From the Beaufort County Arts Council

The Beaufort County Arts Council will present the Eastern Youth Orchestras in a special HeART of the City concert on March 8 at the Turnage Theater in downtown Washington.  The concert will begin at 3 p.m. and is free to the public.

The Eastern Youth Orchestras are conducted by C. Greg Hurley and John B. O’Brien, two distinguished professors of music at East Carolina University. The senior orchestra will perform the fourth movement from Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 New World Symphony, in addition to the first movement of Haydn’s Concerto in E for Trumpet and Karl Stamitz’s Allegro movement from the Concerto No. 3 in B flat Major for Clarinet and Orchestra. The junior orchestra will play selections by classical and contemporary composers. The preparatory orchestra, conducted by Wendy Bissinger and composed of young performers from grades 4-7, will also perform.

The Eastern Youth Orchestra was established over 25 years ago to enrich the education of dedicated young musicians in Eastern North Carolina, many of who have no orchestra programs within their public school systems. A few years ago, an increase in interest prompted the formation of a junior orchestra, composed of string musicians.

The orchestras are composed of approximately 35 middle school and 45 high school musicians representing 10 eastern counties:  Bertie, Beaufort, Carteret, Craven, Greene, Nash, Northampton, Onslow, Pitt and Wilson.

The public is invited to this free performance to be followed by a reception in the BCAC Gallery.

The Eastern Youth Orchestra concert is presented by the Beaufort County Arts Council as part of the HeART of the City Series with support from the City of Washington.  For additional information, contact the Beaufort County Arts Council at 252-946-2504 or email info@beaufortcountyartscouncil.org.