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North Carolina Symphony Pops Series Begins with Tour of Bernstein's Greatest Hits, Sept. 23-24

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The North Carolina Symphony will have special help in guiding concertgoers through one of music's most engaging legacies next month. Jamie Bernstein joins the Symphony, led by Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks and featuring an ensemble of celebrated guest vocalists, for an entertaining tour of her father Leonard Bernstein's greatest hits.

“Bernstein on Broadway," the first concert in the Symphony's 2011/12 Pops series, takes place in Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall, in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23-24, at 8:00 p.m.

The program features highlights from many of Bernstein's most popular scores, including the acclaimed operetta Candide and musicals Wonderful Town and On the Town. No Bernstein celebration would be complete without selections from West Side Story, and the Symphony will not disappoint with lyrical favorites including “Maria" and “Somewhere." The evening is completed by a show-stopping version of Bernstein's Symphonic Dances.

Along the way, narrator Jamie Bernstein will offer her family stories and personal insights into this most beloved of American composer-conductors.

“I want to conduct. I want to play the piano. I want to write for Hollywood," Leonard Bernstein once told The New York Times. “I want to keep on trying to be, in the full sense of that wonderful word, a musician."

Jamie Bernstein is following her father's footsteps, transforming her lifetime love of music into a career of sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm with others. She has written, produced and narrated several concerts for families and young people on the music of Copland, Mozart, Bernstein and others.

Bernstein is also frequent invited speaker on musical topics. As a broadcaster, she has hosted several seasons of the New York Philharmonic's live national radio broadcasts, several series for New York's classical station 96.3 FM WQXR and a series for BBC Radio 3 about the music scene in New York City.

She and the Symphony are joined on stage by four talented guest vocalists who will bring the colorful lyrics of Bernstein's music to life. Soprano Michelle Areyzaga has been celebrated for her featured performances with companies in Chicago and across the country, most recently singing Pamina as part of Chicago's Silk Road Initiative, a production that aired on public television. Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, hailed by Opera News as “a dramatic singer in the truest sense," has received critical acclaim for her work on both the opera and concert stage, including a highly praised portrayal of the title character La Cenerentola with Sarasota Opera in the 2010/11 season.

Tenor Jeff Picón began his career one of the youngest members to participate in San Francisco Opera's Merola Program and has since proven his versatility as a concert and opera singer in a diverse selection of repertoire. Baritone David McFerrin has sung with some of the country's leading opera companies, most recently debuting with Boston Lyric Opera in Handel's Agrippina and with Seattle Opera as Paul in the world premiere of Daron Hagen's Amelia.

All four come together on stage to honor one of America's most treasured musical innovators, a man who, to one Boston Pops alumnus fortunate enough to learn from Leonard Bernstein, “makes me remember why I wanted to become a musician."

They are led by North Carolina Symphony Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks, presenting her first Symphony performance since returning from a summer tour of Europe as the conductor of Sting's Symphonicity Tour.

Regular tickets to the Symphony's Pops performances of “Bernstein on Broadway" on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23-24, range from $40 to $70, with $40 tickets for seniors and $10 tickets for students. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.

About the North Carolina Symphony

Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony performs over 175 concerts annually to adults and school children. The orchestra travels extensively throughout the state to venues in over 50 North Carolina counties. The orchestra employs 67 professional musicians under the artistic leadership of Music Director and Conductor Grant Llewellyn, Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and Associate Conductor Sarah Hicks.

Based in downtown Raleigh's spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts and an outdoor summer venue at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, N.C., the Symphony performs about 60 concerts annually in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary metropolitan area. It also holds regular concert series in Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines and Wilmington and individual concerts in many other North Carolina communities throughout the year.

For tickets, program notes, podcasts—or just to get to know your Symphony's musicians—visit the North Carolina Symphony Web site at www.ncsymphony.org. Call North Carolina Symphony Audience Services at 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.

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