Winston-Salem Symphony: Inspiring Beethoven

This edition of the program begins in Winston-Salem, NC with a concert from March 2012 that starts with a contemporary work imagining Beethoven’s struggle for inspiration in the midst of adversity. It also includes one of Richard Strauss’ virtuosic horn concertos with distinguished guest soloist Jeff Nelson, and Beethoven’s most familiar symphony. Then we travel to Union County, NC outside of Charlotte for a program from January 2013 featuring the Union Symphony Orchestra and their acclaimed conductor Richard Rosenberg. Their concert starts with Stravinsky and then transitions to another 20^th century genius of a different stripe, the iconoclastic bandleader Raymond Scott, whose music was borrowed to accompany the antics of Warner Brothers cartoons. It also features the Union Symphony Youth Orchestra with a selection from Stravinsky’s landmark score for the ballet The Firebird.