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Through thematic programming surrounding North Carolina Symphony Explorations concerts, we work to increase awareness of how music, art and literature can provide a tool for examining culture more deeply. Rhiannon Giddens has made a Grammy Award-winning career of bringing ancient and more recent song traditions to modern life with her band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the North Carolina Symphony is honored that she will bring that creative spark and scholarly passion to our stage. Ms. Giddens follows the path of the songwriter through orchestral music – from the Renaissance-era troubadour songs of Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, through minstrel songs of the mid-1800s, to a work by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – who was dubbed by early 20th century New York orchestral players as “the black Mahler” – to a world premiere North Carolina Symphony-commissioned arrangement which reimagines three stunning songs by the brilliant African American composer Will Marion Cook. Cook’s turn of the century songs highlight some of the first African American music to be performed in a major Broadway house. Long before the Harlem Renaissance, his music won high acclaim and heralded the arrival of the rhythms and vocabulary of ragtime and jazz in a mainstream setting. Rhiannon Giddens Rhiannon Giddens, who attended the Oberlin Conserva- tory of Music and studied music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a coloratura soprano, is also a co-founder of the famed string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. With their 2010 Nonesuch debut, “Genuine Negro Jig” – which garnered a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album – the Carolina Chocolate Drops proved that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they had so scrupulously researched and passionately performed could be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound. In early 2012, the Carolina Chocolate Drops released their studio album “Leaving Eden” (Nonesuch Records) produced by Buddy Miller. The album featured founding members Ms. Giddens and Mr. Flemons, along with multi- instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins and cellist Leyla McCalla, already a familiar presence at the group’s live shows. With Mr. Flemons and Ms. McCalla now concentrating on solo work, the group’s 2014 lineup features two more virtuosic players alongside Giddens and Jenkins – cellist Malcolm Parson and multi-instrumentalist Rowan Corbett – illustrating the expansive, continually exploratory nature of the Chocolate Drops’ music. While Ms. Giddens stays busy making music and performing with the Chocolate Drops, she still finds the time to make solo appearances. Last fall, she joined fellow folk artists for “Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis,’” a one-night-only event at New York City’s Town Hall to celebrate the music featured in the Coen Brothers’ most recent film. Her performances that evening were dazzling, prompting rave reviews from many media outlets. The New York Times called her the “concert’s real head turner,” while Variety named her a “breakout star... hold[ing] the capacity crowd spellbound.” Concerts with Rhiannon Giddens and the North Carolina Symphony are part of the 2013/14 Raleigh Classical Series. EXPLORATIONS: Rhiannon Giddens See the complete schedule inside! Series Partners For program notes, go to the Rhiannon Giddens concert page at ncsymphony.org Are you on Twitter? Share your experiences with this Explorations #ncsandrhiannon
