Events

Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra:
Rituals and Renewals

Sunday, April 2, 4 PM
Talley Student Union, Stewart Theatre, Raleigh, NC

The Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra performs the World Premiere of two new works inspired by cycles of the natural world: Nowruz by composer Adeliia Faizullina, and ao kuewa by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti.

Nowruz is the holiday celebrating the arrival of spring and a new day, throughout the Persian, Arabic and Turkic speaking worlds. In the piece, a new light is born; it is young and innocent, like a child that will grow up to be big and all-embracing, to give its warmth to new life. But the light, too, is cold, carrying the shadow of winter. Can it become the Light of Renewal? Faizullina is an Uzbekistan-born Tatar composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and quray player, who happens to be blind. She explores cutting-edge vocal colors and paints delicate and vibrant atmospheres inspired by the music and poetry of Tatar folklore.

ao kuewa tells the story of renewal after destruction, and the importance of taking care of the land. Traditionally, it was thought that certain trees were homes for spirits. When people cut down all the trees and destroyed some of the natural habitats, that it caused a crisis of these spirits not having a place. Only through the dedication of restoring the land, do the spirits find renewal.

The program also includes two atmospheric French works, groundbreaking 19th-century composer Augusta Holmès’ La nuit et l’amour and Arthur Honegger’s evocative portrait of the countryside in summer, Pastorale d’ete. Kodály’s driving, joyous Dances of Marosszék, inspired by the folk melodies of his native land, rounds out the program.

Program:
Adeliia Faizullina: Nowruz (World Premiere)
Leilehua Lanzilotti: ao kuewa (World Premiere)
Augusta Holmès: La Nuit et l’amour
Arthur Honegger: Pastorale d’ete 
Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Marosszék

$12 general public
$5 for NC State students; $10 for faculty/staff/seniors 

Daniel Bernard Roumain & Raleigh Civic Symphony

Saturday, April 15, 8 PM
Talley Student Union, Stewart Theatre, Raleigh, NC

The NC State/Raleigh Civic Symphony and conductor Peter Askim celebrate the 50th Anniversary of NC State LIVE with a World Premiere by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) entitled Our Imaginary Daughter for Violin, Cello, Spoken Word Artist and Orchestra, commissioned by NC State LIVE. Roumain writes: “The words are a conversation with an imaginary, Black daughter I have never had—all the things I would want her to know and feel and think and feel and be. From Iran to Pakistan to China, women of color are under siege (when have they not been?) and this is a way for me (for us) to respond to the brutality they face everyday.”

Roumain’s new work, with a libretto by Haitian-American poet and actor Kaitlyn Boyer, is a type of “community concerto,” highlighting local musicians –  talented high school violinist Felicia Adizue and Shana Tucker, a self-described cellist, singer-songwriter, arts advocate, teaching artist, collaborator and cultural conduit. The program also includes rising star cellist Tristen Johnson and United Strings of Color, a string quartet of Black high school artists dedicated to addressing racial disparity in classical music through music education and community engagement.

The concert, featuring music by Black composers from across three centuries, includes Margaret Bond’s monumental Montgomery Variations, a meditation on the Civil Rights movement and based on the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” and music from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Othello. The orchestra also performs Roumain’s epic Voodoo Violin Concerto with the composer as soloist, almost 20 years to the day from when it first performed it with him under the direction of Randy Foy.

Program:
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Selections from Othello
Daniel Bernard Roumain: Voodoo Violin Concerto
    Daniel Bernard Roumain, Violin
Margaret Bonds: Montgomery Variations
Daniel Bernard Roumain: Our Imaginary Daughter for Violin, Cello, Spoken Word Chorus and Orchestra (World Premiere)
   Felicia Adizue and Shana Tucker, Soloists
   Libretto by Kaitlyn Boyer

With Guest Artists United Strings of Color performing String Quartet No. 3, “Powell” and talented high school cellist Tristen Johnson performing Daniel Bernard Roumain’s Why Did They Kill Sandra Bland

Registration for free tickets will begin in January 2023.