Roberts & Stevens attorney Mary Robinson Hervig recognized as Board Certified Specialist in estate planning

Roberts & Stevens attorney Mary Robinson Hervig was recently recognized as a Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning by the North Carolina State Bar.

Hervig focuses her practice on assisting clients with advance medical directives (or “living wills”), powers of attorney, wills, and trusts, including tax planning. She also assists personal representatives and trustees with the administration of estates and trusts in North Carolina. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Hervig joined Roberts & Stevens in 2011.

The North Carolina State Bar, an agency of the State of North Carolina, certifies lawyers as specialists in designated practice areas as a service to the public. The program assists members of the public in the selection of legal counsel by identifying lawyers who have demonstrated special knowledge, skill, and proficiency in certain areas of law. The program also gives lawyers a credible way of making their expertise known to the public and other lawyers.

To be certified as a board certified specialist in a practice area, a lawyer must

• Be an active member in good standing with the North Carolina State Bar for at least five years,
• Devote at least 25% of his or her practice to the specialty during the past five years (substantial involvement),
• Attend continuing legal education (CLE) seminars in the specialty,
• Be favorably evaluated by other lawyers and judges (peer review), and
• Pass a written examination in the specialty practice area.

Certification is granted for a period of five years. To maintain certification, a lawyer must again demonstrate that he or she is substantially involved in the practice area; attend CLE seminars in the practice area; and be favorably evaluated by peers.

For more information about the North Carolina Legal Specialization program, and to view a list of board certified specialists by practice area, please visit the Legal Specialization website at nclawspecialists.gov, or call the State Bar at 919.828.4620.

Roberts & Stevens is one of the largest law firms in Western North Carolina and serves regional and national clients in 30 practice areas and industries. To learn more, visit www.roberts-stevens.com.

Free Labor Law posters include information about the employee classification section

Labor law posters provided by the N.C. Department of Labor have been updated to include the required information pertaining to the N.C. Employee Fair Classification Act, which takes effect Dec. 31. The new information is included on the Wage and Hour Notice to Employees section of the labor law posters. Labor law posters are available from NCDOL free of charge.

The Labor law posters are printed in two sections to include the Wage and Hour Notice and the Occupational Safety and Health Notice. Both sections are now updated to include NCDOL’s new web address—www.labor.nc.gov.

Employers should be aware that some companies who sell similar workplace posters use scare tactics to sell their products, and charge employers more than $150 for the posters. NCDOL has obtained recent letters from poster companies, which include false information that employers will be fined as much as $17,000 by NCDOL for displaying out-of-date posters.

“Employers are required to display the posters, but they are not required to purchase the posters,” Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry said. “NCDOL will not fine businesses with older versions of the posters. Should you receive solicitations from companies attempting to sell posters by threatening with fines from NCDOL, just throw them in the trash and call my office for your free set.”

To determine which posters are required, or to order updated posters, visit www.labor.nc.gov or call 1-800-NC-LABOR (1-800-625-2267).

Asheville Symphony New Year's Eve celebration features Orff's "Carmina Burana" and concludes Daniel Meyer's tenure

New Year’s Eve is perfectly suited to grand traditions, and the Asheville Symphony invites audiences to join the party as it continues its tradition of featuring a full program of great music and a festive after-party on New Year’s Eve. This year’s concert features Orff’s Carmina Burana, and celebrates the tenure of Music Director Daniel Meyer as he conducts his final concert as artistic leader of the symphony. 

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. under Meyer’s baton at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in downtown Asheville.

An after-party to ring in the New Year will be held in the U.S. Cellular Center banquet hall following the concert. Daniel Meyer and members of the orchestra will join partygoers for dancing, a 1940s jazz band, heavy hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and a midnight toast. Tickets for the after-party are $125 per person and are available by calling 828-254-7046 (reserve by December 21).

The evening opens with the magnificent “Bacchanale” from Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila. This is the only one of Saint-Saëns’ many operas, ballets, and stage works to remain in the classical repertory. It is filled with drama and musical virtuosity. The “Bacchanale” is the dance within the opera, which teems with seduction and joyful celebration. 

Next, the ASO continues its tradition of featuring up-and-coming soloists from the Cleveland Institute of Music with violinist Isabelle Durrenberger as she performs Wieniawski’s rhapsodic and romantic Violin Concerto No. 2. 

Durrenberger’s exquisite performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s (CIM) Fall Concerto Competition earned her the prestigious 2017 Payne Fund Prize, which provides a CIM student the opportunity to perform with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. As a member of the Verita Quartet she won the silver medal in the 2015 Saint Paul String Quartet competition. In 2014, she was featured as a soloist and chamber musician on NPR’s From the Top.

