The Columbia Orchestra’s 42nd season opens on Saturday, October 12, 2019 with an all Russian program including Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Gubaidulina.

Ivan Stefanovic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra associate principal second violin, will join the orchestra to perform Prokofiev’s lyrical Violin Concerto No. 2.

Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.  Nicknamed the “Pathétique,” Tchaikovsky’s final symphony is an emotional masterpiece that sums up all the joy and sorrows of life.  Opening the program will be the Concerto for Orchestra and Jazz Band by Sofia Gubaidulina.  Members of the orchestra’s partner organization, the Columbia Jazz Band, will join the orchestra for this work which brings Russian spirit to the American jazz scene of the 1970s. Bill Scanlan Murphy, music department faculty member at Howard Community College, will offer a free lecture at 6:30pm.

“We wanted to start the season off with something that was both really exciting but also really moving and emotional, so an all-Russian concert was an easy pick,” says Music Director Jason Love. “Between the ultra Romanticism of Tchaikovsky, the lyrical virtuosity of the Prokofiev, and Gubaidulina’s take on American jazz of the 70s, it’s a program that runs the full gamut from the fun to the tragic.”

Violinist Ivan Stefanovic was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia and began his violin studies at the age of five. Mr. Stefanovic joined the second violin section of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 1991 under David Zinman and was named Associate Principal Second Violin by Marin Alsop in 2012.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Stefanovic has performed as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Londontowne Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Radio and TV Belgrade, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra.

He is co-founder and co-Artistic Director of “Chamber Music by Candlelight,” a series featuring BSO members.  Mr. Stefanovic is on the faculty of the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Baltimore School for the Arts, where he teaches violin, coaches chamber music, and conducts orchestra sectionals.

Tickets: Season subscriptions and single tickets are on sale now.  Subscription prices range from $40 to $115.  Single ticket prices are $28/$22 for adults, $24/$18 for seniors, and $12/$10 for students.  A $3 ticket processing fee will apply. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (410) 465-8777 or visit www.columbiaorchestra.org.