Violinist as Composer

Part of TŌN’s Carnegie Hall series

Leon Botstein spotlights four European virtuoso violinists who were also major composers in their respective countries, yet are not household names elsewhere today. Prolific Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, who was also a violinist, pianist, and accomplished author, is represented with her contemplative Partita for Orchestra. Internationally-acclaimed Russian violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky makes his Carnegie Hall debut, joining TŌN for Hungarian composer Joseph Joachim’s Variations for Violin and Orchestra, which hasn’t been performed at Carnegie Hall since 1894. Then Boriso-Glebsky and the orchestra give the New York City premiere of a recently discovered concerto by famed Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe. The program concludes with the energetic and passionate Second Symphony of Romanian composer George Enescu, written at a time when he was also one of the most in-demand concert violinists in the world.