Holiday Pops Durham 2025

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About the Durham Symphony: 

Founded in 1976 as one of the Triangle’s first community orchestras, the Durham Symphony Orchestra (DSO), has evolved into an auditioned professional group offering affordably priced or free concerts in a wide variety of community spaces.  Concert programs range from Baroque to contemporary plus the best of Broadway, Jazz, and Hollywood selections. The orchestra regularly features works by American composers, composers of color, and women plus a diverse array of guest artists.  The DSO has presented many premieres by gifted local and regional composers. Educational and mentorship programs are also vital to its work. The DSO performs often with young musicians and is committed to demonstrating that the joy of orchestral music belongs to everyone as a natural part of community life.

In 2009, conductor/composer William Henry Curry was named Music Director of the DSO, becoming the first African American music director of a symphony in the South and greatly enriching the DSO mission with his exceptional experience in education, outreach, and diverse programming. He was already well known and appreciated throughout our state and far beyond. For 20 years, Maestro Curry was Resident Conductor and Summerfest Artistic Director of the North Carolina Symphony. His engagements have also included the Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Detroit, and Atlanta Symphonies as well as the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Thailand, and the National Orchestra of Taiwan. Mr. Curry has held Resident Conductor posts with the Baltimore Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and has served as Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis and Atlanta Symphonies. His Eulogy for a Dream, a work for speaker and orchestra using excerpts from the speeches of Martin Luther King, was suggested to him by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, and has been performed by orchestras around the world. 

Here in Durham, Maestro Curry has delivered from the first on his commitment to make great orchestral music accessible to all—showcasing the classics while celebrating our diverse community and the eclecticism of American music itself.  In 2024, he was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to the board of the North Carolina Arts Council and received an honorary doctorate from UNC-Greensboro. And in November 2024, he was honored with our state’s highest civilian award, the North Carolina Award, for his extraordinary contributions to the state and nation in the field of Fine Arts.