Friday night's Lancaster Symphony concert at the Fulton Opera House introduced us to solo violinist and Harvard student Sandy Cameron, who is a star in the making.

The 21-year-old gave a powerful performance of Karl Goldmark's Violin Concerto in A minor (1877). In the years to come, after she's established her international reputation, friends will envy us when we say, "Oh yes, I remember seeing Sandy Cameron play in Lancaster at the start of her career.  And it was clear back then that she was destined for greatness."

Wearing a red gown that sparkled like her playing, this prodigy gave full vent to the rapturous and melodic qualities of her 400-year-old Maggini violin. From her opening notes, Cameron flew like a songbird across the theater, resting occasionally at a vantage point high above the stage while her accompanists reinforced her lyrical themes — one swift and joyful, the other more reflective but far from wistful. Two-thirds of the way through the opening movement, the orchestra's unrelenting fugato repetition of the first theme came across as an emphatic demand to hear it again from our soloist, who obediently complied with a cadenza that took us to a new height of ecstasy.

Cameron's performance was something to see, as well as hear.  The music was inside her, and as she played, she expressively twisted this way and that. Even when she was silent and let the orchestra play by itself, she still moved with the music. There was applause after the first movement and a two-minute standing ovation at the end, which Cameron answered with an encore solo from Bach's third partita.

It was curiously fitting that maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser chose Bizet's joyful Symphony in C major (1855) for the second half of the program. Written when the composer was only 17, it too is filled with the infectious promise of youth and reminded me of meeting a bright young person who's about to embark on the adventure of life.  There's the vicarious thrill of looking forward to the wonderful possibilities the future holds.

Unlike some of the dark and gloomy works we heard last season, notably Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique," with its concluding whisper of death, and Kurt Weill's exploration of totalitarian terror and despair, Bizet's sprightly and joyful offering is full of hope and free of care.  This was apparent throughout, from the zestful opening in the first movement to the fast-moving, devil-may-care celebration of life in the fourth.  Even principal oboe Jeff O'Donnell's haunting solo in the adagio did not dampen the exuberant spirit of Bizet's youthful masterpiece.

Friday night's program was not totally free of care. It included the world premiere of "For the Fallen," an 11-minute work for strings by English composer Andrew Lowe Watson. The piece is a tribute to those who have been killed in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the subject matter, "For the Fallen" is an important piece of music for our time, and it's quite a coup for Lancaster to hear it first.

Watson explained in a preconcert lecture that he wanted to speak directly to those who've lost loved ones in these "tragic conflicts" and to focus on what the fallen have given to the world in their short lives and the love they've inspired in others.

However, he didn't want to write a piece that made people feel too depressed. Although pain and suffering are very real, he said, there are other things like love and bravery and human endeavor that are very real, too. "I wanted to celebrate those bits as well as the sadness."  

That may have been his intention, but there's no denying that "For the Fallen" is an extremely sad and moving piece. Opening very softly, the strings gradually gather in intensity until they sound like a multitude of voices calling out to the departed. At one point, there's an outpouring of love from the cellos, at another a yearning plea for compassion from a solo viola. It is beautiful music.

As with previous subscription concerts, we were treated (one might say subjected) to a PowerPoint presentation in music theory during one of the works. Enormous screens on both sides of the stage explained what was going on in Bizet's symphony. It's questionable whether our evening's enjoyment was enhanced by being told, "This is called the recapitulation, as the original material is restated."

But clearly someone thinks the Lancaster audience needs instruction in how to appreciate the music it's listening to. I found it distracting to hear my fellow concertgoers titter over some humorous quip on the screens. And it became as annoying as the ringing of a cell phone when the Compaq and Windows logos started flashing on the screens during Sandy Cameron's virtuosa performance when the presentation was supposed to be turned off.

Lancaster Symphony Orchestra will repeat its program at 3 and 7:30 p.m. today. For ticket information, call 397-7425.