PORTLAND — The Portland Symphony Orchestra will present a musical journey around the world at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Merrill Auditorium.

Guest conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky will not only lead the orchestra, but also perform the solo violin part in the Suite from The Red Violin.

The concert opens with Giocchino Rossini’s overture to “Barber of Seville,” one of the most widely known and instantly recognized classical works. This is followed by John Corigliano’s lyrical Suite from The Red Violin, drawn from the Academy Award-winning score that follows a unique instrument over the span of three centuries and five countries.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A Major, “Italian,” concludes the afternoon’s program. Composed while Mendelssohn was traveling in Italy, this work depicts the beauty and joy he experienced there.

Sitkovetsky, music director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, has built up an active career as a violinist, conductor, arranger, chamber musician and festival director. He has performed as a soloist with a number of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin, New York and LA Philharmonic orchestras, all of the major London orchestras, and Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. 

The concert will be preceded by a Concert Conversation at 1:15 p.m. A post Concert Q&A will be held on-stage.

This concert will be broadcast on MPBN’s Maine Stage at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 29.