Not in the mood for March Madness? How about March Melodrama? The Blue Ridge Orchestra (BRO) will offer the two performances of orchestral favorites at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2, in Lipinsky Hall at UNC Asheville.
Local musician, cellist and composer Franklin Keel will lead the orchestra as guest conductor. Keel, associate principal cello with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, is part of many local and regional projects, including the Opal String Quartet, Ben Phantom, Upland Drive and Sirius.B.
The guest artist for March Melodrama will be Ivan Seng. Since receiving his master’s degree in piano performance from the UNC School of the Arts, Seng has taught and performed regularly in Winston-Salem and Asheville, working with area ensembles, including the Dead Eduards piano trio and Pan Harmonia.
March Melodrama is the second offering of Blue Ridge Orchestra’s 25th anniversary season, which is dedicated to expressing Western North Carolina’s resilience after Tropical Storm Helene. In a press release about the event, BRO music director Emily Mariko Eng says, “We wanted this March program to explore emotions in their extremes … through the musical voices of Mozart, Dvorak and Gluck.” For March 1 tickets, visit avl.mx/ek3. March 2 tickets are available at avl.mx/ek4.
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