Tuesday's concert at Reno's Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts was not just wonderfully prepared and sensitively played - it was thrilling. The superb American violinist Elmar Oliveira was the icing on Tuesday's cake. He played Saint-Saen's Violin Concerto No. 3 in B Minor and his work was never less than sensational.

Conductor and soloist were so technically and emotionally in sync the Saint-Saens had an emotional wallop this somewhat distant concerto rarely manages. Jekowsky is an accompanist of rare sensitivity. For Reno concertgoers getting used to their new resident conductor, Jekowsky's sensitive accompanying has now become a given. Both Oliveira and Jekowsky took the concerto's virtuosic demands in stride without sacrificing the impeccable workmanship always so tidily in place in the composer's scheme of things.

Oliveira has a full, velvety tone, an assured style and an immaculate virtuoso technique. His intonation is so exacting it's almost eerie. The first movement was passionately brought off. The second movement's lovely barcarolle kind of melody was given a rhapsodic, haunting treatment by both Mr. Oliveira and the orchestra elevating the movement into an especially eloquent utterance. The third movement sailed into the kind of technical stratosphere that makes violin concertos, when everyone is up to the task (as they were here), so enthralling to hear.

The good news is that the Saint-Saens wasn't the evening's only triumph.

Elgar's Enigma Variations has been such a staple of the repertoire for so long (an even one hundred years) it's easy to forget what a challenge it is for performers. The Enigma's 14 miniature variations are Elgar's personality sketches of friends. Each is in a dramatically different mood and texture. The use of rubato, so important to the elasticity of Elgar's musical profiles, was handled masterfully by Jekowsky creating a rich but subtle Elgarian world rather than one that merely reached for the big moment.

In the "Ysobel" variation, the dramatic hesitancy Elgar's violist friend must have had playing the movement's opening intervals - so delicately realized by the Philharmonic's new principal violist, Soo Kyong Kim - was nicely parlayed by Jekowsky into the tentativeness Elgar must have had in mind. The gorgeous "Nimrod" variation hangs wonderfully in time. Jekowsky and the orchestra touched on the very essence of the variation's ethereal qualities. Powerful and moving, with long sustained phrases, "Nimrod" is an exceedingly difficult variation to play and it was superbly done.

Copland's "Billy the Kid" opened the concert. Jekowsky had his players so keyed up that the orchestra's performance, collectively and individually, simply sizzled. This is a rambunctious work that has to be seen - the ballet - to be fully appreciated. Nonetheless, Jekowsky's vivid interpretation and the orchestra's colorful playing make it an easy piece for Tuesday's capacity audience to dig into and love.

The suite's sweep and drive were wonderfully fleshed out by the orchestra's newly vitalized playing. The strings are more robust than ever, the brasses are brilliant but under control, the woodwinds' sound - if occasionally shakey in pitch - is rich, and the percussion gets its job done without overwhelming.

Standing ovations can be overdone, but they're such a wonderful encouragement for an orchestra on the way up. This concert was worth the accolades of fans.

The Reno Philharmonic's last subscription concert of the season is April 13th. The concert will include Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms featuring the University of Nevada, Reno Chorale Union and Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. For information call 775 323 6393.