North Carolina’s Charlotte Symphony Orchestra Reveals Mobile Stage 

The mobile stage will be used to bring free concerts to Charlotte’s underserved communities

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and city officials recently unveiled a mobile stage in the form of a 40-foot trailer that can be easily pulled around the city with a pickup truck to host concerts across various locations. 

Around 10 CSO concerts will be held in parks, plazas, and other outdoor venues annually. The first one on April 28, 2024, was on Central Avenue during a Latin American Coalition event. The second concert on May 5, will be at Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church on West Sugar Creek Road. Both locations are in Corridors of Opportunity and underserved areas in Charlotte. 

“[Imagine] a trailer that has a side that comes down and a top that folds out to create a protected environment in which the musicians can play their instruments safely protected from the elements,” CSO’s CEO David Fisk told WFAE. “But the audience can easily see them because it’s well-lit, and we have sound amplification.”

With a simple push of a button, the trailer can unfold into a mobile stage that can house up to 35 musicians. At each concert, CSO musicians will play music that organizers suggest will resonate with the audience.

“We have chosen music that is by Latin American composers and we’ll have most of it with a great dance rhythm as well as music that’s going to be with and by Ultima Nota, who are a Charlotte band,” Fisk added. “When we go to Mayfair Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, we’ll be doing a combination of soul music, Motown and spirituals. We’ll have as a soloist the First Lady of the church, Wanda Hunter Wherry … a professionally trained classical singer.”

City and CSO officials say the goal of the concerts is not just to attract residents to the orchestra’s performances elsewhere, but to meet residents where they are so people citywide can experience orchestra playing in a more accessible way. 

This mobile stage initiative and other arts projects is a part of Charlotte’s Corridors of Opportunity program, which will invest $109 million in public and private dollars into underserved neighborhoods over the next five years.

According to the program’s interim manager Erin Gillespie, the city provided $200,000 toward the cost of the mobile stage, which is aimed to become a long-term initiative that will spark other arts organizations to bring their programs to underserved communities.

“I’m really excited about the roadshow program because we are directly addressing one of those top priorities and needs that the communities identified for us,” Gillespie said. “This is probably a very small project in the grand scheme of things, but this project is just one of lots of multiple ways that we are providing support and investing into the community in these corridors to help them achieve their vision and goals of how they want their communities to develop.”

A short news report of the program’s impact in communities can be viewed below.