Sarah Chang: Brahms, Theofanidis and Franck

Date: 12/02/2010, 7:30pm

Venue: Barbican Centre, Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS

Tickets: £9 / £13 / £17 / £22.50 / £28

When still in her early teens, Sarah Chang was described by Lord Yehudi Menuhin as “the most wonderful, perfect, ideal violinist I had ever heard.”

Since making a name for herself as a young child prodigy Sarah Chang has emerged as one of the most mature and engaging violinists of her generation.

In February she gives her Great Performers debut in a concert that demonstrates her acclaimed mastery of Romantic violin repertoire.

The programme, which contains violin sonatas by both Brahms and Franck, also marks the UK premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’s Fantasy.

The American composer has collaborated with Chang already in the past seasons, having recently written a violin concerto for her.

Sarah Chang is joined by pianist and fellow Juilliard School-graduate Andrew von Oeyen.
In the last decade or so Sarah Chang has emerged from being an astonishingly talented child prodigy into one of today’s most gifted and engaging violinists.

This evening’s programme sees her perform two of the most lyrical sonatas in the Romantic repertoire.

Brahms’s D minor Violin Sonata was the last of the composer’s three violin sonatas, and the only one in four movements.

Franck’s substantial Violin Sonata is a beguiling piece of chamber music, with a final movement that offers one of the most delightful pieces of violin/piano dialogue in the repertoire.

The work is arguably as well known today in its cello version–as performed on the Barbican stage last season by Yo-Yo Ma – but the original is every bit as sublime.

The programme also features a UK premiere by the American composer Christopher Theofanidis, a musician with a special affinity with Chang’s playing, having recently written a concerto for her.