Elkhart County Symphony – Northern Expressions

Goshen College Comes Alive with “Northern Expressions”

Our annual concert at Sauder Concert Hall at the Goshen College Music Center features acclaimed guest soloist Aleck Belcher on bass and presents a challenging and dynamic orchestral repertoire, including Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto

“Northern Expressions,” Feb. 15, 2026 on the campus of Goshen College, marks the Elkhart County Symphony’s annual concert at Sauder Concert Hall at the Goshen College Music Center, and—featuring guest soloist Aleck Belcher on bass—presents performances of Koussevitzky’s Double Bass Concerto, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (Sibelius), and additional works to be determined.

Originally from Carmel, Indiana, Mr. Belcher is the principal bassist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, which he joined at the age of 19, and has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. At age 11, Mr. Belcher began bass lessons, and at the age of 16, he enrolled at Indiana University under full scholarship to study with Kurt Muroki. After graduating from IU and joining the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Belcher was appointed Associate Principal Bass by music director Stéphane Denève in the fall of 2019. Between his freshman and junior years of high school, Mr. Belcher was a student of our Conn-Selmer Endowed Musical Director, Dr. Soo Han!

A dynamic, challenging, and inspiring orchestral repertoire!

The Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43, is an expansive and powerful four-movement work for orchestra written between 1901 and 1902 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Sibelius began writing the symphony in Rapallo, Italy, after the well-received premiere of his acclaimed symphonic poem, Finlandia. Critics were divided following the symphony’s March 1902 premiere—performed by the Helsinki Orchestral Society, with Sibelius conducting—but the public expressed overall admiration for the piece, written during a period marked by Russian sanctions on Finnish language and culture.

Penned the Symphony of Independence, the vast and romantic Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 was thought by many to represent the struggle for Finland’s independence. While some claim Sibelius did not directly intend any specific patriotic message, others largely identified the work as a nationalist composition written with an independent Finland in mind.

Double Bass Concerto is a three-movement work composed by Serge Koussevitzky in 1902. Koussevitzky wrote this popular piece at a time of slim repertoire for the double bass, as it was at that time considered to be an ensemble-only instrument. The concerto, which the composer debuted in February 1905 with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, presents an array of technical challenges on the double bass, including triplet and sixteenth passages with ambiguous, cryptic bowings and double stops.

Perhaps most widely known for his long tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Koussevitzky’s 1924 appointment as conductor of the BSO led to a golden era for the ensemble that continued until his tenure ended in 1949. The composer played a leading role in developing the BSO’s renowned summer concert and educational programs at Tanglewood, where the 5,700-seat main performance venue still bears his name. Koussevitzky’s students and protégés included the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Eleazar de Carvalho, Samuel Adler, and Sarah Caldwell. Bernstein, in fact, once received a pair of cufflinks from Koussevitzky as a gift, and it is said that he wore them at every concert he conducted.