KITCHENER - Brahms fans caught a wonderful double-header Friday night, with two major works by the composer being performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at the Centre in the Square.

It was also a chance to see one of Canada's up-and-coming conductors - Jean-Marie Zeitouni - whose busy schedule has him in demand with major orchestras well beyond his native Quebec.

The appetizer was a wonderful ten minute piece entitled Kaleidoscope (Pierre Mercure). True to its name, this eclectic and likeable starter was a whirlwind of styles and textures. Traveling between a tingling and sustained mysterioso, to a show-style pizzicato strings and xylophone, and then on to a very minor syncopated brass - the piece invoked the feel of a very intelligent and compressed classic film score. Both orchestra and conductor relished the fun and frenzy of this charming work.

The first Brahms was the Concerto in A minor for Violin, Violincello and Orchestra (Op. 102), also known as the Double Concerto featuring KWS's own Stephen Sitarski (violin), and Thomas Wiebe (violoncello).

It's always a pleasure to experience individual members of the orchestra in the concerto format - commanding the attention and respect that might otherwise be neglected in the group. Friday's performance reinforced the marvellous talent of violinist Sitarski, alternating his pure sweetness of tone - lovely, supple and deliciously sweet - with the more steely and muscular demands of rapid arpeggios, cadenzas, and orchestral lead.

Wiebe was a similarly matched soloist, and what elevated the performance to a special status was the obvious musical chemistry between the two soloists and conductor. These three melded together a performance which was engaged, expressive and vibrant.

Zeitouni had full command of the orchestra. His conducting style was sumptuous and expressive - with a magnanimous and naturally appealing flow - while also maintaining a crisp sense of precision and control.

His musical maturity defies his age - a symphonic career to watch.

The orchestra played the supportive role well in the concerto, but had its chance to shine after the intermission with the Symphony No. 4 in E minor (Op. 98).

It's not the theme in the opening movement (somewhat pedestrian and academic) that makes this piece special; it's the slow and sophisticated development, patiently weaving and building from a whisper, into a dynamic combustion, that made this segment irresistible.

Zeitouni had a special sense for this and coaxed a nuanced and engaged performance from the orchestra.

The second movement with its simple but exquisite theme, vacillating between major and minor, came with lush moments floating outside of time and space. Cameo performances from the oboes and french horn were particularly fine in this wonderfully-executed slow movement.

The final two movements tested the orchestra's mettle, first bursting into a bright and zesty full gallop - complete with an uninhibited triangle and boisterous brass in three. Four completed the set with the swirling and dramatic strings, brass and woodwinds alternating turns, but also with a wonderfully restrained mid-section, fully intensifying the dramatic finish - vibrant, expressive and dynamic.