Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra:
Between Worlds
Sunday, March 29, 2026 at 4 PM
Stewart Theatre, Talley Student Union, Raleigh, NC
Peter Askim, Conductor
Naseem Alatrash, Composer and Cellist
Featuring the World Premiere of a new work by Naseem Alatrash
PROGRAM
Naseem Alatrash: Cello Concerto (World Premiere)
Béla Bartók: Hungarian Pictures
Antonín Dvořák: Andante from American Suite in A Major, Op. 98b
Mary Kouyoumdijan: Tagh [Diary] of an Immigrant
Jan Radzynski: Encounters
As part of the culmination of the NC State/Raleigh Civic Orchestra’s 10-year Premiere Project, the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra presents the world premiere of new music by the GRAMMY Award-Winning Turtle Island String Quartet’s cellist Naseem Alatrash. The music combines jazz and Arabic influences in an innovative, emotional exploration of music that exists between worlds – and across borders.
The concert also includes music from the American Suite by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, written at the same time as his beloved New World Symphony, while living in America.
One of history’s first ethno-musicologists, Béla Bartók traveled widely documenting the indigenous musics of Eastern and Central Europe, and of Northern Africa. His Hungarian Pictures depicts music that is between “folk” and “classical” worlds and reflects the culture of a people whose borders were always shifting, their homeland ruled by an ever-shifting assortment of empires.
Rounding out the program is Polish/Israeli/American composer Jan Radzynski’s exploration of the common threads of music and culture in the Middle East and Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Kouyoumdijan’s Tagh, drawing on her American experience and her Armenian roots.
Free admission for NC State Students, $10 for faculty, staff, and seniors, and $12 for the general public
Raleigh Civic Symphony:
Athena – War, Wisdom, and Weaving
In Collaboration with NC State Wilson College of Textiles
Mary Bowden Scott, Trumpet Soloist
Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 4 PM
Stewart Theatre, Talley Student Union, Raleigh, NC
Peter Askim, Conductor
Jeff Scott, Composer
Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Trumpet
Featuring the World Premiere of a new work by GRAMMY-winning composer Jeff Scott
PROGRAM
Jeff Scott: Athena: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (World Premiere)
Jeff Scott: Selections from The Journey
Gustav Holst: Mars and Jupiter from The Planets, Op. 32
Gilbert and Sullivan: “Minerva – Oh, Goddess Wise” from Princess Ida
John Williams: A Prayer for Peace from Munich
For the culmination of the NC State/Raleigh Civic Orchestra’s 10-year Premiere Project, the Raleigh Civic Symphony presents the world premiere of GRAMMY-winning composer Jeff Scott’s Athena: Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra. Renowned trumpet virtuoso Mary Elizabeth Bowden (Seraph Brass) will perform the work, a tribute to Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, and of weaving. The powerful, virtuosic work highlights the figure of Athena as a wise negotiator, imagining her bringing together warring factions in both ancient times and the modern Middle East.
The concert weaves together disparate traditions, cultures, and musics in a portrait of wisdom and a call for peace. With the concerto as the centerpiece, the concert will weave together the different threads of Athena’s life and legend. Music from Holst’s audience favorite The Planets, highlights both her lineage (her father Jupiter) and role in war (the Roman war god Mars). Gilbert and Sullivan’s aria “Minerva – Oh, Goddess Wise” extolls the virtues of the Roman equivalent to Athena, and John William’s emotional A Prayer for Peace (from Stephen Spielberg’s Munich) is a plea from the heart for peace, based in the Middle Eastern turmoil of the recent past.
The orchestra will collaborate with faculty from the Wilson College of Textiles in the premiere of new muti-disciplinary work set to Scott’s music. The project explores the role of textiles and weaving as one of humanity’s first integrative sciences — combining chemistry, physics, and mathematics — as well as representing and bringing together cultures. Weaving helps tell the story of a culture, bringing together disparate cultural and strands in a unified whole. Much as Athena’s role as a negotiator brings together warring factions in pursuit of peace, the threads of science, culture, and art are woven together along with disparate cultures, countries and musics.
Free admission for NC State Students, $10 for faculty, staff, and seniors, and $12 for the general public
