North Carolina Symphony Presents "Dvořák and America" Across the State

Innovative Cross-Disciplinary Project Offers Multimedia Performances,

Educational Opportunities in Four North Carolina Communities, Feb. 12-19

Project Supported by National Endowment for the Humanities

Raleigh, NC - An in-depth examination of Antonín Dvořák‟s experiences in America is the focus of an intense week of concerts and activities by the North Carolina Symphony, Feb. 12-19.

Performances of the concert program “Dvořák and America” in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Fayetteville and New Bern, featuring a complete performance of his popular Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” headline seven exciting days of music and cross-cultural entertainment. The concert also features the rarely heard Hiawatha Melodrama for Actor and Orchestra, created by Michael Beckerman using Dvořák‟s music and words from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Song of Hiawatha.”

Former Good Morning America host and broadcast voice of the Symphony David Hartman narrates the program alongside actor/baritone Kevin Deas and a video installation by media artist Peter Bogdanoff.

There will be also opportunities in all four communities for individuals and student and community groups to participate in additional activities for free. For more, see the schedule below and online.

Encouraged to come to America by the visionary educator Jeannette Thurber, Dvořák was tasked with leading the way to the creation of an American national music. “The Americans expect great things of me,” he said, “and the main thing is, so they say, to show them to the promised land of a new and independent art; in short, to create a national music…It is certainly a great and splendid task for me…There is more than enough material here and plenty of talent.”

Dvořák‟s exploration of American musical idioms led him to two of America’s defining sagas: the Indian wars and the slave trade. His use in his own work of the themes and melodies he found in this material challenged and illuminated American notions of race and identity, all ideas that are examined in “Dvořák and America.”

This project is part of “Music Unwound,” a larger undertaking that originated with a series of concerts developed by Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St. Clair specifically designed to investigate new forms of audience engagement. The North Carolina Symphony’s four performances of “Dvořák and America” are written and produced by author, scholar and Guggenheim Fellow Joseph Horowitz, a highly regarded pioneer in thematic, interdisciplinary classical music programming.

“Dvořák and America, "with its focus on issues of race and national identity, addresses topics that are still a critical component of the American conversation," says North Carolina Symphony President and CEO Sandi Macdonald. "The North Carolina Symphony is pleased to be participating in an important project that speaks so clearly to our organization’s dual mission of education and statewide service."

The final performance of “Dvořák and America” will be held at New Bern Riverfront Convention Center on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for this New Bern Series concert range from $30 to $42, with $30 tickets for seniors and $10 for students.

Visit the North Carolina Symphony website or call North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at
919-733-2750 or toll free 877-627-6724.

Submitted by: Linda Staunch on behalf of the North Carolina Symphony