Rising Virtuoso Andrew Sords Brings Stellar Interpretation to Bruch's Scottish Fantasy In West Coast Debut

21 Year-Old Violinist Set To Appear With Northern California's Diablo Symphony March 17

LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) March 13, 2007 -- Emerging violin virtuoso Andrew Sords will appear as a guest soloist with the Diablo Symphony in Max Bruch's dazzling "Scottish Fantasy" for Violin and Orchestra under the baton of Maestra Joyce Johnson-Hamilton on Saturday, March 17 at 2:00 P.M. at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, CA. Tickets can be purchased by phone at (925) 943-7469 or on-line at www.diablosymphony.org

The "Scottish Fantasy" was composed in Berlin in 1879-80 for the celebrated Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate, also a composer, yet the lyrical masterpiece was first performed and championed by world-class violinist Joseph Joachim whose acclaim includes collaborations with Johannes Brahms. More than a century later, Bruch's work remains a widely popular crowd-pleaser, perhaps best known for its passionate melodic content and brilliant use of authentic Scottish folk songs, dances, and tunes in the Scottish rhythmic and harmonic style.

From his home in Ohio, Sords elaborates on his own connection to the concerto's magnetism, "It's explicitly romantic. I find this piece so rewarding that I lose myself in the music." Infused with an obvious zeal, Sords continued, "The melody that opens the third movement is profound, even in its simplicity, and the faster movements are exciting, driven, and perfect for a 21-year-old to channel his or her energy." Like other esteemed violinists before him, Sords is touched by Bruch's deep sense of lyricism, "He goes through the whole range of human emotions: majestic, playful, tender and so on."

Born in 1985 in Newark, Delaware, Sords began his violin studies with Liza Grossman, the dynamic founder and conductor of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra with whom he recorded the Saint-Saens Concerto No. 3 live for WCLV Radio. The violinist credits his Grandmother, a champion of the arts and a previous chorus member with the Cleveland Orchestra, for introducing him at an early age to the works of great composers and the wonders of classical music, while encouraging him to learn an instrument.

Sords is now completing his undergraduate education at the Cleveland Institute of Music with violin pedagogues Linda Cerone and David Russell. He continues to meet the demands of a quickly burgeoning solo career which has taken him from American concert halls to venues in Europe and Latin America.

When asked how he has remained impassioned and energized by composers like Bruch and others since the age of 10, his response is quick and fervent, "It's personal. That's the whole point of music, that's why we go to concerts in the first place: To be moved."

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