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Kwamé Ryan Proves Why His Charlotte Symphony Hiring Matters
By Lawrence Toppman Kwamé Ryan loves Johannes Brahms, as he told fans at the pre-concert talk Friday before his formal debut as music director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO). He was making...
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‘Cody Fry Christmas’ as Easygoing and Agreeable as Its Star
By Lawrence Toppman “So who IS Cody Fry?” asked a Knight Theater patron, as a handful of us descended the elevator into the parking garage. “I still don’t know.” (I assume he didn’t use a QR code to...
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Charlotte Symphony Serves A Nourishing Meal of Small Musical Plates
By Lawrence Toppman About once a season, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) programs a tapas concert: Pieces lasting 25 minutes or less, usually from different eras of music, that often serve as a...
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Charlotte Symphony Concert: Half Killer, Half Filler
By Lawrence Toppman Every arts event ought to be a voyage of discovery, and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concert Saturday at Knight Theater fit the description. The musicians discovered...
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Here’s an “Enigma:” Where Does the Charlotte Symphony Find Strong Guest...
By Lawrence Toppman I have been going over the roster of guest conductors since Kwame Ryan was hired, people who’ll fill his shoes until the 2025-26 season as music director, and I am trying...
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‘Havana’ good time with Zamora, Mambo Kings, Charlotte Symphony
By Lorenzo Cimahombre (Lawrence Toppman to you English-speakers) The drum kit at midstage seemed like a novelty, though classical composers from Haydn to Shostakovich have used non-classical drums....
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“Become Ocean:” A moving immersion in deep creative waters
By Lawrence Toppman For 45 minutes Saturday afternoon, the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) became one with the sensuous music of John Luther Adams. I became one with the primordial sea from which...
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Charlotte Symphony: The Extroversion Worked, the Introversion Did Not
By Lawrence Toppman A Shakespeare professor once returned my paper about “Othello” with the comment “An unusual idea, beautifully articulated and completely wrong.” I thought of that incident Saturday...
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Charlotte Symphony Unveils 2025-26 Season Like No Other
By Lawrence Toppman What will the old-timers say? What will people in their 70s, who have followed the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) for nearly five decades and gotten used to a diet mainly of...
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Perick rejoins CSO and rocks one-of-a-kind Wagner
Pictured: The Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center; courtesy Charlotte Symphony. By Lawrence Toppman Conducting classical music is one of the few jobs where a worker has the potential to...
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