A surprising, three-ring circus of a variety show in the case of the N.C. Symphony's orchestra. Some of its members will shed their classical skin next weekend in a performance meant to showcase their musical hobbies.

The symphony's final pops concert of the season will reveal what happens when violinists get to live out their fantasies, which turns out to be flamenco dancing (Suzanne Kelly), fiddling (Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky and David Kilbride) and banjo-picking (Paul Goldsberry).

Give John Pederson a solo and the bassoonist will stretch it out to an unheard-of five minutes. Bob Anderson will turn his stately double bass into what in the bluegrass world is often known as bass fiddle.

Then there are the people you never see, such as the orchestra's operations director (Allyn Love) on Dobro, the stage manager (Granville . Spry III) on mandolin and the assistant stage manager (Travis Creed) on guitar and vocals.

They're calling it "Showstoppers," and it's unlike anything the symphony has done. It was the brainchild of general manager Scott Freck and music director Grant Llewellyn, who will conduct the conglomeration.

"We wanted to show off the many talented people in the orchestra that the public may not be aware of," Freck said, "sometimes in surprising ways."

They asked the musicians for ideas and solicited some of them individually, and then selected the best ingredients for an evening's entertainment.

In parts of the program where the full orchestra isn't involved, the musicians were left to come up with much of their own material. In a recent taped interview published in the symphony's Opus magazine, the performers said they were still tinkering with their parts -- "Don't tell Grant" was the phrase that came up several times.

While it's meant to be fun, the artistry is also serious. Kelly, for instance, has studied flamenco for several years and will tackle Manuel de Falla's Spanish dance from the opera "La Vida Breve."

The orchestra will fall back into character where parts of the program range from Leonard Bernstein's "Overture to Candide" to symphony trombonist-composer Terry Mizesko's "Sunday at Shackleford Banks." Symphony radio broadcaster David Hartman, the former host of ABC's "Good Morning America," will narrate sections of William Walton's "Facade."

It's just that the serious stuff will be interspersed with fiddle-and-banjo tunes, a little singing and dancing, and who knows what else.