New season to be ‘stormy’

      (NWPR) – On Saturday, October 2 at 7:30 pm in the Crouse Performance Hall of the Veteran’s Memorial Civic and Convention Center, the Lima Symphony Orchestra begins its 2010-2011 season with a program that celebrates the “Power of Music” and pays tribute to music’s ability to unite people of various cultures and beliefs.

     Beginning with Benjamin Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” a family of instruments will be introduced to the audience. Following, a special guest conductor will lead LSO orchestra in Johann Strauss’ bold and dramatic, “Thunder and Lightning Polka” before presenting the shimmering and joyful “Capriccio Espagnol,” that is based on Spanish folk melodies.

     The concert will end in Beethoven’s only violin concerto, “Violin Concerto in D,” performed by internationally acclaimed violin soloist Kurt Nikkanen, who has been an advocate of contemporary music as well as on the international concert stage for more than two decades.

     Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Nikkanen began his violin studies at the age of three, later studying with Roman Totenberg and Jens Ellerman. At twelve he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, performing the Saint-Saëns “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” with the New York Symphony; two years later he was invited by Zubin Mehta to perform the “Paganini Concerto No.1” with the New York Philharmonic for a Young People’s Concert. In 1986, he gained his Bachelors Degree from the Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay.

     Also scheduled on Friday, October 1, beginning at 9:30 am at Delphos St. John’s, Nikkanen will talk on his experiences with the students, including a Q&A session and a short solo performance.

     For more information, see: www.limasymphony.com or www.kurtnikkanen.com.