Nigel Armstrong is in a trance. That’s what it looks like, anyway, when Armstrong—violin in place, eyes half-closed in concentration—launches the fiery last Allegro in Saint-Saëns’ Rondo Capriccioso, his sautillé bouncing with remarkable cleanness as his face reacts to the twists and turns of the music.

It’s a lot like watching a video of someone on a roller coaster; you’ve probably noticed that nine out of ten riders will be screaming and laughing and waving their arms, while one person just sits there, not shrieking, not laughing, but clearly reacting, trance-like, to every ascent and descent, soaking up every sensation along the way. In the end, it is usually the person with that look who experiences the ride most fully, and Nigel Armstrong has that look on his face right now.

Today, the 16-year-old violinist is the special guest soloist for an after-noon performance with the American Philharmonic-Sonoma County, performing at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park, California, about 40 miles north of San Francisco. His performance also includes Saint-Saëns’ Havanaise. Later, Nigel admits he lets himself get very involved in the music he is playing, and appreciates players who do not sacrifice emotional connection for mere technical proficiency.

“It was very fun to play those pieces with that orchestra,” he says a few days later. “And it was especially fun to work with the American Philharmonic’s conductor, Gabriel Sakakeeny, because he has so much passion and enthusiasm for the music.

“I like that.”

Armstrong is one of those players who’s been called a prodigy since before he learned to ride a bike. He began playing violin at the age of five, but requested lessons at four after hearing violin music coming from the house across the street, where the neighborhood violin teacher lived. He started high-school math and science classes at 12, and when featured on the popular National Public Radio program From the Top—playing Dvorák’s Romance in F minor, Op. 11—reporter Hayley Goldbach challenged Armstrong’s statement that his favorite thing to read was British news-magazine the Economist. His response to Goldbach’s impromptu news quiz proved that he really did read the topical magazine.

He debuted professionally with the Berkeley Symphony two years later, performing as the symphony’s inaugural Young Artist Award recipient. Since then, he has won a closet-full of awards, including some for his own compositions; in 2002, he earned Honorable Mention in the ASCAP Young Composers Morton Gould Awards for a composition entitled Song of the Zoonks.