The Ames community will have the chance to witness passion for music this weekend from both local and international sources.

The Central Iowa Symphony will play selections on the theme “From the Old World.” The concert will also feature Julius Klein, a Slovakian clarinet virtuoso, as a soloist.

In Slovakia, Klein is the director of the State Philharmonic and is the orchestra’s solo clarinetist. He travels the world performing and will join the symphony for Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto.”

“[Klein’s] Mozart concerto is sublime,” says Willa Holger, the president of the Central Iowa Symphony Association.

Mark Laycock, the symphony’s director, agrees Klein’s performance will be very powerful.

“Mozart’s concerto is an incredible piece of music to begin with and to have a musician with that caliber is amazing,” Laycock says.

Klein began in music playing the piano and when he was 13. He soon started playing the clarinet and decided he liked doing solos. Later, he began playing in the orchestra he now manages.

Klein says he came to Ames because it’s good to go to new places and play with new people.

“It’s very good when somebody invites me, so why not go,” he says.

Klein has traveled all over playing in concerts. This year, he has performed in too many concerts to count.

The Central Iowa Symphony is comprised of many people of different ages and backgrounds.

“We have professional musicians but also talented amateurs whose day jobs are in other fields, but still very talented musically,” Holger says.

Laycock says the orchestra has been practicing for only eight weeks, but that it is typical for a community group.

Community members join the symphony for many reasons, Laycock says. Some of the people are music teachers who work with students all day and at night want to play for themselves, while others simply want to get together with other people who share their passion for music, he says.

“Some people can’t imagine not having music in their lives,” Laycock says.

Laycock and Holger have been involved with the symphony for six years and are familiar with the excitement and pressure, while Matt Smith, assistant conductor of the Central Iowa Symphony and lecturer of music, will be experiencing it all for the first time.

“This is my first year and it’s a blast,” he says.

“It’s very different from my job at ISU, plus it allows me to work with people in the community, which I really enjoy.”

This concert isn’t only for people who are professionally trained in music, Smith says — it’s also a great way to support the arts in Ames.

“It provides exposure to culture that community members may not usually be exposed to,” he says. “It is performed by people’s neighbors and co-workers.”

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Who: “From the Old World”

Where: Ames City Auditorium

When: 3 p.m., Sunday

Cost: $5 students, $12 public