More reviews in cd's…
Reviews
In Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Ward Stare and the St. Louis Symphony
Ms. Koh is a veritable dynamo of a performer, shaking her head and tearing into the fast movements with ferocity and singing the slow ones...
Chuck Lavazzi,
KDHX Community Media,
December 03, 2011
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Jennifer Koh at the American Academy of Arts and Letters:
Bach’s Unaccompanied Sonatas and Partitas in a single marathon concert presented by the Miller Theater
...beautifully shaped, mesmerizing readings...was a feat of physical and imaginative stamina...
Allan Kozinn,
The New York Times,
October 25, 2011
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Jennifer's "Bach and Beyond" recital at Lennoxlove House, Haddington, UK
This was a breathtaking performance – darkly reflective then explosively virtuosic.
Alan Coady,
Bachtrack,
September 23, 2011
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...Koh's thoughtfully chosen repertoire moved easily from light to dark by way of virtuosic demands from Finnish composers Kaija Saariaho and Esa Pekka Salonen and the astonishing US based Elliot Carter...
Carol Main,
Edinburgh News,
September 22, 2011
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In Max Bruch’s first violin concerto in G minor with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra
...The stoicism of the call instantly melted away as she [Koh] embodied the sincerity that her voice, the violin, was begging for. She commanded attention as her plea was unrestrained — there was no excuse for not believing the story she told.
Kaylie Reese,
The Maine Campus,
September 11, 2011
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From the moment she [Koh] strode onstage and tucked the 1727 Stradivari under her chin, Koh transfixed the audience.
Judy Harrison,
Bangor Daily News,
September 11, 2011
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In recital with Shai Wosner
The duo offered committed performances of three Mozart sonatas, with Mr. Wosner’s singing tone and expressive musicality complementing Ms. Koh’s insightful, richly hued playing.
Vivien Schweitzer,
The New York Times,
August 25, 2011
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In Britten’s Violin Concerto with the Grant Park Symphony and Carlos Kalmar
The combination of effortless virtuosity and thoughtful risk-taking that marked her playing decades ago has blossomed into expansive, mature artistry.
— Wynne Delacoma,
Chicago Classical Review,
August 4, 2011
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In Lorin Maazel’s “Music for Violin and Orchestra”
...always in stunning control and full of drama seeping through the work’s linear counterpoint.
— Cecelia Porter,
The Washington Post,
July 18, 2011
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In the U.S. premiere of Augusta Read Thomas' Violin Concerto no. 3 with the National Symphony Orchestra
...Jennifer Koh was the confident, communicative soloist.
— Tim Smith,
The Baltimore Sun,
June 13, 2011
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...No violinist could have tackled the challenge of putting across such a work better than Jennifer Koh...
—
DMVclassical,
June 12, 2011
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...Jennifer Koh, who played the piece at the Proms in 2009 — it had its world premiere in Paris earlier that year — gave an expressive, strong performance, epitomizing the kind of tough grace that’s present in the music, almost in spite of its tendency to fussiness...
— Anne Midgette,
The Washington Post,
June 10, 2011
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In the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli's "Dissolve, oh my heart," and Steven Mackey's "Four Iconoclastic Episodes" with the L.A. Philharmonic led by John Adams
...the L.A. Philharmonic New Music Group, for which Adams was the conductor and violinist Jennifer Koh a soloist, provided a smart and excellent West Coast launching pad...
— Mark Swed,
The Los Angeles Times,
May 25, 2011
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Jennifer's "Bach and Beyond" recital at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall
Her playing was brilliant, and, through the lens of her contemporary explorations, the view of the great 18th-century composer’s genius was, as she had claimed, transparent.
— Charles Donelan,
Santa Barbara Independent,
May 23, 2011
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In the music of finnish composer Magnus Lindberg
Koh and Lindberg opened the recital with his own Sonatas for Violin and Piano. The piece amounted to a veritable tour de force of technical bravado and musical eloquence...
Matthew Cmiel,
San Francisco Classical Voice,
May 15, 2011
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...Jennifer Koh, a riveting violinist whose New York profile rests largely on her precise, communicative delivery of contemporary music...
