Kiril Laskarov, one of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra's two concertmasters, will take the stage of the Maumelle Performing Arts Center this weekend to solo in the Violin Concerto in e minor by Felix Mendelssohn with an extra partner under his chin.
Laskarov, with his musical mates behind him and conductor Philip Mann on the podium, will play the concerto at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday on the 1712 "Le Brun" Stradivarius.
"It is a particular pleasure to share the stage with a colleague from our orchestra as soloist, and it is a thrill to know that Mr. Laskarov will have in his hands not only one of the finest violins in existence, but one of the finest 'Golden Period' Strads," Mann says. "I'm proud that Arkansans will be able to see and hear a historically important instrument, and personally delighted at the notion of it in Mr. Laskarov's hands."
"It is a great honor to perform the concerto as a soloist with my orchestra and even more so to perform it on the magnificent 1712 'Le Brun' Stradivarius," Laskarov adds. "It inspires me to search for new dimensions within the sound and fully express my inner feelings and emotions."
Laskarov notes that the violin is particularly sonorous with good tones in the upper registers, particularly well adapted for the Mendelssohn concerto.
The violin, on loan from an anonymous donor, came out of the Cremona, Italy, workshop of Antonio Stradivari in 1712, during the craftsman's "golden period," and likely with wood from the same tree as the 1711 Parke and 1713 Gibson-Huberman "Strads" and an unnamed 1715 instrument.
According to fine instrument dealer Tarisio (tarisio.com/cozio-archive/property/?ID=40228), "This instrument seems to have spent much of the 19th century in France. The first recorded owner is a M. Le Brun, who sold the violin to the Boutillier family. It subsequently passed to a Signor Signicelli, who was known as a violinist in Paris in the late 19th century. In 1922 it was sold by the Parisian dealers Caressa & Francais to Herr Otto Senn of Basel, and it has remained in the possession of his family ever since."
The program will also include the Overture from Gioacchino Rossini's opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie); Black Bend by ASO Composer of the Year Dan Visconti; and the 1919 Suite from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky.
Laskarov and Visconti are expected to join Mann for "Concert Conversations" in the hall, an hour preceding each concert.
Visconti will give also give a talk titled "Updating the Role of the Classical Composer for the 21st Century" at noon today in Sturgis Hall of the Clinton School for Public Service, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Admission is free; reserve a seat by calling (501) 683-5239 or by email, publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu.
Funding for Visconti's residency this week comes from Music Alive: New Partnerships, a residency program of New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras designed to establish new relationships between composers and orchestras and to help orchestras present new music to the public and build support for new music within their institutions.
Weekend on 01/28/2016