Capping off the evening is Carl Orff’s instantly recognizable Carmina Burana. This massive work includes three guest vocal soloists—soprano Elizabeth Caballero, tenor Daniel Curran, and baritone Corey McKern, as well as the full Asheville Symphony Chorus, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Orff’s masterpiece cantata is filled with joy, love and lust in a rich, colorful score. 

Excerpts of it have been featured in dozens of films, television series, commercial advertisements, and sporting events.

Single tickets for the concert are $24-74, depending on seating section (reduced youth pricing is available). Single tickets and ticket packages can be purchased online at ashevillesymphony.org, by phone at 828-254-7046, or in person at the U.S. Cellular Center box office at 87 Haywood Street. Tickets for the New Year’s Eve after-party are $125 per person and are available until December 21 by calling 828-254-7046.

New Year’s Eve: Orff’s Carmina Burana

Sunday, December 31, 2017 • 7:30 p.m.

Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

Daniel Meyer, conductor

Isabelle Durrenberger, violin

Program:

Saint-Saëns                        “Bacchanale” from Samson et Dalila

Wieniawski                        Violin Concerto No. 2

Orff                                        Carmina Burana

                                                                featuring Asheville Symphony Chorus

                                                                Elizabeth Caballero, soprano

                                                                Daniel Curran, tenor

                                                                Corey McKern, baritone

A Swannanoa Solstice Annual Holiday Concert - Dec. 17th at Diana Wortham Theatre

Award-winning recording artists Al Petteway, Amy White, and Robin Bullock lead the annual holiday concert A Swannanoa Solstice, Sunday, December 17 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Diana Wortham Theatre in downtown Asheville. In this annual winter holiday celebration, now in its 15^th year, world-renowned musicians Petteway, White, and Bullock, Grammy Award winner David Holt, and other special guests share holiday songs old and new, religious and secular, joyful and poignant, in an intimate winter concert.

Presented in partnership with The Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College, A Swannanoa Solstice again offers two performances in order to meet audience demand for this popular winter gathering and concert. Bring family and friends, share a cup of wassail and cookies, enjoy live music in the lobby, and join in the warm merrymaking and quiet contemplation of this Asheville favorite.

This year’s special guests include:

• David Holt, four-time Grammy Award-winning musician, storyteller, historian, and television host
• E.J. Jones, Highland bagpiper, and The Piper Jones Band
• Phil Jamison, old-time musician and flatfoot dancer
• Ellie Grace, percussive dancer and multi-instrumentalist
• Host and emcee Doug Orr, president emeritus of Warren Wilson College and founder of The Swannanoa Gathering

A Swannanoa Solstice showcases a spectacular array of seasonal festivities, with well-mastered Celtic and Appalachian songs and music on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, piano, Celtic harp, Irish bouzouki, vocals and world percussion. Through music and storytelling and poetry, the melodies played by Petteway, a virtuosic acoustic guitarist, draw from a broad variety of cultural influences from Middle Eastern tonalities to Scottish jigs. White, on piano, mandolin, guitar, Celtic harp, and percussion, draws on her classical background to create compelling original compositions and arrangements of traditional favorites. Bullock, a multi-instrumentalist who plays the guitar, mandolin and bouzouki, is hailed as a master musician whose style skillfully embraces Celtic and classical music. Merchandise sales for many of the performing artists will be available in the lobby.

A Swannanoa Solstice’s December 17 performances at the Diana Wortham Theatre are presented in partnership with The Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College; and are made possible by Performance Sponsors Anna & Dan Garrett, Bill & Marilyn Hubbard, First Citizens Bank, and Mast General Store; and by Mainstage Special Attractions Series Sponsors Henry LaBrun, Corner Kitchen Catering, and PNC Bank; with additional support from Media Sponsors Blue Ridge Public Radio, WNCW 88.7FM, and WNC magazine.

Spirit of the Season: Help fight homelessness this holiday season by bringing supplies for people in transitional housing served through Homeward Bound of WNC. Drop off items from the wish list at this link at the collection points in the DWT lobby any time before, during or after the 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. performances of A Swannanoa Solstice on December 17. Examples of items include cleaning supplies such as paper towels, dish soap, trash bags, and all purpose cleaner; toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and shaving cream; furniture such as dressers, couch, love seat, side tables, and lamps; and household goods such as mixing bowls, dish towels, trash cans, cookware and other dishes, and silverware (see full list). Homeward Bound is a social impact nonprofit committed to ending homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County. The agency moves our homeless neighbors into housing as a first step, then offers the right level of support they need to stay there – permanently.  Learn more

 

The Diana Wortham Theatre is located at 18 Biltmore Avenue. The intimate theatre seats just over 500 and boasts exceptional acoustics and sightlines, making it the premier performance space in Western North Carolina.  The Mainstage Series 2017/2018 Season Sponsors are 67 Biltmore Downtown Eatery & Catering, the Asheville Citizen-Times, Blue Moon Water, Buncombe County TDA, Creative Energy, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Renaissance Asheville Hotel.