Steve Smith,
The New York Times,
May 11, 2011
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In Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic
...She (Ms. Koh’s) leaned into that dreamy opening theme with passion and conviction. Her tone was a pleasure to hear — you admire it the way you might admire a fine fabric. The high-treble lines were a special delight, strong like a silk thread...
Mary Kunz Goldman,
The Buffalo News,
April 17, 2011
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In Unsuk Chin’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
...Violinist Jennifer Koh caught the mercurial, dancing quality of the Violin Concerto perfectly...
Ivan Hewett,
The Telegraph,
April 11, 2011
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In the Dvorák Violin Concerto with Princeton Symphony Orchestra
...the composer has the soloist act a rhythm instrument and Koh physically manifested that by throwing her full frame into those passages...
Eugene Chan,
Examiner.com,
March 27, 2011
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In "Stories of Korea" with the Los Angeles Master Chorale
The violin has a spiritualist role as a bravura one, Koh was here a model of power virtuoso and soaring shaman...
—
The Los Angeles Times,
March 7, 2011
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In Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto and Béla Bartok’s Rhapsody No. 1 with the Oregon Symphony
...her musicality won over the audience, which called her back to the stage a couple of times with its applause.
— James Bash,
Oregon Music News,
February 21, 2011
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In recital with Shai Wosner
...her deep immersion in the long and heavy textures of the Sonata speaks to her diversity...
— Joseph Dalton,
The Times Union,
February 7, 2011
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Jennifer's "Bach and Beyond" recital at the 92nd Street Y
...Ms. Koh, a spirited and idiosyncratic performer, played the sonata with passionate zeal and vivid contrasts, nimbly conquering its virtuosic challenges and blazing through “Les Furies,” the whirlwind finale...
— Vivien Schweitzer,
The New York Times,
January 31, 2011
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"Four Seasons" a triumph for violinist Jennifer Koh
...this was everything a solo performance in "The Four Seasons" should be — exhilarating, expressive and anything but perfunctory.
— Kyle MacMillan,
The Denver Post,
January 15, 2011
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Jennifer with The New York String Orchestra and pianist Benjamin Hochman performed at the annual Carnegie Hall Christmas Eve concert.
Ms. Koh played with burnished sound and nimble technique...
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times,
December 26, 2010
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Jennifer's "Bach and Beyond" recital at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor has been chosen as one of the top classical music performances of the year in Detroit.
In a virtuoso solo recital, the young American violinist completed a 300-year round trip...
— Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press,
December 26, 2010
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Jennifer's recording of Schumann Sonatas is a NY Times pick for favorite Schumann recordings!
With sensitive musicianship, the violinist Jennifer Koh and the pianist Reiko Uchida illuminate the charm and depth of these three works, in which the two instruments have an equal role...
— Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times,
December 16, 2010
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In the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with San Juan Symphony
...Koh’s artistry mesmerized the audience. She balanced Mendelssohn’s exquisitely lyrical passages with highly virtuosic playing in the high-speed, almost frenetic sections...
— Judith Reynolds, The Durango Herald,
November 22, 2010
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In the Bruch Violin Concerto with Moscow State Symphony
...gave a throbbing reading that brought to mind the passionate, Russian fiddling of real personality...
— Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times,
October 31, 2010
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In the Beethoven Violin Concerto and John Adams' Violin Concerto with Berkeley Symphony
Out stepped Jennifer Koh, one of the more brilliant violinists in the ascending generation of players, to attempt an outrageous double-marathon. First she would perform Beethoven's great Violin Concerto in D major, a 40-minute work streaming with dense and dolce passagework for the soloist. Then, after intermission, she would grapple with John Adams' Violin Concerto, a 35-minute bruiser...
— Richard Scheinin, mercurynews.com,
September 24, 2010
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In the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
She reveled in its extremes, finding most poetry in the slow movement where her willowy figure swayed and contorted as one with the music...
— Chia Han Leon, The Straits Times,
August 2, 2010
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In Stravinsky’s 1918 Soldier’s Tale
The notable and difficult violin solos in this production were flawlessly executed by special guest violinist Jennifer Koh...
