Saturday, November 4, 8 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Sunday, November 5, 2 p.m.
Augustana College's Centennial Hall, 3703 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL
In the second performances of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's 2017-18 Masterworks season, conductor Mark Russell Smith and his musicians heat up the fall with Western-themed compositions by local, national, and international talents, with special guest Bella Hristova accompanying the ensemble on violin.
Born in Pleven, Bulgaria, Hristova began her violin studies at age six, and at 12, participated in master classes with noted violinist Ruggiero Ricci at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In 2003, she entered Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, and in the years since receiving her 2010 Artist Diploma from Indiana University, her talents as a solo and chamber musician have taken her to venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Seoul National University. Called “a player of impressive power and control” by the Washington Post, Hristova has also been a featured guest on Garrison Keiller's A Prairie Home Companion, and her CD debut Beriot: Violin Solo Music Vol. 1 was praised by MusicWeb International for the artist's “extraordinary virtuosity” and “jaw-dropping technical prowess.”
Four compositions will be performed in the symphony orchestra's Postcards from the Wild West: John Williams' sweeping overture to the 1972 film The Cowboys; David Ludwig's premiering Violin Concerto, a celebration of marriage and community; Into the Wild, a trek through the metaphorical wilderness by Augustana College's Jacob Bancks; and Aaron Copland's rustically balletic Suite from Billy the Kid.
Tickets to the Masterworks II concert are $8-58 at the Adler Theatre on Saturday and $8-39 at Centennial Hall on Sunday, and more information and reservations are available by visiting QCSO.org.
