Well over a hundred years before bluesman Robert Johnson contemplated a demonic barter in exchange for virtuosity, a doting Italian mother was rumored to have traded her own soul in order that her son, Niccolò Paganini, would become proficient at violin.

Well, Mom, hell's hot – but Satan certainly delivered on his end of the bargain. Paganini is pretty much universally regarded to be the greatest violin virtuoso who ever lived.

In the context of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, this is particularly compelling. On Saturday in New London's Garde Arts Center, the ECSO, under the baton of music director Toshi Shimada, presents a clever program of Spanish and Italian dances titled "Euro-Latin Passion"  – which includes Paganini's exquisite and challenging Violin Concerto No. 1. The work will feature guest violinist Aleksey Semenenko, a Ukrainian-born artist who has performed with orchestras all over the world. He's also a recent Queen Elizabeth Prize silver medalist. He took First Prize in the 2015 Boris Goldstein International Violin Competition and the Audience Prize at the 2015 Musical Olympus International Festival in St. Petersburg. He was selected Musical America's New Artist of the Month last March.

The bill also includes Berlioz's Le Carnaval Romain Overture; Chabrier's Espana; De Fallas' and Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 1; and Ennio Marricone's Gabriel's Oboe. The night ends flamboyantly with Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol.

Ticket holders are also invited to attend a pre-concert chat with Shimada and Semenenko.

Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. pre-concert chat, Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London; $28.80-$62, $12 under 30 or active/retired military personnel; (860) 443-2876.