BYU NewsNet - Philharmonic hosts renowned musician

It’s a rare opportunity to attend a concert where a high-caliber professional musician performs alongside one of the best undergraduate orchestras in the country.

Violinist Stacy Wetzel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will guest solo with the BYU Philharmonic in a concert at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. Admission is $8 with a student ID.

Wetzel attended The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and received her master’s degree from the University of Michigan. She joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1987 and followed her husband, also a musician, to the LA Philharmonic in 1995.

Kory Katseanes, conductor of the BYU Philharmonic, said Wetzel is a member of the LDS Church who has a son attending BYU. She is well known to many among the School of Music faculty, who invited her to perform at BYU.

“She is a wonderful and professional violinist with a terrific career,” Katseanes said. “And she’s also just a great, outgoing, friendly, engaging person.”

Wetzel will perform Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, a piece Katseanes called a benchmark concerto for violinists that many students in the orchestra have played before. The orchestra will also be performing Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

Dustin Grady, trombonist, talked about what it was like to rehearse with a professional of Wetzel’s caliber.

“Her musicianship is perfect compared to the rest of us,” Grady said. “She is ripping through difficult passages and making them sound amazing. She doesn’t make it seem like she’s working at it.”

Cellist Seth Castleton talked about the pressure of playing with such a professional.

“It’s an honor and responsibility to be up to par,” Castleton said. “I would like to have the opportunity more often to have great musicians solo with the Philharmonic.”

The Philharmonic’s performance will also feature Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, a piece violinist Cari Sue Green described as an exciting piece full of the unexpected that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats.

Grady said that not only the Firebird, but this concert in general will “knock your socks off.”