Birmingham will host Violins of Hope in a series of concerts, including Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church and concluding Saturday with a concert at 7 p.m. by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra at the Alys Stephens Center.

If you love the violin, Alabama Symphony Orchestra has a number of unforgettable and moving performances on tap in April.

Entering the Alys Stephens Center Friday was like stepping into Gustave Caillebotte’s 1877 painting, “Paris Street, Rainy Day.” The ambiance for the Alabama Symphony Masterworks concert was unmistakable — a gentle shower, overflowing umbrella stands in the lobby, and music by three iconic French composers, each evoking the inner temperament and sweeping spirit stemming from fin de siècle Paris and beyond.

Pairing two profound and melancholy 20th century string quartets might seem out of place at a popular Birmingham night spot. But for about an hour Tuesday night, four players from the Alabama Symphony held a WorkPlay audience in rapt attention as they summoned chilling tragedies from the past century.

Now in his third full season at the helm of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Izcaray is making a big impact on this Southern city’s arts.

The firm cultural threads binding classical music across three continents were in full view Friday at an Alabama Symphony Masterworks concert.

The all-Russian program of Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Rachmaninoff yielded more than a little musical camaraderie among the orchestra, soloist Yakov Kasman and an enthusiastic audience.

Birmingham Does Broadway: An evening with the Magic City’s best performers and the Alabama Symphony

Concertmaster & Friends Quartet for the end of the time with Violins of Hope: April 12 at the Alys Stephens Center

Violinist Mayumi Masri Not Silenced by Tragic Accident