Honored violinist to perform at DeYor

A concerto for violin and orchestra will be featured.

the vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN — Violinist Nicolas Kendall will join the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Randall Craig Fleischer for the opening Masterworks concert Saturday at Powers Auditorium. The concert will include the Youngstown premiere of Christopher Brubeck’s concerto for violin and orchestra titled “Spontaneous Combustion.”

Kendall, who also performs as a percussionist and a member of the string trio Time For Three, appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra as winner of its Young Soloists’ Competition in 1995. The following year, he won the St. Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, and in 2002 was awarded first prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. As a chamber musician, Kendall has played as part of the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Chamber Music Festival and Marlboro Music Festival.

Brubeck, jazz trombonist and son of legendary jazz artist Dave Brubeck, has contributed to the growing repertoire of new concertos for violin and orchestra. His latest work, “Spontaneous Combustion,” is tailored to the talents of Kendall. The work is the outgrowth of a three-day session of Brubeck and Kendall jamming together. Bristling with jazz energy, the concerto is in part inspired by the myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind, along with the gifts of music and medicine. The three-movement concerto features Kendall on drum solo during the final movement.

“The Planets,” composer Gustav Holst’s musical musings on the galaxy, concludes the evening program.

To begin the evening, the Symphony Guild will host a pre-concert dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the lobby of Powers Auditorium. After the concert, a meet-and-greet reception with Fleischer and Kendall and dessert buffet will be featured in the Eleanor Beecher Flad Pavilion Lobby.

Reservations for the pre-concert and post-concert gala events can be made by calling the box office at (330) 744-0264.