Noted guest to play with Bangor orchestra

BANGOR – The Bangor Symphony Orchestra will present the music of Verdi, Weber and Mahler for its fourth classical concert of the season. Maestro Xiao-Lu Li will conduct the BSO at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at the Maine Center for the Arts. The snow date is March 8.

Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein will join the orchestra as guest soloist for the Weber “Clarinet Concerto.”

Giuseppe Verdi’s dramatic “La forza del destino: Overture;” Carl Maria von Weber’s “Clarinet Concerto No. 1, op. 73, F minor;” and Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1, D major (Titan)” round out the program.

Alexander Fiterstein has performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra as winner of the 1999 Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award and with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Albany Symphony. He performed the “Corigliano Clarinet Concerto” with the Juilliard Orchestra; gave the U.S. premiere of Henrik Strindberg’s “Clarinet Concerto” at Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival; and has collaborated with the Julliard Dance Ensemble, performing the “Copland Concerto.”

Fiterstein has performed recitals in the United States, England, Holland, Germany, Latvia, Japan, Korea and Israel. As a chamber musician, he has received critical acclaim for his performance of “The Shepherd on the Rock” with soprano Roberta Peters and pianist Warren Jones. He has performed at Bargemusic in New York and participated in the 2001 and 2002 Marlboro Music Festival. Other performances include a concert at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and concerts in Germany.

Fiterstein won first prize in the 2001 Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition, as well as special prizes for the best interpretation of a Danish work and best performance with the Odense Symphony Orchestra. He has won the Francois Schapira Prize for Woodwinds of the Aviv Israel Competitions for Young Musicians and the special prize for best performance of the Israeli Composition, and first prize at the Paul Ben-Haim Competition in Israel. He also has received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Fiterstein was born in Minsk in the former Soviet Union and emigrated with his family to Israel when he was 2 years old. He has studied at the Israel Arts and Science Academy and received his high school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy. He received a bachelor’s degree and a graduate diploma from the Juilliard School.

Concert tickets are $12-$35 for adults, $6-$18 for youth under 18. Tickets are available by calling the Bangor Symphony Orchestra box office at 942-5555, or (800) 639-3221. Visit bangorsymphony.com to obtain more information.