Bangor Symphony to host virtuoso on violin

ORONO – Maestro Xiao-Lu Li will lead the Bangor Symphony Orchestra through its third concert of the season, “Notes of Passion,” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Maine Center for the Arts at the University of Maine in Orono. The snow date is Feb. 2.

Phillippe Quint, violinist, will join BSO as guest soloist for Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto.”

Music of Gioacchino Rossini, Felix Mendelssohn and Dmitri Shostakovich will thrill those who have a yearning for the deeper meaning, hidden stories and the struggles that surround great compositions of music, officials said.

In Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” – “The Barber of Seville Overture,” Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto, op. 64, E minor” and Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 5, op. 47, D minor” such struggles are masked by the indelible sounds of superlative music by very talented performers.

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Grammy Award nominee violinist Philippe Quint is rapidly establishing his reputation with audiences and critics alike. His debut recording on the Naxos label of the William Schuman “Concerto” was nominated for two Grammy’s in 2002-03, including one for best soloist with orchestra. It also received and Editor’s Choice designation by Gramaphone and Strad magazines.

“Bravura technique, unflagging energy. …One senses he is heading for even more glamorous destinations,” said a critic for the London Times.

Defecting from the former Soviet Union in 1991 and now an American citizen, Quint continues his commitment to American music by recording Lukas Foss’ complete works for violin and piano. Recent seasons have taken Quint to Carnegie Hall after he won the Waldo Mayo Award, given to the most gifted performer in New York. He made his Avery Fisher Hall debut in 1995 and returned to perform Alice Tully Hall in the 2000-01 season.

Quint studied at Moscow’s Special Music School for the Gifted with famed Russian violinist Andrei Korsakov. He made his orchestral debut at the age of nine. Quint received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard School in 1998. He has participated in master classes with Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Arnold Steinhardt.

Philippe Quint plays a 1694 Antonio Stradivarius violin, on loan to him from Machold Rare Violins in New York.

For ticket information, call the orchestra box office at 942-5555, (800) 639-3221. More information is available at bangorsymphony.com.