Review by Michael Cameron of the Chicago Tribune.

This past Sunday at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston, Midwest Young Artists took the venue by storm, armed with three concerts from an assortment of groups with varied programs. The concert I attended bore the title “Future Virtuosos”, and featured winners of the Walgreens Concerto Competition.  It was a prime opportunity to not only measure the continuing growth of two MYA orchestras under the leadership of Allan Dennis, but also to hear a sample of young soloists primed to try their hands in the highly competitive world of the concert soloist.

The winner of the MYA junior division was violinist Rachel Stenzel, and her performance of Ernest Bloch’s Nigun (from “Baal Shem”) was the intensely vibrant concert opener. Nowhere in the composer’s output is the influence of mentor Eugene Ysaye more apparent than in this soulful and supremely virtuosic meditation.  Stenzel not only conquered the many octave double stops with élan, she did so with an interpretive savvy impressive in someone of such tender years.

The Concert Orchestra continued with a brisk, engaging reading of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 (“Reformation”). The symphony brims with extended passages of solemnity and celebration, and it’s not surprising that the young musicians were especially adept at underlining the later.  The many transitions of tempo were smooth and organic, and the finale gained stirring momentum in the spirited final pages.

MYA’s Symphony Orchestra came to the stage for performances of two cello works that aren’t heard often in orchestral concerts. Ben Solomonow was the soloist in Gregor Piatigorsky’s “Variations on a Paganini Theme”, a barn-burning crowd-pleaser that uses the same 24th Caprice for solo violin that has inspired many composers, including Brahms and Rachmaninoff. This is apparently the first performance in the U.S. of the orchestral accompaniment, and kudos to Solomonow and his teacher Hans Jansen for organizing the parts. Piatigorsky composed each variation in honor of a favorite musician, a strategy not unlike Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”. This tactic leads to movements that are highly individualized, and Solomonow realized these character traits with keen insight and well-honed technique. I’ve rarely heard a cellist of any age negotiate up-bow and down-bow stacattos with such pinpoint accuracy.

Prokofiev’s “Sinfonia Concertante” is a far more substantial piece, but like the “Variations” isn’t heard often on the concert stage. This is no doubt a result of its ungainly length, and perhaps additionally to the extreme demands it places on the soloist. Cellist Allan Steele performed only the second movement, but this 20-minute tour-de-force was more than adequate to display his considerable skills. He approached the work with considerable vigor and a left hand that was rock solid in the many double stop passages that dot the piece. His sound was lean and powerful, easily projecting to the back rows of the hall.

Debussy’s “La Mer” is just one of many works from every music era to attempt to portray water and its movement in aural form. In doing so it places demands on every section of the orchestra, challenges Dr. Dennis and his forces were more than ready to meet. The cello section excelled with a lyrical sweep in melodic passages in the first movement, and the woodwinds brought technicolor turbulence to the second movement (“Play of the Waves”). The climactic moments of the third movement found the brass sections in splendid form, leading the orchestra to a rousing conclusion. The packed house responded in kind, giving the fine young players a prolonged ovation.