Guest conductor Molly Turner and violinist Ella Eom, the 2026 Stulberg International String Competition gold medalist, join Cara Lieurance to preview the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's concert this Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Miller Auditorium. The program features Florence Price's Andante moderato, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony.
Turner, a Seattle native now based in Miami Beach, recounts arriving at Rice University as a pre-med student before discovering conducting. She later earns a master's degree at Juilliard with David Robertson and an artist diploma at the Colburn Conservatory, studying with Esa-Pekka Salonen, followed by two years with the New World Symphony. Much of conducting, she says, can't be taught. "I think conducting is like 51% confidence," she explains, describing a nonverbal leadership no textbook explains adequately.
Turner suggested the Price opener, originally a string quartet movement now often played by string orchestras. "It's just devastatingly beautiful," she says, pointing to its slow opening, dance-like middle section and return to G major.
Eom, 20, attends both Columbia University and The Juilliard School, where she studies with Laurie Smukler. She wons the Stulberg in May with Bartók's Second Concerto, competing as the oldest entrant. "I was just like, well, I'm in finals now. At least I made it to finals. I'm just going to have the best time of my life," she recalls.
The Bruch, Eom notes, is among the first Romantic concertos many young violinists learn, which helps explain its enduring popularity. Turner adds that revisiting such pieces reveals how much depth they hold. Eom says the second movement is her favorite.
Turner points to a thread of G major linking Price and Bruch, and a rhythmic kinship between the Bruch finale and Mendelssohn's opening. For the symphony's closing saltarello, she wants relentless energy: every small rest "needs to be the shortest rest in the world."
Turner speaks at a 6:30 p.m. pre-concert talk alongside the Stulberg's director, and performers gather afterward for Postlude on Miller Auditorium's second level. Tickets are available at kalamazoosymphony.com.
