Submitted PhotoMaestro Edward Cumming serves as guest conductor for Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 Saturday with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

VALDOSTA — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart seems ambivalent toward the violin.

Possibly because it was the preferred instrument of the legendary composer’s father.

Virtuoso violinist Tessa Lark said, “There is no question that there were some ‘daddy issues’ affecting Mozart’s feelings toward the violin and there are even letters to prove it. Mozart once wrote to his father, Leopold, after one of his performances gloating, ‘I played as if I was the greatest violinist on earth.’ Dad’s response was a big mistake: ‘You have no idea what a great violinist you actually are … if only you practiced a little more.’ From then on Mozart preferred the viola and stopped playing violin altogether.”

Still, “Mozart wrote five violin concertos,” Lark said, “and the last four were all composed in 1775, when he was only 18, 19 years old.”

And even those violin concertos, abandoned instrument or not, were composed by Mozart.

Lark travels to Valdosta this weekend to perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216, said Howard Hsu, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra music director. 

Hsu will also hand the conductor’s baton to a guest for the evening which includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93 Saturday during the “Intensity” concert.

“Maestro Edward Cumming returns to lead the VSO in Shostakovich’s gripping masterpiece, said to depict the terrors of the Stalin-era Soviet Union,” Hsu said. “Captivating violinist Tessa Lark, winner of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, performs Mozart’s enchanting Third Violin Concerto.”

“The main challenge of any of Mozart’s Violin Concertos, or any of his music, really, is that, while the performer honors the many crucial details in the music, she must at the very same time play with such malleability and imagination that the violin solo part sounds like an entire opera, filled with many characters,” Lark said. “The Third Concerto, specifically, is filled with a variety of these characters, so the audience can expect a lot of fun and surprises, along with some of the most beautiful music Mozart ever wrote, in the second movement, as well as cameo appearances of traditional children’s songs that were popular in 18th century Austria.”

Lark has performed throughout the United States and China. She has won many awards.

“She was named silver medalist of the 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, making her the highest-ranked American-born winner in the competition’s history; she also won first prize in both the 2008 Irving Klein International Strings Competition and the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players,” according to biographical information provided by the VSO. “As a chamber musician, she took top prize in the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with her piano trio, Trio Modêtre.”

The violin was not her first musical instrument.

“I played the mandolin before I played the violin and the first tune I learned on it was ‘Boil ‘em Cabbage Down,’” Lark said. “That was when I was 4, and two years later, I started violin lessons, declaring myself a violinist by age 7. Music and violin has always been a priority in my life so I haven’t really had an ‘a-ha!’ moment when I suddenly felt more certain about it.”

She will play the ex-Gingold Stradivarius violin during the Valdosta concert. It “is an extraordinary violin that was made in 1683, almost 100 years before the Mozart Concerto was written,” Lark said. “I am amazed every day that Stradivari’s violins were made so long ago yet they remain, to this day, to be arguably the best existing violins.” 

The violin is on loan from the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, she said.

Following Lark’s performance, guest conductor Edward Cumming plans to exhaust the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

“An epic work, maybe the biggest piece the Valdosta Symphony will play all season,” Cumming said of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. “The first movement alone is nearly a half hour in length; the second is the angriest and scariest orchestral music known to me. Hint: it’s about Stalin, who had just died.

“The third movement begins like a minuet, but then, after a magical horn solo, it becomes a drunken dance; and then the finale, where much of the tension introduced earlier in the symphony is finally released.

“There is no ‘slow movement,’ per se, but then, each movement, save for II, has extended slow sections of beautifully spun passages, including a recitative for the upper woodwinds in the introduction to the finale.

“What are the challenges for the orchestra, it’s a difficult piece to play, made even more challenging from the endurance required to play it – just under an hour. We’ll all be exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.”

Cumming has worked as a conductor throughout the United States, both as a resident and guest conductor.

“In Europe, Mr. Cumming has led orchestras in Spain, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Serbia, and Italy. He has conducted ensembles throughout the United States, in Asia, and in Israel,” according to information provided by the VSO. “Recently he made his South American debut with the Filarmónica de Bogotá.”

Five years ago, he made his debut with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra as guest conductor. He looks forward to being back this weekend.

“I was thrilled to do Berlioz, Gliere and Debussy last time, and had a wonderful time working with the ensemble,” Cumming said. “Maestro Hsu has done great things for the orchestra and the community, and it shows in the level of the players.”

Cumming and Hsu have known each other for many years. Hsu has said in the past he considers Cumming to be his conducting mentor. But Cumming said Hsu will have accomplished the ground work prior to the guest conductor’s arrival to direct the VSO.

“Howard has also been very kind to ask me about tempi, seating and even some articulations, so most of the hard work has already been done; by the time I arrive, the music will be ready to go,” Cumming said, “and all I will do is fine tune here and there. Most guest conductors start from square zero, but in Valdosta, the ensemble begins working in advance of the guest’s arrival. So nice for me.”

Cumming also looks forward to working with Lark.

“I can hardly wait to work with Tessa Lark, who is a remarkable musician,” he said. “Although I have not worked with her, I heard her play at a nearby chamber music festival a few years ago and knew at that very moment that I wanted to make music with her someday. Performing Mozart will be very special, and Valdosta is absolutely going to adore everything about her.”

CONCERT

What: Valdosta Symphony Orchestra presents “Intensity” featuring Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216, with Tessa Lark, violin; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93, with Edward Cumming, guest conductor.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25.

Where: Whitehead Auditorium, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood.

More information: Visit www.valdostasymphony.org, or call (229) 333-2150.