— Terry Ponick, The Washington Times,
July 25, 2010
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In Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra
Jennifer Koh's brand of healthy, athletic playing proved a great fit for the piece: She caressed its beauties without wallowing in them, keeping the muscle in a work that could easily be cloying.
— Anne Midgette, The Washington Post,
June 18, 2010
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In recital with Shai Wosner
It was thrilling to hear.
— Mary Kunz Goldman, The Buffalo News,
May 19, 2010
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In the Brahms Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony
…her account had a compelling mix of intelligence
and freshness, with a spectacular showing in the first-movement cadenza.
— Steve Smith, The New York Times,
April 23, 2010
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In the Barber Violin Concerto with the Alabama Symphony
Reason number one to hear the Alabama Symphony this weekend:
violinist Jennifer Koh.
— Michael Huebner, The Birmingham News,
March 12, 2010
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From the first movement's pathos to the third movement's dizzy flight, Koh commanded the stage.
— Janet Elizabeth, pavomag.com,
March 13, 2010
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In recital at San Francisco Performances
Koh mined Bach's writing for its inventiveness and rhetorical
force, and the culminating account of the great Chaconne boasted a welcome
combination of expansiveness and finesse.
— Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic, SFGate, March 11, 2010
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Koh's mastery of the demands of that technique could not
have brought more honor to Saariaho or to her honoring of Lutoslawski.
— Stephen Smoliar, SF Classical Music Examiner
,
Examiner.com, March 10, 2010
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Koh’s Loure was the stuff of my imagination: serene, measured, clear,
with all the beats weighted in proportion, played with neither struggle nor
hurry.
— Michelle Dulak Thomson, San Francisco Classical Voice, March
9, 2010
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In John Adams' Violin Concerto with the New World Symphony
Koh plunged into the work’s challenges with a fierce, driving energy
that never lost accuracy or became raucous, bringing the work to a rousing
conclusion.
— David Fleshler,
Miami Herald,
February 6, 2010
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In the Dvorak Violin Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
It was as if the music resonated through her entire body.
— Olivia Bevan, ReviewVancouver, January
18, 2010
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The high notes soared, the low notes roared, plaintive
and impassioned, fierce and finessed – Koh played like an angel possessed.
— Mike Herle, Guttersnipe News, January
18, 2010
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In Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Koh’s vibrant and scintillating
playing was brilliantly in service to the scene painting.
— Chris Shull, The Star-Telegram, January
9, 2010
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Jennifer Koh played brilliantly
in the Vivaldi, with a big, gleaming tone.
— Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, January 8, 2010
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Koh gave a bravura performance that, with the superb collaboration
of McGegan and the orchestra, was full of high spirits and sheer joy.
— Olin Chism, KERA Art&Seek Blog, January 10,
2010
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In Saariaho's Graal Théâtre at the Miller Theater
Ms. Koh gave a stunning, high-energy account of
the almost continuous solo line…
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, November 25, 2009
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In the Brahms Concerto with the Grand Rapids Symphony
She succeeded spectacularly.
— Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk, The Grand Rapids Press, November 7, 2009
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In Recital at Oberlin College
Koh's program was a daring and intelligent thematic menu
played with uncommon taste, flair and expressive acuity.
— Donald Rosenberg, The Cleveland Plain Dealer,
October 30, 2009
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Koh was a sensitive interpreter of Bach’s astonishing genius, pacing
the work marvelously, lingering on important harmonic moments without interrupting
its forward movement, pointing up the lovely surprise of the D Major episode,
and digging in wonderfully to the virtuosic passages.
— Daniel Hathaway, clevelandclassical.com,
November 2, 2009
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In the Prokofiev G minor concerto with the San Antonio Symphony
Koh…turned
radiant during the love-song theme opening the middle movement.
— David Hendricks, San Antonio Express-News, October
12, 2009
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She
spun a poised, direct singing line in the andante, but in the outer allegros,
and especially the fiery Spanish-infected finale, she could spit out phrases
with moxie.
— Mike Greenberg, Incident Light, October 10, 2009
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In the Bach D minor Partita
…she gave a deeply expressive account of the Chaconne,
dispatching the challenges with such security that you did not notice the
sheer virtuosity at work.
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, September
30, 2009
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In the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra
It was a sight, and sound, to behold.
