The Culture 2000 Tour II

Orchestra Noir returns to the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Arts Center on Saturday, March 27, 2027, with Culture 2000 Tour II. It's a brand-new production from the all-Black orchestra, and this time the focus is on the Hip-Hop and R&B records that defined a generation.

What they're doing is pretty straightforward: they take the biggest records of that era — the club anthems, the radio hits, the slow jams and the Southern classics — and rearrange them for a full orchestra. If you've heard these songs on a playlist, you've heard them as they were recorded; here, they're played live by a whole string and wind section. The production is billed as the next evolution of the Orchestra Noir experience, and it's a new show, not a repeat of what they've done before.

Maestro Jason Ikeem Rodgers is directing, and the orchestra itself is all-Black. The whole thing is a guest engagement, meaning it's not presented by Blumenthal Arts, but it's still playing at the Belk Theater. The set draws from a wide range of that era's sound, so you'll get the high-energy club tracks alongside the slower, more melodic stuff, all played by a full orchestra rather than a DJ or a small band.

The show starts at 8 PM, and tickets start at $77.02. If you've got a soft spot for the Hip-Hop and R&B of that era, it's a chance to hear those records in a way you've probably never heard them live before.