What is ‘virtuosity’? To many people it’s just showing off amazing techniques. But a truly ‘virtuoso’ performance can be very moving, because it’s not about the techniques, it’s about the music. Paganini’s music was amazingly lyrical - it may have been flashy and crazy and nearly impossible to play, but it was also truly beautiful at times.
The Virtuoso Violin is a touring show that I created with David Worswick, an incredible violinist from Liverpool who now is a 1st violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra (and an old friend from college). It played to over fifty audiences throughout the United Kingdom, broadcast on BBC Radio, performed for Classic FM and for members of the British Royal Family, garnered several standing ovations, and given outreach performances at schools and hospitals in nearly every region of the country. The Virtuoso Violin concert has been performed at many international festivals and concert series, including the Red Violin, North Wales, Gregynog and St Asaph festivals, and venues including the Wales Millennium Centre, Newport Arts Centre, National Portrait Gallery, St Mary’s Cathedral Edinburgh, and Virgin Megastore in London!
The programme is a thrilling cross-section of the last three centuries of virtuoso violin music by master musicians such as Paganini, Wieniawski, Sarasate, and many more. The repertoire is regularly updated and, according to the tastes of audiences, often features more modern compositions – from the challenging (Schnittke) through to the indisputably accessible (Corigliano, John Williams)!
