A photo from FSO’s concert at Sandusky High School, with the full orchestra under direction of Maestro Carl Topilow. (Photo by Doug Klein/Firelands Photography)

SANDUSKY – The Firelands Symphony Orchestra (FSO) presents the next concert in their 2021-2022 season, Melodic Languages of Love, with guest artists Ilya and Olga Kaler on violins. This very special event on Saturday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Sandusky High School Auditorium features songs of love and devotion from around the world.

Tickets are $25 at firelandssymphony.com/tickets or by calling the FSO office at 419-621-4800 (Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

This concert is made possible with generous funding from: a dual sponsorship by Randolph J. & Estelle M. Dorn Foundation as Principal Benefactor & Platinum Concert Sponsor, along with Mylander Foundation (Season Sponsor), and Ohio Arts Council. Student tickets are complementary, as well as for college students with a valid student I.D. For these special ticket offers, please call the FSO office or claim at the door on the day of the event.

This classical concert offers songs of love and devotion from composers around the world.

“As our world emerges from the pandemic and watches the conflict escalate in Eastern Europe, this program is a reminder that love is the world’s universal language, and music is an expression of that love,” said FSO’s Executive Director Tricia Applegate.

The selections for the evening include a variety of different melodies, including Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty (suite), Manuel De Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance” from El Amor Brujo, and more. The full orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Carl Topilow, will be joined by guest artists Ilya and Olga Kaler, husband and wife violinists with an acclaimed history of performance and artistry. The duo will perform Pablo de Sarasate’s Navarra and a very special arrangement of Moszkowski’s Suite for Two Violins and Piano, adapted for the full orchestra by Topilow.

Ilya Kaler is the only violinist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981). Kaler is considered to be one of the most outstanding personalities of the violin today whose career ranges from that of a soloist and recording artist to chamber musician and professor.

Kaler has earned rave reviews for his solo appearances with many distinguished orchestras throughout the world, including the Leningrad, Moscow and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestras, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Danish and Berlin Radio Orchestras, the Moscow and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, as well as many of the major American orchestras such as Seattle and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, to name a few. Kaler collaborated with a number of outstanding conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Mariss Jansons, and Jerzy Semkow, performing extensively on five continents. One of the most sought-after teachers in the world, Kaler currently serves as the violin professor of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler has toured three continents as a soloist, chamber musician, and artist-teacher, balancing her performing and teaching careers with equal success. She has been on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music as violin professor since 2017, also serving as string department chair of the CIM preparatory division, following her 15-year tenure at DePaul University School of Music in Chicago.

Audiences are encouraged to park in any lot near the main, front entrance of Sandusky High School. The doors open one hour prior to the performance. Seating is first come, first serve.