New Yorker Lucas Stratmann performs at Carnegie Hall as one of Vienna Philharmonic's youngest musicians
NEW YORK -- One of Europe's most prestigious orchestras returned to Carnegie Hall for the first time since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
Sunday night marks the final performance for the Vienna Philharmonic. One of the youngest musicians on stage, a native New Yorker, gave CBS2's Lisa Rozner a preview.
Lucas Stratmann's passion for the violin started when he was just 3 years old.
"The violin, I feel is a part of me," Stratmann said. "I think the biggest thing that is the instrument allows me to share this beautiful art that exists."
Stratmann, 25, grew up in Murray Hill and, while attending the LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, he enrolled in pre-college classes at the Julliard School.
"So, Monday through Friday I would be a LaGuardia and then on Saturdays I'd be at Julliard," he said.
After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees from Julliard, the dean recommended Stratmann apply to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Academy, where young musicians are trained through private lessons, chamber music and working with the orchestra.
Academy members travel all over the world with the ensemble. Stratmann was the only New Yorker accepted into the small program of about a dozen musicians and moved to Austria last September.
"The lessons, they've been so inspiring," Stratmann said. "The Vienna Philharmonic is one of the best orchestras in the world and it's been a privilege for me to be able to play with my colleagues."
"I feel like combining what I've learned here in the states and at Julliard and hearing a new perspective on things, it's been like the perfect combination for me," Stratmann said.
Stratmann always plays on a certain violin, created in 1926 by Italian master violin maker Alberto Fernando Moglie, who was also a curator at the Smithsonian.
"I've been playing on this instrument for about 12 years," Stratman said.
For some of the other academy members, this marks their first time performing at Carnegie Hall.
"When we arrived at the airport, I really, I couldn't believe my eyes to be really here," said academy member and flautist Theresia Prinz. "Big life goal for each musician, I think."
"They're a member of the orchestra when they're with us," said academy instructor and flautist Karin Bonelli.
This is Bonelli's fourth time playing at Carnegie Hall.
"Carnegie Hall is always a special place to go from the point of view of acoustics, but also the audience. It's very open and enthusiastic," Bonelli said.
"The first concert we're playing an all Rachmaninoff program. So we're playing the second piano concerto as well as the second symphony, and they're both such grand works and I can't wait to see what it's gonna sound like in Carnegie Hall," Stratmann said.
Stratmann won a coveted seat in the Vienna State Opera - an opportunity he said was only possible because of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Academy.
The orchestra will tour other cities in the U.S.