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When violinist Yevgeny Kutik was in South Africa last fall, he spent some time on the southernmost tip, watching the currents of two oceans mingle.&#8220;It was wild,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Not particularly stormy but wild &#8212; in a great sense.&#8221;Wild in a great sense. Isn&#8217;t that what many of us can say about nature? Whether it&#8217;s a cluster of buds that just popped out this spring on a Northeastern Pennsylvania maple tree, or the autumn colors of the Berkshires where Kutik grew up, or a rumble of summer thunder that might, oh, let&#8217;s say, frighten a shepherd?That last image comes from one of the sonnets that dovetail Antonio Vivaldi&#8217;s Four Seasons, the four concerti that will highlight the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic&#8217;s &#8220;Inspired by Nature&#8221; concert.The performance is set to begin tonight <ins>(April 5) </ins> at 8 at Lackawanna College in Scranton.Kutik, who will be guest soloist for the Vivaldi piece, said as he plays the Four Seasons he can&#8217;t help but picture the images that appear in a set of four sonnets he believes Vivaldi may have written himself &#8212; from singing birds and furiously buzzing gnats to a frozen path where the ice is likely to crack.&#8220;You can hear people shivering,&#8221; Philharmonic executive director Nancy Sanderson said of the winter concerto. &#8220;It definitely evokes cold and wind.&#8221;In the summer portion, she said, &#8220;there&#8217;s a passage where it starts to thunder and lightning. You can hear it. It&#8217;s definitely a tone painting.&#8221;Sanderson said she is excited to give tonight&#8217;s audience another chance to hear Kutik play.&#8220;He&#8217;s a tremendous musician. We got to know him last year when Temple Israel and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic collaborated for a weekend of music,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Now he&#8217;s doing the Four Seasons, such an inspiring piece, filled with such energy.&#8221;Tonight&#8217;s concert also includes Beethoven&#8217;s Pastorale Symphony No. 6, which Sanderson mentioned is one of the classic pieces Disney incorporated into the animated &#8220;Fantasia.&#8221;If you happen to catch a clip of &#8220;Fantasia&#8221; before you go to the concert, you&#8217;ll associate the Beethoven piece with a cute little winged horse trying to keep up with the rest of the Pegasus family &#8212; mom, dad and siblings &#8212; as they fly over a landscape that suggests ancient Greece.The Russian-American Kutik, described by the New York Times as having &#8220;dark-hued tone and razor-sharp technique,&#8221; said he is looking forward to the Scranton concert.&#8220;I&#8217;ve heard wonderful things abut the conductor and the orchestra,&#8221; he said in a telephone interview earlier this week. &#8220;It&#8217;s a great opportunity to make music together.&#8221;As the Philharmonic season comes to a close, Sanderson said she is pleased with the way the orchestra is weathering its financial challenges. &#8220;We put ourselves on a 5-year strategic plan and by the end we should understand what size season this community can support,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We have been paying down our debt (as year one ends) and that&#8217;s part of year two of our plan as well.&#8221;&#8220;There&#8217;s definitely going to be a season next year and there&#8217;s a lot of great music we&#8217;ll be doing. There&#8217;s a real sense of optimism among board members.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mary Therese Biebelmbiebel@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>IF YOU GO What: Inspired by Nature, a Masterworks concert including Vivaldi&#8217;s Four Seasons and Beethoven&#8217;s Symphony No. 6Who: Featuring violin soloist Yevgeny KutikWhen: 8 p.m. April 5Where: People Security Bank Theater at Lackawanna College, 501 Vine St., ScrantonTickets: $33 to $58 Info: nepaphil.com</factboxMeta></div>

Philharmonic to present ‘Inspired by Nature’ concert