Summer Performances for Violinist Stephen Waarts

For From the Top alum Stephen Waarts (Show 207 in Stanford, CA), this has been one musical summer, chock-full of performances!

In early June he performed Mendelssohn Concerto in E minor with Silicon Valley Symphony in California – See Stephen in action below.

On June 15 Stephen left California for a two month musical journey that included six weeks at Itzhak Perlman’s Summer Music Program in Shelter Island, NY as well as participation in the Summit Musical Festival and Aaron Rosand’s intensive violin program in Purchase, NY. Last year Stephen was the winner of the festival’s 2010 Concerto Competition Junior Division, and as such will perform the Bach Concerto in E major with the Summit Music Festival Orchestra this Friday, August 12.

On August 14 Stephen will head back to the West Coast to perform the Prophets Concerto by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony.Their concert master Mark Kashper, who is also the 2nd Violin Associate Principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, describes this concerto as: “a very fine piece of music of nearly monumental proportions – Romantically beautiful and “virtuosically” brilliant – that is extremely rarely performed but in my opinion is deserving of much greater popularity and success.”

Here’s Stephen performing the third movement of this concert:

Stephen’s next musical journey begins on August 27 when he starts studying violin at Curtis Institute of Music with Aaron Rosand. We wish him the best of luck!