LEWISTON – Cellist Allison Eldredge, described by the Chicago Tribune as “a musician of remarkable gifts,” will perform with the Midcoast Symphony. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 23, at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston, and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 24, at the Orion Performing Arts Center in Topsham.

Eldredge will be the soloist in Antonin Dvorak’s Concerto for Cello in B minor, considered to be one of the most important orchestral works ever written for cello.

The program, titled “Slavic Themes,” will also include Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8, which contains a number of examples of the composer’s use of melodies, folk rhythms and harmonies from his native Bohemia.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s dynamic “Festive Overture” will begin each concert.

Eldredge has appeared with many of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angles Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Moscow Virtuosi. She has toured internationally as soloist with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Field and appears frequently in recital tours in the United States, Japan and Europe.

Besides her extensive solo and recital work, Eldredge is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory in Boston and is a member of the Boston Trio along with violinist Irina Muresanu, who appeared with the Midcoast Symphony in October of 2006.

The guest conductor for the concerts is Janna Hymes-Bianchi, who makes her home in the Camden area, and who is also music director of the Williamsburg Symphonia in Virginia.

Concert tickets are $12 for adults. Anyone 21 or younger admitted free. For more information about the orchestra and its programs, go to www.midcoastsymphony.org, or call 371-2780.