— Doug Pullen, El Paso Times,
September 27, 2009
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In Augusta Read Thomas's 3rd Concerto at the BBC Proms
…a wonderful performance by violinist Jennifer Koh.
— By Carla Rees, MusicWeb International,
September 9, 2009
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…brought a sweet tone and secure technique…
— By Barry Millington, London Evening Standard,
September 10, 2009
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…with the superb soloist Jennifer Koh…
— Ivan Hewett, Telegraph,
September 10, 2009
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…the most engaging part of the programme.
— Martin Kettle, The Guardian, September
10, 2009
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In Jennifer Higdon’s “The Singing Rooms” with Atlanta Symphony
Dazzling
— Pierre Ruhe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
March 7, 2009
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In Mozart's 4th Concerto with the Evansville Philharmonic
Koh's performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No.
4 was breathtaking, and hearing her play the centuries-old Stradivari was
something I never will forget.
— Jamie Morris, Evansville Courier Press, February 22, 2009
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In the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Santa Barbara Symphony
This is some of the most familiar music in the orchestral
repertoire, but Koh made it her own with a verve and confidence that was
particularly evident in the cadenza…
— Charles Donelan, Santa Barbara Independent, February 19, 2009
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Movado Hour Concert
These are tightly compressed, brashly assertive portraits, and Ms. Koh played
them with athletic precision.
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, February 10, 2009
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In the Brahms Concerto with the Rhode Island Philharmonic
But the high point of the evening had to be Koh’s
reading of the violin concerto, an intense, commanding performance that
could be sweet one moment and searing the next.
— Channing Gray,
Providence Journal, January 25, 2009
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Vancouver Recital
Koh tapped into the essence of the music with such quiet depth and purity
that she transformed the performance into an almost spiritual experience.
— Jessica Werb, Vancouver Free Press,
November 28, 2008
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In the Brahms Concerto with the Oregon Symphony
…her performance was a thrill: rhapsodic, technically
dazzling, and full of soul but free of sentiment.
— James McQuillen,
The Oregonian, November 23, 2008
Read the Review…
Also listed in The
Oregonian's Best of 2008: Classical music
In Bernstein's Serenade with the National Symphony Orchestra
…just what was needed to bring this piece off.
— Anne Midgette, The Washington Post,
November 14, 2008
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In Corigliano's Red Violin Concerto at Festival Miami
Corigliano could not have wanted for a more compelling solo performance
than that served up by Jennifer Koh.
— Lawrence A. Johnson, Miami Herald, October 13, 2008
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In the Menotti Concerto with Symphony in C
Violinist Jennifer Koh, who has also recorded the piece,
commands a big, inflected sound, and in her playing found extraordinary eloquence
in the leisurely melodies.
— Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 2008
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In the Ligeti Concerto with CityMusic Cleveland
…she brought charismatic focus to the Herculean
demands.
— Donald Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 7, 2008
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In Laura Elise Schwendinger’s “Chiaroscuro Azzurro” at Miller Theatre
…equal measures of energy and velvety richness…
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, March 31, 2008
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Performing the Weill concerto in Boston
…a consistently taut, gleaming tone and sharp focus…
— Matthew Guerrieri,
The Boston Globe, March 19, 2008
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With the Memphis Symphony Orchestra
Koh was magnificent, both controlled and passionate in bringing off passages
that were profoundly moving and challenging.
— Jon W. Sparks, The Commercial Appeal,
October 29, 2007
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the Review…
With the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
…Koh's white-hot imagination and her focused, sweet-toned
playing made this a performance to remember.
— Andrew Lindemann Malone, The Washington Post, May 7, 2007
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the Review…
In the world premiere of Charles Wuorinen's Violin Concerto
…Ms. Koh had no difficulty communicating this vibrant
piece…
— Anne Midgette, The New York Times, April 17, 2007
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the Review…
With Rossen Milanov and the Honolulu Symphony
Her romantic, passionate approach does not take away from
precision and depth.
— Valeria Wenderoth, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 18, 2007
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the Review…
…wild, passionate, unique, personal, intimate.
— Ruth Bingham, Honolulu Advertiser, March 18, 2007
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the Review…
With Reiko Uchida in Columbus
No matter how complex the phrase, her technique never
overwhelms the composer's voice, and she never becomes self-conscious.
