|
|
Music Director Lorin Maazel leads a wide-ranging program of works, featuring Ravel's Boléro, plus Haydn's Symphony No. 95, Wolfgang Rihm's Two Other Movements — a World Premiere-New York Philharmonic Commission — and two pieces to be performed by violinist Lisa Batiashvili in her Philharmonic debut: Chausson's Poème and Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo capriccioso. Read more about Ms. Batiashvili.
|
|
|
|
|
isa Batiashvili began playing a small violin with one string when she was two years old. At 25, this Georgian-born performer circles the globe with debut after debut, heralded in the most glowing phrases: "Fearsomely talented," a "mesmerizing display of energy and warmth," "breathtaking fire and grace," "in absolute command of both the music and her audience," "effortless virtuosity." A 2004 review of her Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic described even the orchestra players as spellbound, noting that, "After her command of pure poured-gold sound in the first movement, and her mesmerizing command of tone and tempo in the second, it was a pleasant surprise to discover in the Rondo that she can also lead from the front with rhythmic bite and drive. Beyond perfect intonation and beautiful sound, she seems to understand instinctively what the work can tell us." Harris Goldsmith wrote in Musical America's 2004 roundup of new artists: "Her dark, sultry sound and imperious intensity remind me of Neveu, Szigeti, and — perhaps above all — David Oistrakh at his vintage best."
At four, Ms. Batiashvili began playing seriously, taught by her violinist father; her mother is a pianist. In her teen years, the family moved to Hamburg, then Munich. At 16 she won second prize in the 1995 Sibelius Competition as the youngest entrant. As one of the BBC New Generation Artists, she won critical acclaim for her debut recital CD for EMI — music by Brahms, Schubert, and Bach. She scored with critics and audiences with the Beethoven Violin Concerto at her 2001 debut at London's BBC Proms.
Her Most Important Season
Ms. Batiashvili plays the 1709 Engleman Stradivarius, loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation. Also traveling with her are her eight-month-old daughter (born August 2004) and her husband, Francois LeLeux, an oboist. Performances during her pregnancy — when she was "carrying extra responsibility inside her" — brought her incredible joy, she told BBC Music Magazine.
High expectations mean pressure, but she notes, "The world is such a big place. Not everything depends on whether on a given day I play worse than I did at a previous performance." She wants to play more chamber music and work more with her husband. But she says that this season, with debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic, "is the most important season so far."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lisa Batiashvili makes her Philharmonic debut in works by Chausson and Saint-Saëns,
Mar 10-12 and 15
|
|
