I feel like I grew up at the Barbican. It was the very first place where I played in when I made my debut in London. I was with the LSO at the Barbican and I think I was all of 11 or something ridiculously young like that. So, it's, for me, it's like, it almost feels like a second home.
For this particular tour, I really tried to just listen to my heart and program things that I love -- that I love and that I know that I'm comfortable with and that I'm 120% confident with. And a program that's just truly me from the heart.
Well this is a Guarneri del Gesu. I've had it since I was about 14 year old or so. I found it through Isaac Stern and I went to Carnegie Hall with Isaac Stern and we played about 10 or so different violins. We had this amazing array of Stradivariuses and Guarneri del Gesus and we both played and we both went out into the hall and listened to the other. And um, no, this was one of the few times that Mr. Stern and I, within 2 seconds, just agreed that this was it for me. This instrument was it. And I'm really lucky to have it. You know, it's a pretty phenomenal instrument. It was made in 1717.
I feel that now, after all these years, I'm starting to understand the, like, the magical corners and what it can and can't do for me. And I'm starting to get its temperament now. It's kinda like it took us a while to get used to each other and to realize what we wanted from each other.
This program is really special to me because every piece on the program is a jewel. And... they are personal favorites of mine. We've got the Brahms sonata, which is just out of this world. We've got the Franck sonata, which has always been one of my favorites.
I recorded it with Lars vogt several years ago and it has always been one of my favorite sonatas. And...the center of the recital is going to be Christopher Theofanidis' piece. Ummm... he was the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) master prize winner several years ago. He is, in my opinion, one of the hottest, youngest, most fabulous composers out there right now in the circuit.
He wrote a concerto for me in 2008, which I premiered with the Pittsburgh symphony. Gorgeous concerto; a lot of work. It's a technical nightmare, but it's so much fun to play. The first movement of the concerto is something very majesty and beautiful. The second movement is one of the most gorgeous...gorgeous pieces I have ever listened to or played.
I feel like I grew up at the Barbican, it was the very first place where I, I played in, uh, when I made my debut in London, it was with the LSO at the Barbican and I think I was all of eleven, or something ridiculously young like that, so, um, it's, for me it's like it almost feels like a second home. For this particular tour I really tried to just listen to my heart and program things that I love, that I love and I know that I'm comfortable with, and that I'm 120 percent confident with, um, and a program that's just truly me, from the heart.
Well this is a Guarneris del Gesu. I've had it since I was about fourteen years old. I found it through Isaac Stern. And I went to Carnegie Hall with Isaac Stern and we played about 10 or so different violins. We had this amazing array of Stradivariuses and Guarneris del Gesus and we both played and we both went out into the hall and listened to the other. And erm This was one of the few times that Mr Stern and I within two seconds just agreed that this was it for me. This instrument was it. And I'm really lucky to have it. It's a pretty phenomenal instrument. It was made in 1717. I feel that now that after all these years, I'm finally starting to understand the, like, magical corners and what it can and can't do for me. I'm starting to get its temperament now. y'know, its kinda like, it took us a while to get used to each other and to realize what we wanted from each other. This programme is really special to me because every piece on the programme is a jewel and they are personal favourites of mine. We've got the Brahms sonata is just out of this world. We've got the Franck sonata which has always been one of my favourites. I recorded it with Lars Vogt several years ago and it's always been one of my favourite sonatas. And the centre of the recital is going to be Christopher Theophinides' piece. He was the LSO's master prize winner several years ago. He is, in my opinion, one of the hottest, youngest, most fabulous composers out there right now on the circuit. He wrote a concerto for me in 2008 which I premiered with Pittsburgh Symphony. Gorgeous concerto. A lot of work. It's a technical nightmare but it's so much fun to play. The first movement of the concerto was something very majestic and beautiful. The second movement is one of the most gorgeous, gorgeous pieces I've ever listened to or played. You know sometimes when you are doing a piece by a new composer, there'll be...y'know, he'll write it, he'll send it to you, you'll learn it. There will be maybe, one or two back-and-forth conversations and that's it but with Chris it was from the get-go, from the beginning to the end, there were multiple phone calls, many many meetings, many long-distance phone calls as well because I would be in Paris, he would be in New York or I would be in y'know, Atlanta and he would be in L.A. And just, Y'know a lot of late night phone calls, and a lot of y'know, all that stuff where you put him on speaker-phone and you play and try to explain that doesn't really like fit in the fingers and could he possibly rewrite this. It was truly like having a concerto custom-made. Getting to work on a new piece by a contemporary composer who has written it specifically for you is really exciting because first of all, nobody has played it before which also means you have zero way of researching because you can't listen to records, you can't go ?to ?anybody's concert, you just...there's no way except just reaching out to the composer and just trying to pick his brain and just trying to put yourself in that mindset so you are feeling what he felt when he was writing that and trying to portray the sound that he has in his mind, trying to understand what he wants and somehow coaxing that out of your instrument.