— Lynn Green, Columbus Dispatch, March 5, 2007
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the Review…
Ligeti Concerto with Orchestra 2001 in Philadephia
…the orchestra laid out the concerto with so much clarity and drama
that you could easily assemble the pieces according to your own consciousness
on that day, aided by the remarkable soloist Jennifer Koh.
— David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer,
February 26, 2007
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the Review…
With Reiko Uchida at the 92nd Street Y
Ms. Koh and Ms. Uchida seem always to be of one mind about the works at
hand, and the interaction between them has an enlivening vibrancy.
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, February 17, 2007
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the Review…
With Reiko Uchida in San Francisco
The first striking thing about this duo is their uncanny
precision of ensemble.
— Jerry Kuderna, San Francisco Classical Voice,
January 16, 2007
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the Review…
…it was the contemporary music that brought out
Koh's most invigorating performances, and marked her as a musician with a
distinctive contribution to make in this arena.
— Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, January 15, 2007
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the Review…
With Jaime Laredo and the New York String Orchestra
…Ms. Koh and Mr. Laredo played the serene
dialogue with a meltingly beautiful sound.
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, December 26, 2006
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the Review…
Higdon's String Poetic with Reiko Uchida in Philadelphia
…she created four hugely different musical worlds
corresponding to the demands of each of the movements.
— David Patrick Stearn, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 23,
2006
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the Review…
Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar
"The intense Koh seemed entranced as she traversed the
piece…"
— The Oregonian, October 16, 2006
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the Review…
With the New York Philharmonic
…fiery, rhapsodic playing…
— Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, July 15, 2006
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the Review…
The Ligeti Violin Concerto at the Miller Theater
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times,
November 14, 2005
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the Review…
"Koh played the Gypsy lament of the Aria section with searing expressiveness."
— Bradley Bambarger, New Jersey Star-Ledger,
November 14, 2005
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With the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra
Violinist Koh simply dazzling
— Valeria Wenderoth, Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
October 23, 2005
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the review…
At the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
"Koh… took big
rhapsodic chances in the [Tchaikovsky] Violin Concerto, shifting tempos
and pouring on the intensity… the audience couldn't contain itself…"
— Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times,
July 25, 2005
Read
the review…
In Chicago with the Grant Park Orchestra
“In Martinu's lush Violin Concerto No. 2 and the first of Bartok's "Two
Portraits,'' the hair-trigger responsiveness between Kalmar and the orchestra
stretched to include violin soloist Jennifer Koh… Koh elicits a succulent,
but cleanly drawn, singing line from her prized 18th century violin. She
brought tensile strength to every fiery twist of Bartok's cadenzas, but the
tender, pastoral dance of the Martinu concerto's slow movement sounded heartfelt
and fresh.”
—
Wynne
Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times, July 4, 2005
Read
the review…
In recital at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art
with pianist
Reiko Uchida:
“In John Adams’s “Road Movies” (1995)
they easily met the work’s immediate technical challenge — keeping
the insistent rhythms vital and fresh — but they also found ways to
make this sometimes motoric piece seem supple. Ms. Koh also offered a gripping
performance of Eka-Pekka Salonen’s “Lachen Verlernt” (2002),
a piece that begins with a songlike simplicity but gradually becomes a study
in full-throttle virtuosity. Between the Adams and the Salonen works,
Ms. Koh and Ms. Uchida played Ravel’s Sonata in G with a combination
of Gallic sensuality and American flexibility. In the central Blues movement,
Ms. Koh’s
bent pitches and throaty tone color were exactly what the score needs: Stephane
Grappelli couldn’t have made it sound more bluesy.”
—Allan
Kozinn of The New York Times, April 30, 2005
Read
the review…
In recital at San Francisco Performances
“Koh and her pianist partner Reiko Uchida presented
a fascinating display of musicianship and sheer class while avoiding standardized
programming clichés… Chicago-born Koh has become one of the bright
spots on the American music scene. Not only does she play so well and with
such sensibility to individual style, but she also obviously possesses a
superior sense of mission as well as the intellectual equipment to match
her dexterity…Koh clearly knows style to a fine degree.
