News Release

New season, Memorial Hall renovation
herald new era for Carolina performing arts

CHAPEL HILL — Itzhak Perlman, Wynton Marsalis, Nanci Griffith. Theater from Mali, hip-hop, string quartets and ballerinas. Orchestras. Modern dance. And more.

This is not the 2005-2006 lineup for Carnegie Hall, but Memorial Hall at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. These and other world-renowned performers will appear Sept. 9 through May 20 in the newly renovated theater, heralding a new era for the arts at Carolina.

"This magnificent season and the new face of Memorial Hall represent a giant step forward in our quest to elevate the performing arts at Carolina," said Chancellor James Moeser. "These performances will enrich the education our students receive and will enhance the lives of people in our community and region."

The 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series, "A Movement to Greatness," will present more than 700 artists in more than 40 performances.

A Sept. 8 ribbon-cutting will celebrate the grand re-opening of Memorial after a two-year, nearly $18 million renovation. On Sept. 9, renowned crooner Tony Bennett will give the renovated hall’s first performance, "A Prelude to an Opening."

A Grand Opening Gala will take place on Sept. 10 with a concert titled "A Classical Opening." The evening will feature violinist Itzhak Perlman, violinist/violist Pinchas Zukerman and the North Carolina Symphony, led by Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.

"This is the opportunity of a lifetime for our students and the greater community to hear our state’s beloved orchestra with three of the world’s greatest classical artists of our time," said Emil Kang, Carolina’s executive director for the arts.

Opening Gala tickets are on sale at the Carolina Union Box Office, 919-962-1449, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, by phone or in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.

The new hall’s first week will continue with "Carolina Performs: A Student Performing Arts Celebration" on Sept. 11; and National Public Radio’s "Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me," taped in Memorial, Sept. 15 and 16 and broadcast at later dates.

Subscriptions to all performances, packaged by genre, will go on sale at the box office July 1. Subscribers also will have the opportunity to purchase single-event tickets beginning July 1. Others may buy single-event tickets beginning Aug. 29. Prices, to be announced later, will vary by event and seat location. For updates, visit www.unc.edu/performingarts. Tickets for the North Carolina Symphony performances in Memorial are on sale now and can be purchased by contacting the symphony box office at (919) 733-2750. Tickets for the Carolina Ballet performances in Memorial will be available to series subscribers on July 1 and for individual purchase on Aug. 29 from the Carolina Union box office at (919) 962-1449.

"We will present the very best from the full spectrum of the performing arts," Kang said. "The season will showcase internationally renowned recitalists and orchestras, dance companies, chamber ensembles, theater, and jazz, folk and world music performers."

Moeser brought Kang to UNC in January to lead performing arts programs in Memorial; encourage artistic collaboration, innovation and creativity among academic units; and showcase the breadth and quality of student and faculty arts programs by unifying the arts voice on campus through programming, marketing and dialogue.

Memorial helps anchor the new Arts Common, part of the campus master plan, which will encompass an area extending southward from Franklin Street, the university’s front door, to Playmakers Theatre, the oldest building on campus dedicated to the arts. "The Arts Common will be a space where campus and community intersect," Kang said. "Renovated, expanded and new facilities will encourage traditional connections and inspire new collaborations."

Memorial’s renovation is the first step toward that goal. Additions on the east and west ends have made possible a larger lobby, grand new staircases and more rest rooms. The stage house on the back of the building was replaced with a state-of-the-art facility. Public funds, including those from the higher education bond referendum in 2001, and private donations to the Carolina First Campaign funded the renovation.

The new Memorial has a central heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system – the latter is the first air-conditioning ever in the building – new lighting and sound systems and improved handicapped accessibility.

Refurbished chandeliers, ornate fixtures and a Carolina blue ceiling have transformed the auditorium, as has a new stage with wings.

"Memorial Hall, an important historical gathering place for our university, will express a grand sense of place," Kang said. "A sense of being at Carolina, and nowhere else."

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No. 220 -- Memorial’s 2005-2006 lineup includes orchestras, singers, puppets, ballerinas

Arts contact: Emil Kang, (919) 843-7776; emil_kang@unc.edu

News Services contacts: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589, or Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093