Youngs’ $1 million gift brings North Carolina Symphony to Elon

A $1 million gift from President Emeritus J. Fred Young and Phyllis Young will bring the North Carolina Symphony and other premier ensembles to Elon University, giving the campus a permanent classical music program with its first performance set for Alumni Gym this fall. For Alamance County, the endowment does more than underwrite a concert series: it places a state orchestra on an Elon stage that sits at the center of the county’s cultural map.

Elon announced the gift on June 4, 2026, and said the endowment will support classical music programming through the university’s endowment system, which is designed to sustain people, programs and facilities in perpetuity. The university said the series will bring “premier ensembles” to campus beginning in the fall, with the North Carolina Symphony opening the run in Alumni Gym. That move gives Elon a recurring arts offering rather than a one-time performance and creates a new anchor for audiences from Elon, Burlington and the rest of Alamance County.

The North Carolina Symphony, based in Raleigh, is the state orchestra and presents concerts and educational offerings across North Carolina. Its regular venues include Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh and summer performances at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. Bringing the ensemble to Elon extends that reach west from the Triangle and puts a marquee classical institution into a college venue that is already known to local residents, students and alumni.

The gift also deepens a long connection between the Young family and Elon. J. Fred Young served as Elon’s seventh president from 1973 to 1998, one of the longest tenures in university history. Fred Young and Phyllis Young were previously honored on campus with Young Commons, which was dedicated on Oct. 10, 2000. With this endowment, the Youngs are tying that legacy not only to campus memory, but to an arts program that can keep drawing audiences into Elon year after year.