By Natasha Anderson
The Blue Ridge Orchestra ushers in the month of March with Musique Ménage, a concert of contrasts featuring Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 and original music by Fancy and the Gentlemen. The performance takes place on Saturday, March 4, at 3 p.m., in Haywood Community College’s Hemlock Auditorium, in Clyde, and on Sunday, March 5, at 3 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium at UNC Asheville.
Fancy and the Gentlemen
“We are honored and thrilled to be invited to perform with the Blue Ridge Orchestra,” says Fancy and the Gentlemen vocalist and guitarist Fancy Marie. “To have the opportunity to join our original music in our local community with a full orchestra is a rare and unique gift.”
First, the orchestra will perform Movements I, II and IV of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9, a magnificent work which has earned comparisons to Beethoven’s later symphonies. Often considered Schubert’s finest piece for orchestra, this symphony is also one of the composer’s most innovative pieces. Though thematic development in the style of Beethoven is present in the work, Schubert puts far more emphasis on melody. The work is often referred to simply as The Great, due to its dignity and beauty.
Following intermission, audiences will be transported from the mountains of 19th-century Austria to the mountains of 21st-century North Carolina. The BRO Strings will be joined by Fancy and the Gentlemen, an Asheville-based trio whose music, like Schubert’s, is a reflection of the time and place of its composition. Fancy Marie, Katie Leigh and Craig Kellberg have developed their own unique sound with roots in the traditions of honkytonk, blues, southern gothic and classical music.
“There are no words to describe the gratitude that we feel for being able to see this dream come to fruition,” says Fancy Marie. “We can only instead plan to communicate that gratitude and love for our art in this performance, collaborating with our hearts through this music.”
To learn more, visit BlueRidgeOrchestra.org, Facebook or Instagram, or call 828.782.3354.
