“We are thrilled to feature violinist Randall Goosby in our opening concert of the season. In the short four years since he first played with us, Randall has become something of a classical music superstar. When he first joined us in 2020, he was an extremely promising young virtuoso, recognized as a potential force in the world of classical violin — but he was still relatively unknown outside of a few zip codes.

The piece Randall played in 2020 was the Beethoven Violin Concerto. He had big shoes to fill: the last time we had performed it (in 2007), the soloist was Itzhak Perlman. Thirteen years later, we were dying to bring the piece back, but we needed somebody who could do it justice. Randell already had the imprimatur of Perlman himself, as he was studying with the great master in New York. In fact, Perlman taught him the concerto. This seemed like the perfect connection. Randall had never performed the Beethoven with an orchestra, but he was eager to do it — and we were excited to try him out.

As you remember, 2020 was a special year. We were all social-distancing, and for us that meant performing concerts with a very separated orchestra and a half-sized audience. Instead of performing once each on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, we played twice each day with a 90-minute break to sanitize the hall. For Randall (and for us), this meant extra performances. In fact, including the dress rehearsal, Randall may be the only violinist ever to play the Beethoven concerto five times within 24 hours. In fact the Mobile Symphony can claim the distinction of hosting Randall’s first five performances of this masterwork.

Now, four years later, with a stellar international reputation, Randal returns with the Samuel Barber Violin Concerto. This piece is very close to his heart, and he has been performing it all over the world. This time is playing it only twice — but he promises to make each one count.” – Scott Speck