Well this is a Guarneris del Gesu. I've had it since I was about fourteen years old. I found it through Isaac Stern. And I went to Carnegie Hall with Isaac Stern and we played about 10 or so different violins. We had this amazing array of Stradivariuses and Guarneris del Gesus and we both played and we both went out into the hall and listened to the other. And erm This was one of the few times that Mr Stern and I within two seconds just agreed that this was it for me. This instrument was it. And I'm really lucky to have it. It's a pretty phenomenal instrument. It was made in 1717. I feel that now that after all these years, I'm finally starting to understand the, like, magical corners and what it can and can't do for me. I'm starting to get its temperament now. y'know, its kinda like, it took us a while to get used to each other and to realize what we wanted from each other. This programme is really special to me because every piece on the programme is a jewel and they are personal favourites of mine. We've got the Brahms sonata is just out of this world. We've got the Franck sonata which has always been one of my favourites. I recorded it with Lars Vogt several years ago and it's always been one of my favourite sonatas. And the centre of the recital is going to be Christopher Theophinides' piece. He was the LSO's master prize winner several years ago. He is, in my opinion, one of the hottest, youngest, most fabulous composers out there right now on the circuit. He wrote a concerto for me in 2008 which I premiered with Pittsburgh Symphony. Gorgeous concerto. A lot of work. It's a technical nightmare but it's so much fun to play. The first movement of the concerto was something very majestic and beautiful. The second movement is one of the most gorgeous, gorgeous pieces I've ever listened to or played. You know sometimes when you are doing a piece by a new composer, there'll be...y'know, he'll write it, he'll send it to you, you'll learn it. There will be maybe, one or two back-and-forth conversations and that's it but with Chris it was from the get-go, from the beginning to the end, there were multiple phone calls, many many meetings, many long-distance phone calls as well because I would be in Paris, he would be in New York or I would be in y'know, Atlanta and he would be in L.A. And just, Y'know a lot of late night phone calls, and a lot of y'know, all that stuff where you put him on speaker-phone and you play and try to explain that doesn't really like fit in the fingers and could he possibly rewrite this. It was truly like having a concerto custom-made. Getting to work on a new piece by a contemporary composer who has written it specifically for you is really exciting because first of all, nobody has played it before which also means you have zero way of researching because you can't listen to records, you can't go ?to ?anybody's concert, you just...there's no way except just reaching out to the composer and just trying to pick his brain and just trying to put yourself in that mindset so you are feeling what he felt when he was writing that and trying to portray the sound that he has in his mind, trying to understand what he wants and somehow coaxing that out of your instrument.
Yeah, we were in the first moment. And then there was this lapse of silence because he just had his daughter. It was his first child, the birth of his new daughter, and he was busy being a new dad, and he said that he began sketching - the second moment, the melody for the second moment - the day she was born. And there's so much love in it, so much love and warmth and tenderness. I think, you know, you actually get to experience the composer's life through his works. And it was very, very touching to get to be a small part of that.
I've got four bows which I absolutely adore. That's the Peccatte and the Satori which are my very reliable, very powerful contero bows which can soar over 90 musicians when you're playing in this huge hall and you can do so without much effort because the instrument just carries by itself.
And that, that's a really pretty bow, it's, you know, it's fairly modern and it's one of my few modern bows that I've got and it's a such a girly bow. I mean it's got diamonds and little stars and it's so pretty to look at and actually it does sound okay too, so best of both worlds.
But you know, I-I live out of my case. You know, I could literally, if my luggage never arrived at ??? city, I could basically survive for a few days with everything I've got in here. Because I've got, you know, I travel with everything. You know, I've got music all the time with whatever I'm working at. I always print out all my faxes and stuff like that, so I've got that.
And do you guys want to see my passport? I've got the most ridiculous passport ever. It's like a book. I had to get all these extra pages put in because I travel way too much.
I've gotten so used to the travel and the life on the road and getting concerts that sometimes the normal things, you know like actually being able to fend for yourself in the kitchen and not always having to, you know, not always relying on the concierge downstairs because at home, I realized this over Christmas break, you don't really have a concierge at home. You need to learn how to do things for yourself. It's just really interesting, the everyday normal things that I'd love to be better at.
To have this sort of really beautiful program, where a lot of it is repertoire that I grew up with, that I feel very comfortable with. And then to have the center of the program be Christopher Theofanidis's piece, you know, the new premiere. It's a very exciting program for me. It's a really really nice tour. I'm thrilled to be doing it in London at the Barbican because it's a very special hall for me, to be in that hall and to have a sort of intimate setting as it is when you've got a piano and yourself and that's it. That'll be really really special.
