News Release

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Russian orchestra, virtuoso Bronfman, 
to perform March 12 at Memorial Hall

CHAPEL HILL — The Russian National Orchestra and piano virtuoso Yefim Bronfman, both Grammy Award winners, will perform at 7 p.m. March 12 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The concert in Memorial Hall will be part of the 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series. The program will feature Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and his "Manfred" symphony.

The concerto, highly controversial when it premiered, became popular in later years and has been featured in numerous Hollywood movies. The symphony is based on Lord Byron’s dramatic poem "Manfred," an example of literary Romanticism noted for its Gothic appeal.

The orchestra is the first Russian ensemble since the Tsars to operate independent of government control and the first Russian orchestra ever to win a Grammy.

Yefim Bronfman, born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, during the Soviet era, is widely regarded as one of today’s most talented classical pianists. He has performed with major national and international orchestras and artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Pinchas Zukerman.

Single tickets – $28 to $75 for the public and $10 for Carolina students – are available by calling (919) 843-3333, or from the Memorial Hall box office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Carolina students should call the box office for purchasing information.

The day of the concert, the box office will be open from noon until intermission. For more information, e-mail performingarts@unc.edu or visit www.unc.edu/performingarts. 

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Artists’ Web sites: RNO: www.russianarts.org/rno/index.cfm 
Bronfman: www.yefimbronfman.com 

Photo URLs: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/memorial/bronfman_yefim.jpg 
http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/memorial/russian_national_orchestra.jpg

Carolina Performing Arts Series contact: Jennifer Smith, (919) 966-3834, jwsmith@unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589