LAS CRUCES - The Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra looks forward to welcoming audiences back in 2025 with its “Brahms” concert, featuring a local high school violin soloist.

Abby Soulsby, a senior at Las Cruces High School, recently won the Las Cruces Symphony Youth Orchestra’s first concerto competition, playing the first movement of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. She will join the full Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra on stage in January for a featured performance.

“I practiced for a long, long time and then once I got to the actual audition day, I was like, ‘Well, I'm just here to have fun and see what happens,’” Soulsby said.

The youth orchestra, conducted by Dr. Michael Mapp, was created in recent years for area high school musicians. The ensemble consists of about 25 string instrument students, all of whom were eligible to compete in the competition.

Soulsby has played violin in Las Cruces since sixth grade, when she said the orchestra “just kind of spoke to” her. She was selected for the New Mexico Music Educators Association’s 2025 All-State Symphony Orchestra and also plays in a mariachi ensemble.

“What motivates me to play now is just to continue to get better and I like to see the results that come from my hard work,” Soulsby said. “This concert is going to be the experience of a lifetime and I'm so excited.”

The Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of the new year will be performed on Saturday, Jan. 18 and Sunday, Jan. 19 at Atkinson Recital Hall on the New Mexico State University campus.

Tickets for both concert dates are available for purchase online at lascrucessymphony.com or by calling 575-646-3709.

Concert program:

• Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 by Johannes Brahms
• Symphony No. 4, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms
• Violin Concerto, Op. 14 by Samuel Barber, featuring Abby Soulsby

WHAT: Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra’s “Brahms” concert
WHEN: Saturday, Jan.18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3 p.m.
WHERE: Atkinson Recital Hall, 1075 N. Horseshoe St., Las Cruces