By JUNE KINOSHITA
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Three rising soloists will perform at Dec. 8 Waltham Philharmonic concert
Concertgoers attending the Waltham Philharmonic’s Dec. 8 concert will hear Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for violin, piano and cello. The orchestra’s music director Michael Korn will conduct.
Symphony No. 6, one of the composer’s first large symphonic works to draw international attention, is sometimes called the “Czech” symphony for its exploration of musical themes from Dvorak’s native land. It is said to evoke feelings of belonging and comfort. The Boston Symphony’s Marc Mandel described its first movement as “one of the most majestic in the literature – grand, rhetorical and yet totally unselfconscious.”
The Beethoven Triple Concerto is unusual for having three soloists. The composer wrote it to accommodate his patron and friend Archduke Rudolph of Austria, a diligent pianist. The cello part was written for the virtuoso Anton Kraft and is considerably longer and more difficult than the other parts.
The Waltham performance of the Triple Concerto will feature three rising young soloists, Ayaan Ahmad on violin, Andrew Ho on piano and Lazar Kaminsky on cello.
Ahmad is an 18-year-old Bangladeshi-American violinist from Sharon, Mass. He is enrolled in the five-year dual-degree program at Harvard College and the New England Conservatory. He has been featured on National Public Radio’s From the Top program.
Ho has been studying the piano for 11 years. In addition to his solo studies, he has been a member of the Rivers School Conservatory for five years. He has won numerous awards for both music theory and solo piano, including the school’s Music Theory Department Award in 2020 and the Level IV (highest) Piano Department Award in 2023.
Boston-based cellist Kaminsky’s most notable accomplishments include winning First and Special Prize in the International New York Solo Competition as well as Grand Prize in the Fidelity Investments Young Artist Competition. He has appeared in many venues around the world, including Boston’s Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall. He is pursuing his undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory.
Tickets to the Waltham Philharmonic Orchestra’s Dec. 8 concert are available here.