On April 28, Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall welcomes back the Curtis Symphony Orchestra with guest artist, operatic soprano Amanda Majeski.

The ensemble will be conducted by Karina Canellakis, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Julliard School and winner of the 2016 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.

After Curtis, Canellakis embarked on a career as a violinist in chamber groups and with the Chicago Symphony and the Berlin Philharmonic. She then went on to Juilliard to study conducting and received a Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship in 2013. Canellakis was assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony and has also conducted in Europe.

The 7:30 p.m. April 28 program at Symphony Hall is: George Walker’s hauntingly beautiful “Lyric for Strings,” Anton Webern’s “Six Pieces for Orchestra,” Alexander Scriabin’s “Poem of Ecstasy,” and Richard Strauss’s “Four Last Songs,” the latter featuring Majeski’s beautiful soprano voice.

“The Strauss is the dessert of my repertoire. His music speaks to my soul,” says Majeski in a phone interview. Majeski, a Curtis alumna, is excited to be performing with the Curtis Symphony.

“It’s first time back with them [since graduating],” she notes. “We did a similar concert when I was a student with performances in Allentown and Philadelphia. It’s special to be coming back for Strauss.

“I love Curtis,” she continues. “It was the perfect place for me at the perfect time. They continue to do amazing work. I’m proud to be asked back and to perform. They are all so incredibly talented. They’re the future of music on all sides.”

Majeski didn’t come from a family of musicians. “My mom was a nurse and dad worked for Allstate. Mom sort of threw me into anything and everything ... sports, band, cello. I fell in love with dance, especially tap.”

Her path to a singing career started with a rejection. Her high school had a variety show that she tried out for but didn’t make. She asked for voice lessons. She relates, “I loved ‘Les Miz,’ ‘Rent,’ “Phantom of the Opera.’ But the voice teacher steered me to an Italian art song book. The more I studied it, the more I fell in love with it.”

That led to seeking a degree at Northwestern University in music education. A teacher encouraged her to include a voice major.

“Junior year, a friend recommended the Chautauqua program [Chautauqua Institution Voice Department] if I wanted to get a sense of what the bigger schools ask of voice students.

“I was accepted into the summer program and worked with some Curtis coaches and students there as well as with Marlena [Kleinman Malas, internationally-renowned recitalist and Curtis faculty member].”

From there it was off to Curtis and then more training at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Majeski began her professional career at the Chicago Opera Theater. She has performed in Madrid, Dresden, and at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, and at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Of Majeski’s singing, Opera News has praised her “ability to soar above the staff in long, arching lines and fine down to a thread of pianissimo with seeming effortlessness.”

Upcoming, Majeski says, “The biggest thing next year is my Covent Garden debut. I’ll be performing in a Czech opera, somewhat off the beaten path. but something I’ve always looked forward to.” She’ll be featured in “Katya Kabanova,” the second work in the Royal Opera’s Leoš Janácek cycle.

Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall box office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715