Guest violinist highlights symphonic ‘Dreams’

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will employ Verdi and Tchaikovsky during their Jan. 17-18 concert, “Dreams,” to herald the verve endemic to the Gulf Coast’s most socially active season. However, the energy brought by guest violinist Melissa White is what provides the real drama inside the Saenger Theatre (6 S. Joachim St.).

White aims to spread awareness of composer Florence Price, a relatively forgotten Arkansas native who holds distinction as the first African American woman recognized as a symphonic composer and the first whose composition was played by a major orchestra. It’s little surprise that White, as a founding member of the Harlem Quartet, would find special connection with work she described as “emotionally raw, exquisitely crafted and full of spirit.”