Award Winning Violinist with Clinton Symphony Sirena Huang, gold medal winner in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in September, will be the guest soloist with Clinton Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, November 5. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. in Centennial Auditorium at Sterling High School. In addition to the gold medal in the competition, she was also awarded eight of the eleven special prizes. She will perform the Dvorak Violin Concerto, which she played in the final competition at Indianapolis. Music Director and Conductor Brian Dollinger will also lead the orchestra in Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, written for the composer’s wife, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony #3, known as his “Scottish” symphony, and dedicated to Queen Victoria. The orchestra is composed of musicians from a wide area of Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois. This is the second concert of its 69th season. “We booked Sirena Huang after she had won the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition in 2017, but then the pandemic hit,” Robert Whipple, the Symphony’s Executive Director said. “We’re delighted that the re-scheduling comes so closely after her triumph in Indianapolis.” In addition, she was the winner of the New York Concert Artist Worldwide Debut Audition in 2017, was First Prize Gold Medalist of the 6th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, and many other awards. The Wagner piece was first performed by an ensemble on the stairway outside the room of his second wife, following the birth of their son Siegfried. Many of its motifs appear later in his opera Siegfried. Mendelssohn traveled widely, and often to Britain. The “Scottish” Symphony is a reflection of his visits to Scotland. The Symphony and Community State Bank have arranged for a bus for concert-goers from Clinton, through Fulton and Morrison to the concert in Sterling. Reservations are required, and can be made by calling 563-219-8084. Tickets for the concert are available at the door. Adult admission is $20, and all students are admitted free of charge through the generosity of the Symphony’s many supporters. In addition, an adult who accompanies a student will be admitted for half price. Full information and program notes are always available on the Symphony’s website at www.clintonsymphony.org.
