WILSON, N.C. — The Barton College/Wilson Symphony Orchestra will present its Spring Concert on Sunday, May 6, at 3 p.m. in the Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre on the Barton campus. The symphony, under the direction of Mark N. Peterson, will welcome to the Barton stage Bonnie Thron, principal cellist of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra Bonnie Thron, who will perform Dvorak’s dynamic “Cello Concerto in B Minor.”
“We are delighted that this distinguished local personality is available to perform with us,” shared Peterson. “The Dvorak concerto has always been my personal favorite, and I have wanted for years to present it to our Wilson audience,” said Peterson. In addition to the cello concerto, the orchestra will play three popular works by Edward Elgar, two of the stately “Pomp and Circumstance” marches and the haunting “Nimrod” from “Enigma Variations.”
Thron joined the North Carolina Symphony as principal cellist in 2000. Prior to that appointment, she was a member of the Peabody Trio in residence at the Peabody Institute, during which time the group won the Naumberg chamber music competition. Earlier in her career, Thron was assistant principal cellist of the Denver Symphony for a season, and she played and recorded with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. During the summer seasons, she plays in the Sebago Long Lake Music Festival in Harrison, Maine. She also has a long history with the Apple Hill Chamber Players as a guest artist and chamber music coach and was involved in the group’s first Playing for Peace Tour to the Middle East in 1991.
Thron has performed concertos with the North Carolina Symphony, the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Panama National Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and various other orchestras in North Carolina as well as her home state of New Hampshire.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, and her teachers include Lynn Harrell, Harvey Shapiro, Norman Fischer. and Elsa Hilger. Thron also received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and worked for several years as a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also served as a case manager in home care nursing while also in service as a cello teacher at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Following the concert, the audience is cordially invited to meet Thron and the symphony musicians at a reception, hosted by ARAMARK Higher Education, in the Bridgestone Americas Atrium of the Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre.
Admission for the spring orchestra performance will be $10 at the door or by season ticket. All students within the community will be admitted free of charge as well as faculty, staff and students of Barton College. For additional information, please contact Laura Ashley Lamm at 252-399-6334 or email: lalamm@barton.edu.
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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu.