Symphony highlights violinist Symphony highlights violinist

Faculty artist Alla Aranovskaya, a member of the St. Petersburg String Quartet, will appear as soloist with the WSU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in Miller Concert Hall. The program will feature Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Stravinsky's Petrushka. Mark Laycock will conduct. Tickets, $7 for general admission with discounts available, may be purchased through the Fine Arts Box Office at 978-3233 or http://www.wichita.edu/fineartsboxoffice.

Founding first violinist of the St. Petersburg String Quartet, Aranovskaya will perform the monumental Concerto for Violin in D Major by Beethoven. The large-scale work, premiered in December 1806 by violinist Franz Clement, is one of the standards of the solo repertoire, renowned for its considerable demands in both virtuosity and expressivity.

The concert will also include Stravinsky's Petrushka, originally composed in 1911 and arranged as a concert suite in 1947. Stravinsky created an international sensation with his three early ballet scores (the others being The Firebird and The Rite of Spring), all written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris. The fantastical story, centered upon a carnival puppet, inspired some of Stravinsky's most colorful and rhythmically vibrant music.