Elissa Lee Koljonen

Elissa Lee Koljonen is a violinist scheduled to appear as soloist with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra's opening night concerts in October 2026, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major alongside orchestral works by Dvořák, Barber, and Ravel.

Listeners coming to hear this program should expect Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major to be the emotional centerpiece, a work built around a singing, long-breathed first movement melody, a wistful slow middle movement, and a finale full of fast, dance-like energy drawn from Russian folk rhythms. The soloist carries the bulk of the musical argument here, since the concerto gives the violin near-constant melodic material set against the full orchestra. The rest of the evening surrounds that performance with color: Dvořák's Carnival overture opens with a burst of festive energy, Barber's Medea excerpt turns darker and more theatrical, tracing a scene of building menace, and the Ravel suite closes the program with lush, shimmering orchestral texture drawn from his ballet score for Daphnis et Chloé.