Composer James Lee III, who lives in Edgewood and teaches at Morgan State University, contacted me (Maestro Bair) last December with the idea of writing a violin concerto for a fine soloist and the SSO, a community orchestra.  James is used to writing for the Baltimore Symphony and other professional orchestras, including fine ensembles in Brazil.  This particular composition would be a bit different for him!  James has created a fine concerto entitled “’Yoshiyahu’, Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Orchestra”.  This work will last almost 30 minutes, is in four movements, and will loosely follow King Josiah from the Old Testament of the Bible.  The title of the concert, “Sound the Shofar” comes from the third movement of this work, in which the brass are asked to produce the sound of the shofar, an Israeli horn-like instrument made from the horn of a ram.  Baltimore violinist, Emmanuel Borowsky, will be our soloist in this, the premiere of James Lee III’s new work!  Emmanuel performed with the SSO years ago when he was just a lad!

Rimsky-Korsakov’s First Symphony was begun when the young composer and sailor was just 18 years old.   He revised and finished it when he was 40 years old, changing the original key from E-flat Minor to E Minor, which is much easier to play for most orchestra members!  The four-movement work is very melodic and audience members will find much to enjoy in this Russian piece!