Knight Sounds.

Carnivale comes to the Queen City with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals” and an excerpt from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” on May 9th at 7:30 p.m. in the Knight Theater. Tickets are $29 and include a free drink. A shortened matinee version will be performed at 12 p.m. that day for $12, and audience members are encouraged to bring their own lunch. Christopher Warren-Green will conduct both the evening and matinee performances. Brown Bag Matinees are a new initiative of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra developed from feedback from Charlotteans about the desire for more matinee shows. Warren-Green says, “To actually be able to have a break at lunchtime and let music wash over them was a perfect idea.” But  instead of making Charlotteans choose between eating and an early matinee, Warren-Green invented the Brown Bag Matinee, a program in which people can bring food and drink inside the theater. “All I want to do is make the make music as accessible as it possibly can be for as many people as we possibly can,” Warren-Green says. “That’s really where it came about. This is a way of getting the music to people on their terms.” Christopher Warren-Green.

Carnivale is part of the innovative Knight Sounds series, which features shorter, more informal and interactive concerts with pre- or post-concert activities. KnightSounds concerts offer collaborative performances with Charlotte area arts groups, and Carnivale will follow suit with Charlotte Ballet 2 and Charlotte Ballet Academy performing Mark Diamond’s choreography with the Symphony. After the performance, audience members are encouraged to enjoy a street festival on Levine Avenue for the Arts. The festival will include food trucks, a cash bar, jugglers, aerialists and more.