Domenico Boyagian, Music Director of Suburban Symphony Orchestra and Cleveland Opera Theater, and Suburban Symphony Orchestra welcomes founding conductor and Music Director of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Carl Topilow, in a free performance at Beachwood High School. “Topilow Conducts Dvorak” will feature Midsummer Vigil by Hugo Alfven, the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 featuring James Thompson on the violin, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.

The concert will take place on Sunday, April 10 at 3:30pm at Beachwood High School.

To open the concert, Hugo Alfven takes us to a midsummer festival in Sweden where we experience the excitement and emotions of dancing and games around a May-pole. Then we will be entranced by James Thompson as he performs one of the most popular violin concerti in the repertoire. The Bruch Violin Concerto opens with beautiful and melodic cadenzas by the violin, before flowing into the dazzling melodies that sweep through the concerto. Finally, in Dvorak’s 8th Symphony, we will hear the composer’s euphoria about life and being alive in a world full of natural wonders. Experience joyful melodies, peaceful songs, energetic rhythms, and dazzling virtuosity throughout this beautifully programmed concert.

Carl Topilow is renowned worldwide for his versatility, whether he is holding a conductor’s baton or his trademark red clarinet. He is a multi-talented virtuoso who is equally at home in classical and popular music both as conductor and instrumentalist.

Violinist James Thompson is forging a promising career as a versatile chamber musician, soloist, and music educator. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he is currently on faculty at Music@Menlo and joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program in 2021. Mr. Thompson made his solo debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in 2014.

Sunday, April 10, 3:30pm, Beachwood High School Auditorium, 25100 Fairmount Blvd.

FREE ADMISSION, donations encouraged