A Symphonic Panorama

“Echoes of Fate,” March 29, 2026 at The Lerner Theatre, presents guest soloist Michail Thompson on trumpet and a challenging, intriguing, and expansive range of orchestral experiences

The Elkhart County Symphony’s fourth concert of the 2025-26 season, “Echoes of Fate”—March 29, 2026 at The Lerner Theatre in Downtown Elkhart—presents an exciting and challenging repertoire and offers a range of memorable orchestral experiences to entertain, delight, and intrigue our audience.

Michail Thompson, assistant principal trumpet with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., joins the Elkhart County Symphony as the featured guest soloist for Vladimir Peskin’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, and the Symphony welcomes the Concord High School Symphony Orchestra for a side-by-side community collaboration. Additionally, the Symphony performs Tchaikovsky’s renowned Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36.

Trumpeter Michail Thompson has made orchestral debuts with top ensembles including the London Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Opera, and Ballet, and joined the National Symphony Orchestra as 2nd Trumpet in 2025. Mr. Thompson—who has spent summers as a fellow at storied institutions such as the Tanglewood Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and the National Orchestral Institute—has performed with the Canadian Brass, won the Vincent Bach Trumpet Competition, and been a finalist at the National Trumpet Competition.

Musical elixir, inspired by tragedy

Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his solemn and powerful Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 between 1877 and 1878. The work debuted in February of 1878 at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. The fiery, vast, and rapturous symphony was met with early criticism, most specifically from purists who felt the work did not adequately represent Russian musical values. Despite its early mixed reception, the symphony grew into an orchestral standard, and—to this day—remains one of the most frequently performed symphonies of the late 19th century.

Tchaikovsky’s personal and professional life was said to be marred by crises and depression. His separation from his mother at a young age for boarding school, followed by her early death, and the untimely deaths of family members and friends—including his dear colleague, the aforementioned Rubinstein—all were contributors. Although celebrated in his lifetime, Tchaikovsky felt neither beloved nor respected by critics and musical peers. During his life, the composer—who kept his homosexuality private—endured a failed marriage to Antonina Miliukova, a failed suicide attempt, and the gutting collapse of his 13-year association with wealthy patroness Nadezhda von Meck.

Similarly, Vladimir Peskin’s musical compositions seem born of chaos and tumult. Little is known about Peskin’s life. What is known is that he lived in Geneva from 1914 to 1916 and received music lessons at the Académie de Musique de Genève after his father, like many other Russian revolutionaries, was exiled to Switzerland by the Stalin regime. The son of refugees, Peskin would have to give up his early piano studies due to a hand disability caused by overuse, at which point he turned primarily to composition.

Experts suggest Anton Rubinstein as Peskin’s central role model, and his teacher, Samuil Feinberg—along with composer Sergei Rachmaninoff—are credited as influences in his well-known works. Peskin’s Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in C Minor has stood the test of time and is considered one of the most enduring trumpet concertos ever composed.