Posted at charlotte.com on Sun, Sep. 11, 2005

STEVE LYTTLE

Staff Writer - Charlotte Observer

Philharmonic strikes a chord with TV viewers

Charlotte group's concerts aired on public stations; more performances in the works

Albert Moehring knows not everyone agrees with his philosophy on how to lead an orchestra.

"But that's OK," says Moehring, founder and conductor of the Charlotte Philharmonic. "We try to have fun. And I think it's catching on."

The Charlotte Philharmonic is the Charlotte area's "other" orchestra, performing in the shadows of the Charlotte Symphony, whose members are mostly full time. The Philharmonic's 75 members have other jobs, sometimes in one or more of the 11 other professional orchestras in the Carolinas.

They have a schedule of seven regular concerts this season, along with a number of pops performances in the summer.

But the Philharmonic's new gig is television. Several of the group's concerts have been taped and are airing nationally on public broadcasting stations.

Viewers apparently like what they see.

Collette Panah, of KLCS-TV in Los Angeles, said the station decided to try airing the Philharmonic's Christmas concert last Dec. 24. "We were pleasantly surprised that the Philharmonic's special was our highest-rated prime-time program that evening," Panah said.

Panah asked Moehring for more. He is responding.

The Charlotte Philharmonic already has produced a July 4 "Stars and Stripes Forever" concert, which received top-10 ratings earlier this year for public TV stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Future plans call for "Tenors in the Spotlight," "Viva la Divas" and "Magic at the Philharmonic."

The concerts have something in common -- they combine classic orchestra music with traditional show business, such as dance, vocals and even magic.

That is right down Moehring's alley.

Moehring, 57, born in the Netherlands and reared in Canada, is the son of a Canadian opera singer and says he "grew up at the opera house in Toronto."

"It has everything," he says of opera. "Song, dance, music -- it all comes together on the stage. That was the basis for what I believe."

Moehring got an education with some of music's finest -- at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and at the Aspen School of Music, where he met his wife, Pat, a pianist.

"I wanted to be a conductor, but nothing happened," he says. "So I went into the business world."

Pat Moehring didn't like the snow and cold of Toronto, and Al Moehring didn't care for Pat's home town of Memphis, Tenn. They picked Charlotte as a compromise in the late 1970s.

"I built a nice real estate business, but then the big bust of 1986 came along," Moehring says. "I needed something different."

He returned to his first love, music.

Moehring put an ad in newspapers, asking for musicians to help start an orchestra. He got 135 responses, then held a garage sale to raise money.

"The first year, our entire budget was $11,000," he recalls. The current budget is $750,000 -- still less than 5 percent of the Charlotte Symphony's annual spending.

Moehring and his group of musicians performed occasional concerts for 13 years without much fanfare. Then in 2003, orchestra publicist Mary Ciminelli asked Moehring if he'd ever considered taping a concert for television.

"It seemed natural," Ciminelli says. "With all the dancers and other entertainment, I thought it would be perfect."

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick helped the Philharmonic land a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and Moehring used the money to tape a Christmas special. Moehring took the tape to a convention of public broadcasting executives in early 2004, and almost three dozens stations agreed to air the concert.

That success led to others.

Moehring's productions are not what you might expect in a symphonic concert.

"Stars and Stripes Forever" includes dancers, plenty of flags and appearances by uniformed military members. Illusionist Lyn Dillies performed during "Magic at the Philharmonic," which was taped Sept. 3 at the Belk Theater. And in "Tenors in the Spotlight," featuring three outstanding tenors, Moehring himself turns toward the audience during one number and sings several measures.

"I'm not in their class," he says with a laugh, comparing himself to the professional tenors.

Moehring says he realizes some fans of orchestras and classical music probably turn up their nose at the Charlotte Philharmonic's productions. But, he adds, that isn't his problem.

"We're trying to take the stuffiness out of orchestras," he says. "We're reaching people who otherwise might not watch an orchestra perform. What's wrong with building more interest in music?"