Violinist Darren Li warms up before the annual Salute! concert in 2022. The Columbus North graduate will perform a solo during this year’s concert.
The Republic file photo
At the tender age of 19, violinist Darren Li is becoming something of a veteran of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s Salute! concerts. He played the event as an apprentice with the professional orchestra last year and also in 2022.
On May 24, the former local resident will be a featured soloist at the gathering, performing the theme from the movie “Top Gun” in an aerial-themed program, more than appropriate given the show’s setting at Columbus Municipal Airport amid classic warbirds.
Li, a sophomore-to-be at Duke University, sometimes feels a few butterflies — a different kind of flight, if you will — before such a performance.
“Once you start playing, you forget that,” he said.
As he spoke by cellphone, he found himself in aerial surroundings — waiting on a flight at the airport in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He mentioned that his second Salute! concert solo, Charles Auguste de Beriot’s “Concerto No. 7 in G Major,” the piece he used in his philharmonic audition in 2021, is a most challenging work technically.
In fact, he theorized that performing with the local professional orchestra has challenged him overall.
“It definitely has pushed me beyond my previous limits,” he said.
Li began playing at age 4, and began lessons with instructor and Columbus resident Laura Andrews, a philharmonic violinist, by the age of 8. Li later served as concertmaster of the Andrews String Studio ensemble while a student at Columbus North School, where his other instrument of skill was a tennis racket with the Bulldogs.
Isaac Selya, the philharmonic’s music director preparing for his first Salute! concert, acknowledged he is excited to see the U.S. Army National Guard howitzers return to the concert grounds after being missed last year. Their thunderous boom adds an emphatic punctuation to the “1812 Overture” that the orchestra traditionally performs near the end of the concert.
“This is going to be epic,” Selya said of leading the nearly 80-person ensemble for the outdoor show that in good weather normally attracts an estimated 5,000 people.
Among the more epic moments every year at the concert is a rendition of taps, the mournful bugle call used at military funerals and elsewhere. Eric Rodriguez, the orchestra’s principal trumpet, will be presenting the 24 total notes that are as emotional for him as they are for many others at the gathering.
His grandfather served in the Navy during World War II. His father served in Vietnam in the Air Force.
“Performing taps is very important to me since they are no longer with us,” Rodriguez said. “It is my way of remembering them.”
He agreed that there is an inherit sadness in the tones.
“There is a sense of grief I feel for our veterans who have served and are still with us, and those who have passed on,” Rodriguez said. “It is an honor to be able to remember the sacrifices they have made for our country.
“Traditionally, taps and other bugle calls are performed well off into the distance as sort of an ominous and chilling environment. This will be the case for the Salute! concert.”
He knows well there might be some tears among those in the crowd. Some of the attending veterans have been known to weep when they see the Vietnam-era helicopter land on the premises. They have said it reminds them of injured comrades whisked away by medics from battle, but who later died.
“If we think about it, our troops and veterans have served alongside their other ‘families,’” Rodriguez said. “They left their families and friends for the ultimate sacrifice.”
About the concert
Who: The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic presenting its annual free Salute! concert in honor of area veterans.
When: 7 p.m. May 24.
Where: Columbus Municipal Airport, 4770 Ray Boll Boulevard, Columbus. Rain location is Columbus North High School’s Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St. Such a change will be announced on the orchestra’s social media feed and also its website at thecip.org.
Seating: Concertgoers bring their own lawn chairs and blankets — plus picnic suppers and drinks, though food trucks will be on hand.
Information: thecip.org
