Star violinist in Russia featured in symphony's holiday concert

The Mirror

An 18-year-old violinist invited by Russian conductors to perform in the great concert halls of Russia and Ukraine will be featured in Federal Way Symphony’s holiday concerts of classical music this weekend.

Sergei Suhobrusov, an award-winning violinist since he was 10 years old, will play Mendlessohn’s “Violin Concerto” in the symphony’s performances at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Luke’s Church in Federal Way.

Suhobrusov attends the Moscow Conservatory through scholarships from the International Fund of Vladimir Spivakow and the Russian Art Fund. He was born in 1985 in Kharnov, Ukraine into a musical family and began studying the violin at 5.

He has played with distinction, receiving three first-place awards (1993, 1995 and 1999) at the Czech Republic’s Youth International competition, and, at 10, taking top honors at the re renowned International Festival of the Arts in Belarus.

For the rest of the concerts this weekend, conductor Brian Davenport plans Francis Poulenc’s musical description of the story of “Babar the Little Elephant,” and soprano Anna Kasakova will perform holiday medleys and selected arias. Bizet’s “Symphony in C” completes the lineup.

St. Luke’s Church is located at 515 S. 312th Street. Tickets, which can be purchased at the door, are priced at $25 for adults and $20 for seniors. Admission is free for anyone under 18.

Ticket orders and additional information are available from the symphony at (253) 529-9857 and federalwaysymphony.org.

The symphony recently received a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the only award of its type for organizations.

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