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It is one of two classical music concerts downtown this week.

TSO Music Director Jos茅 Luis Gomez will lead the orchestra in a program anchored by Ellington鈥檚 symphonic jazz piece 鈥淗arlem.鈥� The work, originally commissioned by Arturo Toscanini as part of a larger New York-city inspired orchestra piece, opens with this distinctive trumpet solo in which the instrument sounds like it鈥檚 saying 鈥淗arlem.鈥� The work has strong nods to jazz intertwined with infectious big band swing rhythms.

Gomez paired 鈥淗arlem鈥� with Johann Strauss鈥檚 gloriously fun 鈥淒ie Fledermaus鈥� Overture and Richard Strauss鈥檚 鈥淒er Rosenkavalier鈥� Waltzes with that gorgeous passage in the middle of Sequence No. 1 that will have you swaying in your seat.

One of the highlights of the concert, which the orchestra will perform twice this weekend, is likely to be Tucson native Ulysses Kay鈥檚 鈥淪ix Dances鈥� for string orchestra that showcases six distinct dance styles 鈥� the Bohemian Schottische, the European Waltz, the Native American Round Dance, the Eastern European Polka, the Promenade that shares history with Europe and America and the playful Hungarian Galop.

Kay grew up in Tucson and earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in music before heading to the East Coast to earn advanced degrees from the Eastman School, Columbia and Yale University. He was the first African-American composer to win the 鈥淧rix de Rome鈥� award that allowed him to study and travel in Italy beginning in 1946. The concert ends with Ravel鈥檚 鈥淟a valse.鈥�

Gomez will be behind the podium for the concert, which the orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20, at Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $17 to $83 through .

Arizona Friends host young Goldmund string quartet

Most classical music is old, dating back centuries not decades, but that doesn鈥檛 mean it has to sound old.

That鈥檚 kind of the philosophy hanging over the 10-year-old Goldmund Quartet, which infuses a sense of newness to very old works with polished and convincing interpretations that are flawlessly precise down to the smallest detail. And in those small details listeners discover nuances that might have escaped them or that they had forgotten until it suddenly seems to pop out of the drawn bow or plucked string from the Munich-based Goldmund 鈥� four school friends (violinists Florian Schotz and Pinchas Adt, violist Christoph Vandory and cellist Raphael Paratore) who turned their love of music-making and camaraderie into a critically-acclaimed ensemble.

You can judge for yourself when the quartet plays its first ever concert on Wednesday, Feb. 23.

The concert opens with Schubert鈥檚 energetic Quartettsatz in C minor and keeps up the tempo with Mozart鈥檚 playful Divertimento in F major. Dvor谩k鈥檚 spirited String Quartet No. 12 in F major (鈥淎merican鈥�) closes out the program.

Wednesday鈥檚 concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Leo Rich Theater, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets are $3 for adults, $10 for students through