Raleigh, NC – The North Carolina Symphony has added a new virtual education performance to its online music education products created during the COVID-19 pandemic. The newest video transforms the Symphony’s curriculum-aligned Ensembles in the Schools program into Ensembles in the HOME Schools.
The North Carolina Symphony string quartet and woodwind quintet typically travel the state presenting Ensembles in the Schools in the classroom, gymnasiums, and media centers of elementary schools throughout North Carolina. To continue to reach students while schools are closed, string quartet members David Kilbride and Anton Shelepov (violins), Amy Mason (viola), and David Meyer (cello) each recorded—separately, in their own homes—the opening of their program. The fun-filled video demonstrates to students the teamwork of a string quartet and the role that each musician plays, and features a movement from Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 1—and even some singing by the musicians!
NCS believes that, during this challenging time, students need access to the arts more than ever. At the end of March, the Symphony released a digital broadcast of a North Carolina Symphony Education Concert featuring the full orchestra, as well as its companion Student Book. Those materials have now been accessed nearly 8,000 times, in counties across North Carolina, throughout the U.S., and even worldwide. Each week since, NCS has distributed online music education lesson plans that explore topics covered in the video in greater depth.
All virtual music education content is available free of charge at ncsymphony.org/virtual with password 1932. Ensembles in the HOME Schools is also available directly at this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/KT2HF87vXoo
NCS is honored to support parents, guardians, and teachers in carrying forward the education of our youth. The Symphony is deeply grateful to the State of North Carolina and to the corporations, foundations, and individuals who generously support our education program, as well as to our school system supporters, for making this possible.
The Symphony has also introduced weekly videos for its adult audiences—including videos filmed by individual musicians in their homes as well as new releases of recordings from past concerts. For the Symphony’s complete library of video content, please visit ncsymphony.org/virtual.
About the North Carolina Symphony
Founded in 1932, the North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is a vital and honored component of North Carolina’s cultural life. Each year, the North Carolina Symphony’s 300 concerts, education programs, and community engagement events are enjoyed by adults and schoolchildren in more than 90 North Carolina counties—in communities large and small, and in concert halls, auditoriums, gymnasiums, restaurants, clubs, and outdoor settings. The Symphony’s full-time professional musicians perform under the artistic leadership of Music Director Grant Llewellyn.
NCS’s state headquarters venue is the spectacular Meymandi Concert Hall at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. The Symphony’s service across the state includes series in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, New Bern, Southern Pines, and Wilmington, as well as the Summerfest series at its summer home, the outdoor Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. NCS brings some of the world’s greatest talents to North Carolina and embraces home-state artists from classical musicians to bluegrass bands, creating live music experiences distinctive to North Carolina.
Committed to engaging students of all ages across North Carolina, NCS leads the most extensive education program of any symphony orchestra—serving nearly 70,000 students each year. In alignment with the curriculum set by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the Symphony provides training and resources for teachers, sends small ensembles into classrooms, and presents full-orchestra Education Concerts that bring the fundamentals of music to life. Music Discovery for preschoolers combines music with storytelling, and at the middle and high school levels, students have opportunities to work directly with NCS artists and perform for NCS audiences.
NCS is dedicated to giving voice to new art, and has presented 56 U.S. or world premieres in its history. In 2017, NCS appeared at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., as one of four orchestras chosen for the inaugural year of SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras—an honor that recognized the Symphony’s creative programming and innovative community partnerships.
The first state-supported symphony in the country, NCS performs under the auspices of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. To learn more, visit ncsymphony.org.
Submitted by: Meredith Kimball Laing, Director of Communications, North Carolina Symphony