Share
The Carolinas Concert Association, one of Charlotte's oldest cultural groups, will enter next season as a revamped organization with a new name.
As Charlotte Concerts, “we're going to be presenting… a new face,” president Gail Brinn Wilkins said.
The group has presented classical music and dance performances since 1931. In its heyday, it prided itself on bringing top performers that drew full-house crowds. But in recent years, it was hit by a decline in attendance, even before the recession.
Last spring, the group's board of directors considered a proposal to shut down. But the majority voted to reorganize instead.
“We want (to be) a vibrant organization that is attractive to those who like classical music or want to know about classical music,” Wilkins said.
The group hopes one of the main attractions will be a new location for its concerts. It will leave the Belk Theater and use the smaller Halton Theater at Central Piedmont Community College for most of its concerts. Halton's appeals, Wilkins said, include excellent acoustics, a convenient location near uptown and free parking.
Except for a January concert by a top prize-winner of the recent Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the concerts will feature ensembles – such as a trio including pianist Navah Perlman, who was the soloist in a 2005 concert with the Prague Symphony. The season will include a concert by Charlotte's Ethos Consortium, which marshals professional musicians mainly from the Piedmont.
The series doesn't include an orchestra. Wilkins said that was a matter of economics.
“We're being prudent,” Wilkins said, “bringing some very exciting smaller groups rather than orchestras, which are very expensive… We'll build to that again.”
While the coming season omits a dance troupe, a typical component of its seasons, the group also aims to return to that, Wilkins said.
Behind the scenes, Wilkins said, the reorganization includes a rebuilt board of directors that includes “a cross-section of age” and other attributes. The group also hopes to benefit from cooperation with CPCC. The school will include an April concert by the Empire Brass in its annual ArtsFest.
