NC Symphony to perform at TCCC
Famous orchestra visits the mountains Thursday

Capital Bank's "Blue Skies and Red Earth," celebration is set to showcase the richness of the traditional music of North Carolina.

The performance will be held Thursday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Enloe Building at Tri-County Community College. Tickets are $35 for reserved seats, $10 for adults, and $5 for TCCC students, children 12 and under, and seniors, and are available on the TCCC campus. Call Dotie Ortega at (828) 835-4208 for more information.

"This concert is exciting on so many levels," said Symphony General Manager Scott Freck. "In addition to spectacular solo performances, we have some exciting collaborations with the symphony."

"As a Welshman, I come from a country of people who love to sing and play traditional music," Music Director Grant Llewellyn said. "I'm thrilled to learn more about the traditional music of North Carolina and bring it to new audiences in our state."

The history of the music of "Blue Skies and Red Earth":

* River Cane Flute: "Blue Skies and Red Earth" begins by honoring the Native American peoples who flourished for thousands of years before European settlement. Carved from wood and reed, this simple, elegant instrument has come to express the deep spirituality of native peoples across our land.

* The ballad: The most enduring form of English music in North Carolina is the Today, ballad singing remains strongest in Madison County, North Carolina, close to Asheville.

* Fiddle and banjo: The essential instrument of early British and European settlers was the highly portable violin. Even one good fiddler could fuel a dance party for hours. At the same time, the polyphonic sounds of West Africa were being heard with increasing force as the institution of slavery began to profoundly shape the American experience.

* Gospel: At the center of African American social and cultural life since slavery times, the church has given rise to majestic song styles and powerful performers. Within a few years of the Civil War's end, concerts of spirituals electrified audiences in northern cities and European capitals.

* The Blues: By the early 1900s, blues and jazz music had germinated in the Deep South. North Carolina established its own distinctive Piedmont blues style in the 1930s that favored spirited uptempo guitar finger-picking.

* Jazz: Jazz has also played a prominent role in the state's history.

* Bluegrass: These supercharged string-band ensembles are a post WWII phenomenon that draw heavily on blues and jazz.

The narrator for the May performances is Grammy Award-winning folk musician and storyteller David Holt, a longtime resident of North Carolina.