Young Artists Orchestra Ruth Seaton James Centre January 27 The weather, once again, did little to prevent the Russians from giving a stellar performance on the Bermuda Festival stage.

And this time they were joined by their American counterparts in an uplifting display of technically sparkling and compulsively harmonious musicianship.

On Thursday evening at the Ruth Seaton James Centre the American Russian Youth Orchestra (ARYO) gave one of what was originally planned as two performances for their Festival debut. However, flight cancellations, which prevented Wednesday's performance from taking place, had done little to dampen the infectiously indomitable spirit of this international ensemble.

The 15-member chamber group presented a tightly knit, eclectic and well-chosen programme of 20th century music, which, like its performers, was of a Russian and American origin.

Stoking the fire for what was to be a spirited performance were individual members of the orchestra who came forward to introduce each piece to the listener in a warm, inviting and tantalisingly visual manner.

This, coupled with a technical clarity and a palpable excitement in performance made for a refreshingly, accessible and colourful programme of what was fairly abstract music.

Opening the concert were Rick Basehore on oboe, Alina Goloubo on viola and Nikolai Tolokonnikov on piano in Charles Loeffler's `L'Etang', an impressionistic and engaging work.

From the outset, immediately apparent was a strong sense of harmonious unity among the performers that goes far beyond music-making. Here were torch-bearers for a new world peace.

Playing with a controlled passion, fluid phrasing and a sonorous unity, the trio drew listeners into the music's compelling depths, and demonstrated exquisit control in its final fade.

Next came Shostakovich's `Trio in E minor', which again featured pianist Tolokonnikov who was on this occasion joined by violinist Elina Ianovitskaia and cellist Scott Brady.

A hauntingly ominous and at times frightening composition, the work was created in 1944 and is a reflections on the misery and frustration that tortured the Soviet people at a time considered one of the nation's darkest hours.

The trio showed masterful control in all its various moods, from measured sustain to passages of frenzied pizzicato which would melt into moments of untrammelled vivacity. Modern in shape, yet surprisingly immediate, this work and its execution left the audience enthralled.

The players took the audience back to the US after the interval with Samuel Barber's `Summer Music', described by flautist Sophia Gibbs Kim as a quintessentially American wind quintet.

This visual and exhilarating piece brought a warm summer breeze into an inclement night. Again a work full of contrasts the wind players; Ms Gibbs Kim, Rick Basehore, Stanislav Iankovsky, Kenneth Todd Moses and Stanislav Krepak, captivated listeners with its interplay of busy agitation and sublime repose.

The ARYO also specialises in discovering and championing new young conducting talent. New on the roster this year is 29-year-old Alexander Mickelthwate, Music Director of the Scarsdale Youth Symphony and recently appointed Assistant Conductor of the Eos Orchestra in Manhattan.

He took up his baton for the last piece of the evening, Igor Stravinsky's concerto in E-flat, `Dumbarton Oaks', with the entire chamber orchestra.

Under Mickelthwate's compelling and animated direction with a baton precise enough to set a clock by the chamber orchestra presented a gloriously imaginative interpretation.

Riding on a wave of excitement, the orchestra broke an enthusiastic burst of applause with Aeron Copeland's `Ho-down' from his `Rodeo' for its encore.

With its enlightening introductions and youthful vitality it would be nice to think the ARYO would grace future Bermuda Festival's, for the orchestra's infectious presentation could do much to fire up the island's young musicians.

Bermuda has done well to attract the orchestra. Let's hope it returns, if education is such a cornerstone of the Festival's raison d'etre.

Louise Foister THEATRE THR