White’s elegant playing was warmly expressive and lyrical without being overwrought.

From first note to last, she projected a big, gleaming tone ... Her playing was elegant and thoughtful, and she navigated technical difficulties with an easy virtuosity.

White’s playing was absolutely breathtaking. I have no other words for the grace, precision, and warmth she brought to the stage.

On Saturday at Strathmore, the National Philharmonic and conductor Piotr Gajewski marked Black History Month with a concert of “Black Classical Music Pioneers,” featuring African American composers past and present. The program offered intriguing stylistic variety. Sometimes, it challenged the orchestra. In the end, it occasioned a wish for freer movement across classical music’s historical and institutional borders.

African-American violinist Melissa White, while an anomaly to some, continues to enchant audiences around the world as both a soloist and a chamber musician. And to illustrate that she’s deserving of the many accolades showered upon her, White, a winner of the prestigious Sphinx Competition, will be a featured soloist with the National Philharmonic Orchestra in an exciting Black History Month celebration, “Black Classical Music Pioneers.”

Strathmore’s National Philharmonic is commemorating two composers for whom major anniversaries flank this anno Domini 2019: Leonard Bernstein (who would have turned 100 last year) and Beethoven (born in 1770); Saturday’s concert was the first of two.

I crossed paths with White when she was in town to perform the Barber Violin Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony ...  After the concert, White spoke to me about her career, which has included solo performances around the world; the formation of an enduring and successful chamber group, the Grammy award-winning Harlem Quartet; and most recently, the creation with fellow violinist Elena Urioste of a yoga program and retreat for musicians called Intermission.

Her whole being, her confidence and joy in the music, merged with hard-earnd musical mastery to dissolve the listener’s clumsy, troubled ego — always busy striving toward God knows what — and absorb it into her own, higher journey.

The import of what [conductor Paul Freeman] created was palpably clear Monday night in Orchestra Hall, where the sinfonietta celebrated the finale of its 30th season...Most inspiring by far was the work of 15-year-old cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing, who played alongside violinist Melissa White in Saint-Saens’ “La Muse et le Poete” ... Ali-Landing produced a darkly burnished tone that elegantly complemented violinist White’s brightly cast timbre in duet passages. ...White’s tightly focused vibrato and soaring phrases provided welcome counterpoint to Ali-Landing’s downtown sinfonietta debut.