from OpenSpace, the multi-media experience includes stills from NASA missions to solar system bodies; these will be combined with live footage of the symphony’s musicians as they perform. Thanks to the cutting-edge OpenSpace software, many of the images seen will represent the positioning of the planets and stars as they exist on the evening of the performance.
“The North Carolina Symphony has a longstanding belief that collaborations with other cultural and educational organizations create art experiences that are greater than the sum of our parts. Our partnership with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences provides our community with the opportunity to experience the music of The Planets like never before,” says Sandi Macdonald, North Carolina Symphony president and CEO. “The breakthrough technology used to capture detailed images of our solar system will make this 100-year-old musical masterpiece by Gustav Holst even more powerful.”
“It remains rare for the worlds of science and the performing arts to display a common cause, yet calls for the nonprofit arena to blur its traditional boundaries are intensifying,” remarks Emlyn Koster, director of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. “Aligning images of celestial bodies with the rhythms of nature-inspired music — which is a national-model joint achievement of the Museum of Natural Sciences and the North Carolina Symphony — is a wonderful example of the dividends of the state of North Carolina recently forming a combined Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. It has never been more important for society to savor the interdependence of nature and humanity.”
Tickets to the Raleigh performances on Nov. 18 and 19 range from $18 to $76. Tickets are available at ncsymphony.org, 919-733-2750, or at the state headquarters box office at 3700 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. Concert tickets for all performances are also available at the door one hour prior to concert start time. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh.
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony is a vital and honored component of North Carolina’s cultural life. Its 175 concerts and events annually are greeted with enthusiasm by adults and schoolchildren in more than 90 North Carolina counties throughout the state — in communities large and small, and in concert halls, auditoriums, gymnasiums, restaurants, clubs, and outdoor settings. The Symphony’s 66 full-time musicians perform under the artistic leadership of Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Associate Conductor David Glover.
NCS’s state headquarter venue is the spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. The Symphony’s service across the state includes series in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, and Wilmington, as well as Summerfest concerts at the outdoor Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. NCS brings some of the world’s greatest artists to North Carolina, including Lang Lang, Stephen Hough, and Augustin Hadelich in the 2016/17 season.
The first state-supported symphony in the country, NCS is an entity of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
About Conductor Carlos Izcaray
Carlos Izcaray is the newly appointed Music Director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and takes up the post of Music Director of the American Youth Symphony in the 2016/17 season. He won top prizes at the 2007 Aspen Music Festival and the 2008 Toscanini International Conducting Competition, and has appeared with ensembles across five continents. His 2010 performances of Virginia by Mercadante won the Best Opera prize at the Irish Theatre Awards. A distinguished instrumentalist himself, Mr. Izcaray has been featured as a concert soloist and chamber musician worldwide.
Mr. Izcaray studied conducting with his father as a teenager and went on to become a distinguished fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Mr. Izcaray is an alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy, New World School of the Arts, and Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is a dual citizen of Spain and Venezuela, and divides his time between Birmingham and Berlin.
About the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh is an active research institution that engages visitors of every age and stage of learning in the wonders of science and the natural world, drawing them into the intriguing fields of study that are critical to the future of North Carolina. Hours: Mon.- Sat., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sun., noon-5 p.m. Visit the Museum online at www.naturalsciences.org. Emlyn Koster, PhD, Museum Director.
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state’s natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. Led by Secretary Susan Kluttz, NCDNCR’s mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state’s history, conserving the state’s natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state’s natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. Led by Secretary Susan Kluttz, NCDNCR’s mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state’s history, conserving the state’s natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, two science museums, three aquariums and Jennette’s Pier, 39 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, along with the Division of Land and Water Stewardship. For more information, please call (919) 807-7300 or visit www.ncdcr.gov.