Composer Portraits: Mozart, Dec. 3-5
RALEIGH, N.C.—Sir Peter Shaffer’s beloved play Amadeus is the foundation for a one-of-a-kind hybrid of music and theater that will receive its only three performances this December in Raleigh. Actors Ray Dooley and Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) star in the first-ever collaboration between the North Carolina Symphony and PlayMakers Repertory Company, bringing music’s most famous prodigy to life on the concert hall stage.
This unique collaboration between two of the Triangle’s premier arts organizations takes place at Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 3-4, at 8:00 p.m., followed by a matinee performance on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 3:00 p.m.
With the full North Carolina Symphony led by Music Director Grant Llewellyn on stage, Ray Dooley plays Austrian court composer Antonio Salieri, Mozart’s scheming musical rival, along with other PlayMakers favorites returning from the cast of the hit 2007-08 season production. Making a special appearance as the Emperor will be PlayMakers’ own Producing Artistic Director Joseph Haj, who is also directing the action. Television, film and theater actor Michael Urie stars in the title role. This original adaptation includes full costuming, props and all the key scenes from PlayMakers’ staging of the Tony Award-winning play.
“To collaborate with Grant Llewellyn and his extraordinary colleagues at the North Carolina Symphony is a rare gift, both for our organization and our community,” says Haj. “I am thrilled to direct and act in a production with this company and to share the stage with Maestro Llewellyn.”
“We’re overjoyed to be working with PlayMakers on this innovative and inspiring project,” adds Symphony Vice President for Artistic Operations and General Manager Scott Freck. “To work closely with Joseph Haj and the entire PlayMakers team for these past months has been an incredible privilege. By coming together to break new ground, our audience members will gain insight not otherwise possible in a single-discipline performance.”
These concerts are the second entries in the Symphony’s “Composer Portraits” series, which allows concertgoers the chance to go deeper than they ever have into the work of classical music vanguards. Audience members can also take home the limited edition Composer Portraits book and poster. Visit the Symphony’s “Explore the Score” page www.ncsymphony.org/explorethescore) to learn about all the special packages available during this innovative program.
Tickets to this Duke Medicine Classical Series Raleigh performance range from $30 to $45. Meymandi Concert Hall is located in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., in Raleigh.
For tickets, program notes, podcasts, videos, blogs and more, visit the North Carolina Symphony Web site at www.ncsymphony.org or call 919.733.2750 or toll free 877.627.6724.
For information on PlayMakers’ 2008 production of Amadeus, and tickets to its 2010-11 season plays and programming, visit www.playmakersrep.org or call 919.962.PLAY (7529).
Contact: Jeannie Mellinger, 919.789.5484, jmellinger@ncsymphony.org
Download photos at ncsymphony.org/media/
PlayMakers contact: Connie Mahan, 919.428.1744, cmahan@email.unc.edu
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Amadeus: a play with incidental music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including:
Overture to Don Giovanni, K.527 (1787)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756‑91)
Serenade No. 10 in B-flat Major, “Gran Partita for Thirteen Wind Instruments,” K.370a (361) (1781‑84)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
III. Adagio
“Martern aller Arten” from Abduction from the Seraglio, K.384 (1782)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Excerpts from Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K.186a (201) (1774)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Excerpts from Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, K320d (364) (1779)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mass in C minor, K.417a (427) (1782‑83)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
I. Kyrie
Excerpts from Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K.488 (1786)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Excerpts from The Marriage of Figaro, K.492 (1786)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ave verum corpus, K.618 (1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“O Isis und Osiris” from The Magic Flute, K.620 (1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Excerpts from Requiem in D minor, K.626 (1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Masonic Funeral Music, K.479a (477) (1785)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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