GERSHWIN, RACHMANINOFF, & TRANE
Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, & Trane
Saturday
Sep 26, 2026
7:30 PM
Sunday
Sep 27, 2027
3:00 PM
Winston-Salem Symphony
Robert Young Saxophone
Michelle Merrill Conductor
George Gershwin
Symphonic Portrait on Porgy & Bess
Guillaume Connesson
A Kind of Trane
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances
Sat
Sep 26
7:30 PM
Sun
Sep 27
3:00 PM
Venue
Reynolds Auditorium
301 N. Hawthorn Rd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
Rideshare and Dining
Robert Young, saxophone
Hailed as “uncommonly expressive… and technically prodigious” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Robert Young connects with audiences through a blend of virtuosity and authenticity. Praised for his “effortless expression” (The Saxophonist Magazine), Young maintains a distinguished career as a soloist and chamber musician.
Recent highlights include Guillaume Connesson’s concerto, A Kind of Trane, with the Berkeley Symphony, alongside solo appearances with the Omaha Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, and the North Carolina Symphony. He has also appeared with the United States Navy Band and the Zagreb Soloists.
An active chamber musician, Young performed on the GRAMMY Award-winning album Gavin Bryars: The Fifth Century with the PRISM Quartet and The Crossing. Currently on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he is a Conn-Selmer Artist, D’Addario Artist/Clinician, and Key Leaves ambassador.
Michelle Merrill, conductor
WSS Music Director Michelle Merrill served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and also serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage. Ms. Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award as well as the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship as awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the world-renowned Salzburg Festival.