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WINSTON-SALEM — The Winston-Salem Symphony has announced the concert schedule for spring 2021, the second half of the symphony’s 2020–21 Season Reimagined. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, these concerts feature music for smaller orchestras that accommodate socially distanced musicians on stage. The symphony produced five concerts this fall and will again present five concerts this spring. The 2020–21 Season Reimagined presenting sponsors are Bell, Davis & Pitt and Truist.

All spring 2021 concerts will be available online to Spring Stage Pass members or can be purchased for $20 per stream (concerts will be available on-demand for 30 days after initial post). Stage Pass is a digital membership program providing access to exclusive online content including live-streamed performances, “Etherbound” presentations, behind-the-scenes extras, and interviews with musicians and special guests. Stage Pass can be purchased at wssymphony.org for $75.

Concert information:

All information provided is subject to change. The Winston-Salem Symphony is committed to the safety of musicians, audiences, and the community.

The Chevalier: A Voice to be Heard

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, 7:30 p.m.

Timothy Redmond, Music Director

Bill Barclay, artistic director

Gregg Jamback, videographer

The symphony, in partnership with National Black Repertory Company, will present “The Chevalier: A Voice to be Heard,” as a part of its “Etherbound” series. “The Chevalier” will be released to the Winston-Salem Symphony’s Stage Pass holders on Jan. 14, before being released on social media channels including IGTV, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as on the symphony’s website. This project is a part of the symphony’s community engagement and activation project, MusicConnects, connecting a relevant topic of our time with music, specifically Black Lives Matter.

This project is inspired by the music and story of composer Joseph Bologne and is the prequel to “The Chevalier,” a new concert theatre tour addressing music and race. A meditation on the true nature of equality, based entirely on historical events, it is told in today’s language, conflating the fervor of the French Revolution with the resistance against authoritarianism unfolding in 2020. Joseph Boulogne, le Chevalier de Saint-Georges — master composer, virtuoso violinist, finest fencer in Europe, general of Europe’s first Black regiment, and crusader against slavery — was an extraordinary artist of color nearly forgotten by white-washed history. The full play featuring the Winston-Salem Symphony will be offered at next year’s National Black Theatre Festival. Other collaborators in this project include Authoring Action. To learn more, go to concerttheatreworks.com/portfolio/the-chevalier/.

Valentine’s Mixtape

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021

Timothy Redmond, Christopher Gilliam, and Karen Ní Bhroin, conductors

Recorded at Reynolds Auditorium and available for on-demand viewing for 30 days

This performance will take audience members back to the days of making mixed tapes, CDs, or playlists for their “crush” or loved one. Valentine’s Mixtape will feature some of the greatest romantic music from across musical genres including Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Mahler’s “Adagietto,” and Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” performed by one of Winston-Salem’s favorite sopranos, Jodi Burn. Also on the mixtape is Lloyd Webber’s “Think of Me” and Gershwin’s “Embraceable You.”

Center Stage

Saturday, March 13, 2021, at 7:30 p.m.

Timothy Redmond, conductor

Recorded at the Stevens Center and available for on-demand viewing for 30 days

This concert will feature the “Renaissance Concerto,” by American composer Lukas Foss. Performed by principal flutist Kathryn Levy, Foss’s flute concerto is written in in a modern fashion but based on Renaissance works, in effect a “handshake across the centuries.” Principal cellist Brooks Whitehouse will perform Elgar’s sublime “Cello Concerto,” which conveys intimate sentiments of sorrow and despair, as the composer looked back over his life. The concert will open with George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture,” a sophisticated and dynamic work punctuated by Caribbean rhythms and Cuban native percussion.

The World Beloved: A Blue Grass Mass by Carol Barnett

Saturday, April 24, 2021, at 7:30 p.m.

Christopher Gilliam, conductor

Recorded at Reynolds Auditorium and available for on-demand viewing for 30 days

This joyful choral concert features the Winston-Salem Symphony Chorus, directed by Dr. Christopher Gilliam, performing a unique mass orchestrated for bluegrass instruments. In addition to the symphony chorus, performers include North Carolina-based bluegrass phenoms Hank Pattie and the Current. This concert will be recorded at Reynolds Auditorium and will also be available for 30 days after the release on April 24.

For Your Eyes Only: Music of James Bond

May 8, 2021, at 7:30 p.m.

Timothy Redmond, conductor

Live and Live Streamed: The location is TBD

The sultry hit songs behind the James Bond movies are every bit as legendary as the martini-drinking 007 himself. Hear the most memorable themes from over 50 years of Bond films, including “Skyfall,” “Nobody Does It Better,” “Goldfinger,” “Live and Let Die,” and over a dozen more, backed by the power of the Winston-Salem Symphony and a host of talented guest vocalists. You’ll be shaken, stirred (sorry 007) and thoroughly entertained.