The Koh performance
(of Waxman's Carmen Fantasy) was a jaw dropper, flawless in every detail.
The woman knows no fear. She tore into that thing with all the appearance
of someone merely playing “Come to Jesus” in whole
notes.”
— Heuwell Tircuit of San Francisco Classical Voice,
January 23, 2005
Read
the review…
With the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Singapore
“Koh handled her instrument — and the piece (Carl
Nielsen’s
Violin Concerto) — brilliantly. Her opening phrases were delivered
commandingly, with poise, accuracy and a beautifully judged vibrato… It
was, however, in the final Rondo that she stamped her class. Articulation,
intonation and a driving rhythm were all there in abundance. It was a superlative
performance.”
— Mervin Beng, The Straits Times, February 1, 2005
In Chicago with the Grant Park Orchestra (2004)
“Karol Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto with
soloist Jennifer Koh moved in and out of transcendent, otherworldly realms.
Koh, a Chicago area native, has possessed a distinct musical voice since
she was a teenager winning prizes that included a silver medal at the prestigious
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1994 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Thursday night her performance offered the best kind of sophistication, a
blend of fluid technique, thoughtful intensity and sweetness of tone that
shed light on even the darkest corners of Symanowski's poetic fantasy.
The concerto is a single-movement outpouring, and Koh's luminous, focused
violin floated like an inextinguishable star above the orchestra. In the
midst of Szymanowski's overall romanticism, the cadenza transported us abruptly
to harsher realms. Koh tore into its short-breathed phrases, flinging their
brutal, whistling tails through the air like a whip. Even at its most rhapsodic,
the performance had sinew and a clear sense of shape. Kalmar and Koh reached
for the heights but kept a firm grasp on the concerto's underlying architecture. “
—
Wynne Delacoma, Chicago Sun-Times, July 3, 2004
With the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
There was a moment during the “Larghetto,” the
second movement of Beethoven’s “Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.
61,” when violinist Jennifer Koh reached beyond what was humanly possible
and into an entirely new performance realm… her superb performance… brought
the house to its feet”
— Capital Times (Madison), March 20, 2004
Jennifer Koh proved Friday night in Madison — as
if she had to — that she is a top quality, world-class violinist… The
performance was, in short, entrancing. It would seem silly to call Koh an
emerging young artist; she certainly has arrived.
—
John Aehl, Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) March 20, 2004
In recital at New York’s Town Hall
Her (Ms. Koh’s) playing was fiery and impassioned,
most of all in Ysaye’s Sonata No. 4, where she routinely pushed notes
almost to their breaking point in a way that sent the pulse racing. The
sonata was written in the early 20th century, but in her hands it felt thrillingly
modern.
— Jeremy Eichler, The New York Times, January
20, 2004
Jennifer Koh at the Blossom Festival
download PDF
"The debutante Saturday was Gian Carlo Menotti's
Violin Concerto, a 1952 work that violinist Jennifer Koh has been championing
since she recorded it several years ago with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra
and Richard Hickox on the Chandos label. Her Blossom performance provided
a gorgeous introduction to a piece steeped in Romantic tradition and thoroughly
removed from the avant-garde learnings of the mid-20th century.
"Koh applied fragrant sweetness to the poetic writing and fierce vigor
to Menotti's dramatic statements. Her tone projected clearly and soaringly
into the cool night air, partly because of the 1727 Stradivarius she has played
for six years."
—
Donald Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 25, 2003
"Violinist Jennifer Koh, making her Cleveland Orchestra
debut, sounded perfectly integrated into the orchestral fabric. Koh chose
the Violin Concerto of Gian Carlo Menotti for her debut, and she couldn't
have picked a better vehicle to show off her considerable powers of musicianship
and persuasion.
"She is a gung-ho advocate for this work of mid-20th century romanticism.
Koh's suave technique and alert musicianship helped her put across the lyricism
that is always present in the work and also let it sound utterly fresh.
"It was terrific to hear such a strong, intelligent personality from someone
in the 20-
something generation of violinists. Koh belongs on a short list of soloists
to invite back
soon."
— Elaine Guregian, Ohio Beacon-Journal, August 24,
2003
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