LINDSAY DEUTSCH
Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
July 29, 2005

WHAT'S AHEAD IN CLASSICAL MUSIC

By ERIN AUERBACH

Lindsay Deutsch thanks Big Bird and friends for her budding music career.

"When I was 2 years old, I saw Itzhak Perlman play on `Sesame Street,'" Deutsch said. "I told my parents that I was going to be a violin player when I grew up. . . And you'd be amazed at how many violinists I've met who've said the same thing."

She had her first lesson at age 5. Now 20, she balances a busy schedule of practice, networking and touring throughout the United States and Canada.

Deutsch makes her Redlands Bowl debut at 8:15 p.m. today, performing in a free concert with the Summer Festival Symphony Orchestra. She'll solo in winter and summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Saint-Saens' Intro and Rondo Capriccioso.

"My approach to Vivaldi is different. . . I play it with a bit more virtuosity to make it more appealing," she said.
And that's her biggest challenge, making Vivaldi's music more accessible to the masses. "I think a lot of times audiences don't enjoy baroque as much as they could," she said. "I like the virtuoso pieces and I like to show off a bit."

She plays a 1742 Sanctus Seraphin, a world-class instrument on loan from Peter Mandell. Its $850,000 combined value (including the bow) almost doubles the operating budget for the Redlands Bowl's entire season.
Drama ensued when the precious instrument was stolen from her car in April, but four days later, the antique violin and bow were found and returned to her.

Her parents footed the $10,000 reward to the person who found the instrument, which Deutsch said will take "a lot of gigs to pay them back."

"It was the greatest day of my life when I first got it two years ago," she said. "I'm so relieved it was found and I'm so glad to be playing it."

Although it's her first time at the bowl, she's worked with conductor Frank Fetta before, in 2004. "She's a great player," Fetta said. "She's very dashing and she's a nice person and a great musician."

In addition to her solo work, members of the Redlands Symphony will play Beethoven's eighth symphony and Mozart's "Impresario" Overture.