Piedmont Arts

Robert Franz, who is having a homecoming of sorts, is among the candidates for the Winston-Salem Symphony's search for its next music director. Raised in Davidson, he studied music at North Carolina School of the Arts. He speaks about the concert program, as well as the experience with building partnerships and youth education that he could bring to the music director position. Learn more about Robert Franz Conducting Rachmaninoff

Handel’s oratorio Messiah is a cultural perennial that has numerous performances every holiday season. Barbara Krumdieck, director of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and choral conductor Kenney Potter are collaborating on performances featuring the Charlotte Master Chorale. They speak about the historically informed approach they take to the familiar favorite, and why it keeps drawing them back year after year. Learn more about Charlotte Master Chorale's performance of Handel's Messiah

Music and imagery combine in a Charlotte Symphony concert program that brings together Holst’s beloved masterwork, The Planets , with a new work by the popular living composer Eric Whitacre called Deep Field . Music director Christopher Warren-Green describes the technological innovations in the Whitacre piece, which includes projected images from the Hubble Space Telescope and incorporates a phone app into the orchestration. The maestro also tells us about the astrological origins of Holst’s most famous work.

Kenney Potter, one of the area’s most popular choral conductors, talks about the Brahms Requiem performance by the Charlotte Master Chorale at First United Methodist Church. He tells us about the works unusual power to heal and console, and about his artistic goals for the ensemble in the future. Learn more about the Charlotte Master Chorale performance of Brahms' Requiem

Western Piedmont Music Director candidate Arthur Post speaks about the concert he’ll conduct at Lenoir Rhyne University. For this “audition” of his talents, he’s selected a varied program of Copland, Haydn and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances . Learn more about Masterworks II: Fall

The 2018 Colour of Music Festival will take place at various venues throughout historic Charleston, SC. The festival highlights classical composers, musicians and vocalists of African descent. Lee Pringle, founder and artistic director of the Colour of Music Festival, speaks about the importance of this type of music series; the highlights of the current season; and the music teacher who inspired his love of classical music. Learn more about The Color of Music Festival

After years under the leadership of maestro John Gordon Ross, this season the Western Piedmont Symphony is searching for a new music director. A number of promising prospects will be visiting to lead the orchestra in performances, and the first is a conductor familiar to music lovers in North Carolina. Matthew Troy will lead the orchestra in the first Masterworks Concert of the 2018 - 2019 season in P. E. Monroe Auditorium at Lenoir-Rhyne University. He speaks with WDAV about the wide-ranging program he’ll conduct, titled “Mystery, Science and Theater,” with selections from Liszt and Weber, to Rimsky-Korsakov and Bernard Hermann. Learn more about “Mystery, Science and Theater”

UNC School of the Arts marks the Bernstein centennial with an ambitious production of the composer’s theatrical work, Mass . Music director Karin Hendrickson, and stage director Douglas Webster speak about why Mass was commissioned to dedicate the Kennedy Center in Washington; the challenges of mounting a production with 200 performers onstage; and about the work’s timely message of coming together during turbulent times. Learn more about WDAV's 40th Anniversary Reception & Bernstein's Mass in Winston-Salem Learn more about the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Photo Credit: Paul de Hueck, courtesy the Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

Our region welcomes a new orchestra to the cultural scene — The Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra of South Carolina. Music Director David Rudge speaks about the enthusiastic response the orchestra has received even before its first program. He also shares details about their inaugural concert, and tells us how the new orchestra will contribute to Rock Hill’s sense of civic pride. Learn more about the Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural season Pictured: David Rudge; photo by Danielle Bock.

After 43 years as the principal clarinetist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Gene Kavadlo is retiring. He began his career as a music educator in the Manhasset Public Schools on Long Island before taking a gamble to become a symphony musician. He talks with WDAV about his musical journey, living in Charlotte and what will come next as he turns the page on an incredible career.